Sunday 29 May 2011

A seriously long cycle ride - 203km

When I came up with my 4 pass master plan I was neglecting one factor.  Anny left this morning for a business trip and I am looking after Negrita.  So taking the train for several hours, then cycling for 8 hours or more, and then taking the train back was not the best option, as Negrita would be left at home for an awful long time.

So the plan was adapted to be more Negrita friendly.  I decided to start my ride from Zurich and to come back here for lunch, then after lunch to go for another ride.  This way Negrita wouldn't be left alone for too long at one time.

The plan worked wonderfully.  This morning I left early and cycled towards Einsideln before turning off towards Zug via Hütten.  At Finstersee I turned off the main road and did the same climb I tried several weeks ago.  It is well over a thousand metres high, so gives quite a descent amount of hill training.  After this I continued on the main road over the pass and down towards Zug, and then followed the Sihl back to Zurich.

I was home around 1pm and Negrita was very pleased to see me, as expected.  I took her for a little walk, relaxed for a bit, and then set off for part 2 of my ride.  By this point I had covered just under 60 miles, half of what I wanted to achieve for the whole day.  So I headed towards the airport and Bulach and then looked for signs to follow to somewhere that would be about 30 miles outside of Zurich, so I could go there then turn around and come back.

Rheinfalls was to be the turning point.  It is a lovely scenic ride from the airport to Rheinfalls.  When I reached Rheinfalls I had a quick look at the falls and then set off for Zurich.  On the way back I was feeling incredibly tired, but this was the longest ride I have done for several years at least.  On reaching home I had to take a quick siesta before I could even consider doing anything else.  But after that I felt a little better, albeit still as tired as hell.  Now I am trying to re-inject my body with carbohydrates, as according to my Garmin I have burnt 7,207 calories.  That's an awful lot of pasta!

My Garmin says I covered 203.18km in a moving time of 9 hours and 4.96 seconds.  My average speed was 22.6km/h and my average heart rate was 123bpm.  The total ascent is showing as 2,171m.  All in all a pretty good day's training.

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