First Outdoor Ride of 2021!

Tuesday was BEAUTIFUL. After a pretty mild winder, we had a rough February (it was the 19th coldest Feb in recorded US history, and the coldest since 1989), and the snow finally started melting about 2 weeks ago. But Tuesday was special: we hit 63 degrees in the Twin Cities - a record high for the date. So I had to get out. Finally.

I didn't ride hard, but I just went to check out the Greenway Trail to see if the construction was done out near Hwy 100. (Breaking news: it's not done.)

The "straight" part of the Greenway shows mainly light blues to greens for my speed...


... whereas the detour (with lots of turning) is mostly showing slower dark blues for my pace.


My pace is more consistent on the trail, and then gets much
choppier and slower on the detour. (The speed in the
middle of the detour is along nice straight Mtka Blvd.)


Eiffel after our ride.


A few puddles led to some slightly dirty legs. But not bad. Just a nice sock line.

I kept a 20.1 mph average until the detour around 8 miles in. Then it dropped to 19.2 mph over the next 2.5 miles until I turned around. Once I got back through the detour AGAIN, it was 19.0. I raised it to 19.1 slightly into the wind for most of the way back, and I was pretty happy with that speed on a "not trying too hard" first ride of the year.

For fun, I thought I'd look back to see how that stacks up to previous "first ride of the year" rides.

2021: 19.0 mph, 22 miles, Greenway (and detour). Pushed a bit, but not hard. Felt good and didn't get tired. March 9.

Previous years:

2020: 19.1 mph, 20 miles, POOPED! May 3. (Spent winter in "the boot," hence the late ride.)
2019: 18.2 mph, 23 miles, Greenway (no construction). Felt "trashed," March 27.
2018: 20.8 mph, 15 miles, TEMPO ride down Greenway. April 24.
2017: 18.5 mph, 12.8 miles, Greenway. Feb 12 (141 miles outside that Feb!).
2016: 18.6 mph, 28 miles, Greenway. Feb 7.
2015: 19.0 mph, 24 miles, Greenway and RR loop up Ramsey. March 14.
2014: 19.2 mph, 16 miles, RR loop up Ramsey. April 6.
2013: 15.0 mph, 19 miles. April 5.
2012: 18.7 mph, 23 miles, Greenway. March 11.
2011: 18.5 mph, 15.5 miles, Greenway. April 2.
2010: 18.4 mph, 35 miles, Greenway. March 18

So my 19.1 mph ride was on the faster side of average (7 slower, 3 faster, and 1 tied) even though it wasn't a HARD ride (my fastest "first ride" in 2018 was an all-out tempo, and my other 2 faster rides were just barely faster at 0.1 and 0.2 mph faster). And even though I've been itching to get outside to ride, I only had 2 out of the past 11 years where I got out earlier, so this was easily on the early side of average.

So I still need to keep hitting the trainer now that it's back in the seasonable 30s and 40s here, and I need to keep doing WORKOUTS and not just spinning easy.