Friday Ride -- B & O

Today I decided to clean the cobwebs off my titanium fred bike and take it out for its first ride on my local trail.  Some air in the tires and a squirt of fresh lube for the chain and I was on my way.  Up at the northern end of the B & O in Mansfield, Ohio workers were busy building a new bridge at North Lake Park.

I've been thinking for a while now about treating myself to a new pair of cycling shoes.  My old ones are probably fifteen years old and while they are still serviceable I'm in the mood for a change so I'll just relegate my old ones to mountain bike duty where I'm sure they'll carry on for years to come.

I hit up my friendly bike shop for a pair of their house brand Bontragers.  I don't need any fancy Sidis these work just fine for a lot less dineros.

My old ones are brown and tan colors and I wanted to color coordinate a little better with my black stretchy uniform I always wear while out on the road bike.  I like shoes with laces and these fit the bill perfect.  As an added bonus the new shoes have a single velcro strap at the top to secure the laces and keep everything cinched down tight.

I was feeling like going fast so that is what I did today.  By the time I had around 24 miles down I was carrying a 17.6 mph average speed.  That was surprising because my season is just getting underway and that is a great average for me period let alone in the early spring.  I kept at it and enjoyed the nice weather but the fun was soon to end when I turned around to head back north at the bottom of the trail.

In my exuberance I went out a little to hard during the start of my ride.  The last third heading up the slight incline of the Clear Fork Valley and into a steady headwind turned out to be my time to suffer.  I had to struggle to maintain 15 mph at times and dipped to a crawl of 13 mph in some of the open fields with no tree cover to at least slow the wind.

   

Happy Easter!

The average only dropped a little by the time I made it back to my starting point and I feel satisfied with this first good hard effort on the skinny tire bike.

B & O Trail Complete

Distance:  37 miles

Ride Time:  2:13:15

Average Speed:  16.6 mph

Max Speed:  22.8 mph