The Manitoba Loop

Ouch! I can't believe I've done it again. My strength and cardio far outweigh the ability of my hip. Today, after a day's rest, I was feeling very strong and ready for a hard ride. I was planning on a short one, since I got home late from work, and generally, short rides are fast with lots of climbing. That was in the old days...I gotta remember that I can't do that yet!

So, headed down to the casino and climbed back up. I had to pedal into a headwind, so I think my max speed going downhill was maybe around 30 mph. I figured I'd have to ride harder to make up for the lower speeds. Climbed back up, trying to stay over 11.5 mph, but started to make 10 mph as the grade increased. I was a pathetic 8.5 at the steepest part. Oh well, I got another challenge as I started climbing toward the La Luz road turn off. Some guy was coming down from the road and hooked up on Tramway. He wasn't too far ahead of me, so I decided to push it and planned to catch him before we got to the stop sign at the top of the climb. I caught him, right before the sign! Pretty happy with that, so I let him pull me for a while along the flat part of Tramway. At first he was a little miffed (who knows why), so he tried to drop me. He couldn't, so he finally gave in and tried to be friendly. Eventually, he turned up Manitoba and I was ready to turn around and head back home. This usual after work loop is 16 miles, and I wanted to make it an even 20, which is why I had biked to Manitoba rather than heading up Elena on Simms Park Rd.

Went back to Simms Park and rode up to the check in shack, turned around, and did the usual climbing back through the neighborhood. I realized I wasn't quite at 20, so added 1 more mini climb up Cedar Hill. Got back home and I knew I'd overdone it. A nice sharp pain in the hip joint reminded me that I'm a bit "stubborn" when it comes to following the directions of my PT and my surgeon. I guess that's just a part of my heritage, according to Lee, a fellow Asian who was kind enough to spread more stereotypes by telling Matt that Asians are "stubborn" and "cheap".
Ride Stats

• Max speed--42.1 mph
  
• Avg speed--16 mph
  
• Distance--20.3 miles
• Ride time--1:16:27
• Total time--1:17:00 (stop light at the turn around by the casino)
  
• Calories--529

So, the plan? Start riding the trainer again during the week--shoot for 2 times, then add in the upper body cardio workouts during the week. I'll save the longer rides for the weekend, where I'm less apt to push it because I've got more time