Monday, May 17, 2010

free mid-ride massage

last week while i was at my chiropractor's office, i noticed that he was giving free fifteen-minute hydro-massage sessions to anyone who rode to the office during bike to work week. that's this week! i decided to take him up on his offer today.

i meant to leave around 8:00, but didn't get out the door until around 8:30. i got a little way down the road and realized i didn't have my cell phone, so i turned around and pedaled back to get it.

after this little detour, i was pretty well warmed up so i cranked up the effort and enjoyed mile after mile of wind-assisted bliss. i thought i might as well enjoy it while i had it at my back because the return trek was going to be into the wind. i wasn't overly fast, but got to his office in wellington before they opened at 10:00. my average was 17.4mph at that point.

i enjoyed a quick adjustment and my free massage, then it was right back on the bike for the return trip. i took a slightly different route out of the city of wellington. it might have added an extra 1/2 to 3/4 mile. i don't know. i wasn't paying attention to that. i was just trying to judge the wind and see what i could do against it.

when i broke free of the city limits, i ramped up my effort again. i was able to maintain a much higher speed than i expected. i was slower than on the way to wellington, but not by much. at times i was cruising along at over 20mph. at five miles out, i imagined that i could make it back home before two and a half hours. i almost made it. i was less than a mile from my driveway when the elapsed time read 2:30'00.

i turned south onto pine street and coasted along at 16-17mph with the wind at my back. i braked for the turn into the garage and stopped the clock at 2:31'57. my ending average was a decent 17.1mph. a good ride on a beautiful, cool day. (43.44 miles @ 17.1mph)

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