First Tempo Ride of 2026

I got out for my first "real" bike ride of the year (meaning on my tri bike and not on my big ole' mountain bike) about 2.5 weeks ago, and that was a nice 37 miler just ridden moderately - staying above a 20 mph ave through 34 miles before dropping. And I've had some good trainer rides and decent weeks in the saddle...

... so when we had record warmth on Saturday, I had to get out in the 70+ degree weather and try to ride hard!

I took off on a very normal tempo route that I've been using over the last few years: River Road to 35E, across the river, down to Big Rivers, up Big Rivers to the end, a little extra on Hwy 13, and then back down Big Rivers (and onto Water Street) until I hit 20 miles. Then limp home like a wounded puppy.

I realized on Big Rivers (around mile 8) that I was going into the wind. This part is uphill as well. So I suffered into the wind until about mile 13.5. My average speed was 21.8 mph around mile 7, 21.0 mph after climbing across the river and slightly into the wind, and then it DROPPED through mile 13.5: it was 20.1 mph on Hwy 13 when I turned around.

I had one big climb left (the dark blue just north of split #3), but otherwise it was slightly downhill and with the wind, so I was trying to get my average back up over those last 6.5 miles!

20 mile tempo through split #4 (they are 5-mile splits).


The red line is where my tempo effort ended: see my speed and heart rate drop?

I finished my tempo at 20.9 mph, and I was happy with that for my 2nd ride outdoor all year! And then my splits TANKED on the rest of the way home: it was 19.7 mph when I finally turned off River Road and more into the wind again, but it still dropped to 19.5 mph on the gritty roads home. I was happy to have gotten in 32 miles with the first 20 being fast!