So, I made it out to the Veloway for some slow laps this morning. Each lap is basically 5K, and I did a grand total of .. four. Let’s see: I did one slowly, and my MCL was tight, so I stopped and stretched it out. Did a second one, but I was feeling very unstable in the turns - as if my back tire was about to slide right out from under me. At one point, a 90 degree right turn leading up to a 40% (short) grade, I almost set the bike down. I was planning to keep riding through since my MCL was behaving, but luckily I looked down near the end of the second lap: my back tire was almost flat. D’oh! I had put air in my wife’s bike, but because she doesn’t normally come with me that had changed my pattern and I hadn’t remembered to check my own. What a newbie mistake.

So. Aired up the back, and did another two laps at a moderate pace. My cardio was lagging, no question about it, although they were much easier than running on a 10psi back tire - I’m not as out of shape as I had feared at first. Trouble is, after that (all of 20K) the others I was with were ready to head out and get some lunch.

So I did.

I was good though - on the way back from lunch, I passed the back entrance and thought, “You know? I could ride a couple more laps.” Four is really pretty short, and I knew that I had everything I needed with me.

So I did.

Did a half lap, stretched, another half lap, raised my seat about an inch, then did five more without stopping, bringing my daily total to 50 km. That’s more like it. I wasn’t fast - my fastest lap was 13.8mph average - but I feel like I could have kept going for a while if I didn’t have other things to do. So either I was slacking too much, or my cardio is getting better. Oddly enough, I felt much more endurance on my second visit than I did on my first. That probably means something, but I have no idea what. Either way, that’s another 1500 calories down the tubes :-)

I should add that all of that was on my MTB. I’m sure that I’d be considerably faster on a nice road bike. Of course, since my MTB is all I have, that’s what I ride.

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