Saturday bike!

It was actually a very nice ride - there is traffic, but Cayman is a simpler place to ride a bike than NYC. No bridges, only about four traffic lights on the whole island (roundabouts substitute), beautiful views of the sea. And lots of mother chickens leading their little fluffball chicks across the road!

(The only moment that slightly rattled me was when two dogs started barking loudly at what both seemed and was literally about two feet from my head - not much of a shoulder, one lane in each direction, they were poking their heads out of the back window of an SUV as it swooped by me - they were right there!)

Since this is a recovery week, it is not bad that I had this ride in an easy HR zone, but it tells me something about the choice I should make for tomorrow: I shouldn't ride outdoors, I'll do a three-hour ride on the spin bike instead and that way I can make sure that I really have decent chunks of time in zone 2 and 3. This bike I have here is much, much less comfortable than my NYC bike - I had a hot spot on my left shoulder right away that got more painful as I kept riding, I think it is something to do with bike fit, and the whole bike is just a little too small. I subbed out the intolerably uncomfortable saddle it initially had on it for a somewhat better one, but it's still inferior to the NYC one (or perhaps this, too, just has to do with overall issues of fit). My long ride next weekend is on a very flat route; I will endeavor to hit low zone 2 sooner on during that ride, but I think it will be more useful for me tomorrow to ride indoors for a shorter duration with higher intensity, I just don't need another long really easy effort flat ride. Also, I suspect I will sleep better knowing that I don't have to be out the door shortly after 5:30 for a long ride; and I am still very much in sleep deficit mode, which is something to address...

(I meant to ride only to Bodden Town, which is where I hit the one-hour mark, but I ended up going all the way to the Lighthouse Restaurant sort of by accident; I am laughing, it is so typical of me, I just can't remember places by looking at them, it is always as though I am there for the first time - but I sort of thought that the gas station I'd passed wasn't the usual one we stop at, I kept on riding in hopes that I would come to that one, only then I had been riding for some time and it gradually was dawning on me that Bodden Town is tiny and that really I must have already passed it! But just in case not, I kept on going until I hit something that was a landmark that really told me I had come too far. The wind slows you down on the outward leg of this ride and speeds you up on the way back, so actually this was good - I turned around at 1:13, and it clearly only took 1hr. for the whole ride home. Did ultimately manage to stop at the Bodden Town Texaco for a cold Gatorade - all I can say is that it looks totally different from the other direction!...)

2:15:28
34.59mi.
15.3mph avg.
avg HR 125
max HR 137


zone 1 1:57:39
zone 2 11:53