First Greenway Ride of 2010!

Thursday was going to be the last “nice” day around here for a while. We got spoiled with a couple of 50-60 degree days, and now it’s back in the 30s. Sheesh. Thursday was 62 degrees before it started to cool down again.

The first thing to do was to take my “bike thong” off my bike, and then grab Goldilocks off the trainer:

I didn’t even have to wear pants or a long sleeve jersey! It was a GREAT day on the Greenway Trail! (If you’re not a local, the Greenway goes along a railroad line from the Mississippi River at the MPLS / St. Paul boarder, all the way through Minneapolis, and out west through a few suburbs.)

Here are some photos from the ride:

Down the Greenway (with someone running SHIRTLESS on the left!)


Farther down the Greenway


Ice still covering the little channel by Lake Calhoun


Down the Cedar Lake Trail near I394 (with a bit of downtown MPLS to the right)


In my new “leisure suit” jersey from Pharmie

So those last 2 photos were from my turn-around point. I took the Greenway out, then curved off on the Cedar Lake Trail, and I stopped just before getting to 394. Here was my big horseshoe-shaped out-and-back route:

The wind was out of the west, so it was a bit nasty for those first 11 miles. I was just trying to get in my first long-ish ride of the year, so I was TRYING not to think about going too hard / fast. But I still tried to remember what my computer said at a few different points in the ride:

- 18.0 mph ave after crossing the Hiawatha Bridge (mile 3.5)
- 18.1 mph ave as I turned back with the wind (mile 11)
- 18.8 mph ave at the turn-around (mile 17.5)
- 18.4 mph ave as I turned back with the wind again (mile 24)
- 18.7 mph ave before crossing the Hiawatha Bridge (mile 31.5)
- 18.4 mph ave on my computer as I got home (mile 35.0)

So even though I wasn’t going for speed, I was still watching my computer. I felt pretty hashed for those last 10 miles, but that could possibly be because I didn’t spend much more than 1 hour on my bike all winter, and this ride was nearly 2 hours. I was hurting a little, but it was a GREAT March day to be out in Minnesota, so I didn’t care!

Now, Mother Nature, when can we get more days like that?!? SOON PLEASE!! Thanks!

I got home and pulled some chicken breasts out of the freezer:

Cut up, mostly frozen chicken breast


Delicious things


I wish I could sniff this photo


Hearty post-workout chicken breast salad! (I had 2!)

Happy weekend everyone! If you have good weather where you are, ENJOY IT!!