Date: 10/2/21
Training Day: 19
Miles: 32 (cycling )
Elevation Gain: 800 feet
Weather: Warm and sunny, absolutely gorgeous

How It Felt: Considering it’s been months since my last ride, it felt fantastic to get back on the bike.

Commentary: I was supposed to go on a ride with friends in Grand Teton. But instead I stayed up late the night before eating pizza rolls and watching a movie. So, I settled on a shorter ride closer to home.

The Mesa Falls Scenic Byway is home to Upper and Lower Mesa Falls. The traffic on the rode is low and slow enough for me to feel like I’m not going to get hit even though there is no shoulder to ride on.

I didn’t start my ride quite when I wanted to because I forgot that a strap my right cycling shoe broke. It’s the one that tightens the shoe near my ankle. It’s the most important strap on my shoe.

Since my car will likely never be fixed because the mechanic will never be able to get parts (not his fault and a whole other story), I was in the van. And in the van we keep super glue.

I super glued the plastic bits together and waited the recommended ten minutes to see if it would hold. It did not. I found some of that paper-like medical tape in a miscellaneous box and poorly attempted to tape the strap together. Then I was on my way!

Leaving the parking lot there is a pretty steep climb. It was hard and made me feel like my plan to ride 30 miles was a bit ambitious. Thankfully it wasn’t that steep the whole way.

About ten miles in I hit a nice downhill and got to pick up the pace. Then it leveled out some, but I still felt wicked fast. During the ride I attempted to tighten the strap on my right shoe, and realized the tape was doing nothing.

This may seem ridiculous, but I had two Garmin devices mounted on my bike. My watch and my Garmin Edge, which I bought specifically for cycling. I checked the battery on the Edge before I left and it looked to be about 70-80%. At the turnaround point it died. Note to self, always charge the Edge before a ride.

My turnaround was a parking lot with information boards about the byway. It was a nice spot to program the data screens on my watch to match those of the Edge as closely as possible. I also had to connect my speed and cadence sensors to my watch.

While I was there I retaped my shoe strap to make it more functional. I also ate a fat oatmeal cream pie.

I expected to make wicked good time on the way back since it was mostly downhill. What I failed to realize is that my wicked good time on the way up, despite the hills, was due to a tailwind. The headwind wasn’t too bad, but the gusts certainly slowed me down.

Even so, I did 32 miles with an average speed of 14.2 mph. With 800 feet of elevation and having not ridden my bike in forever, I’m okay with that. I also maintained an average heart rate of 151 bpm, so I imagine the ride was good training.

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