14 in 54 and underdressed

Pretty happy with that. On a training bike with heavy puncture resistant tires and the heaviest, cheapest wheels we have.

Tonight I headed out for a hard ride on the road - a 14 mile mock time trial, let's call it. First time I've even done a training race on the road, not counting a couple triathlons a few years ago (that was short-lived). Having (still) not built my road bike back up yet, I'm training on my cross bike with those heavy road wheels. It's a bit small for me for climbing on the road, but seeing as the road bike has no shifters, I like it. A few other Kelly guys were out on their dedicated time trial bikes - full carbon rigs with sweetness and lots of things that measure - powertap wheels, gps device that talks to heart-rate monitor. Somehow, I felt underdressed on my little blue Bianchi cross bike.

I pre-rode the route Sunday at a more endurance-type pace in 59 minutes. My goal today was pretty simple - push as hard as I could and shoot for sub-58 minutes... 54 minutes later, I was done. Give or take a few seconds.

This was a really good ride for me for two reasons - I was happily below my target and very psyched with my result. But even better, I was in a good mental place the whole time. Almost enjoyable. Except for the redline heart rate thing.

No doubt - I earned my burger at burger night tonight.