Originally Posted by Syscrush

I finally got out for a dedicated training ride - I consider this a "pre-baseline", where my real baseline ride will be once I'm set up with a power meter & computer (hopefully before the snow flies).

I went for a very flat 63 km ride, because I felt like that would be enough to be taxing but not overextend and risk getting myself into some kind of trouble. It was cool at about 15C, wind was 20-25 kph with gusts up to 38, and it was raining a bit when I left (just light rain). I went early morning, and had a tea with milk & sugar before I left - no other calories before or during the ride. I meant to bring a water bottle, but forgot it. I figured that I could stop for water if I really needed it, but also thought that for just 60k I could do without it - and I also believe that riding fasted and a bit dehydrated is good for teaching myself to just push through suffering. I did need to urinate on my return home, so although my mouth and lips were quite dry, I don't believe that I pushed too hard by going without water.

The bulk of the ride was along the shore of Lake Ontario, but I live near the Don Valley and did dip down there on the way back. All of my training rides will finish with a ride up Pottery Road, which is a short and relatively steep climb (just under 40m of climb at about 10%). Total climbing over the whole ride as reported by Runtastic was just under 700m, which has to be pure bull. There's just no way. Google Maps says more like 100m, which to me seems way closer. Getting home to look at the details of the ride, I learned that Runtastic has been purchased by Adidas, and it's pure garbage now. I started using it about 5 years ago because my brother and brother in law were using it and they had some routes to share with me. It served my needs fine as a casual user, but with the eradication of the web interface, it's basically worthless for any kind of analysis. I'll switch to Strava and connect my bike computer to it once I have one.

Anyhow, my thinking in terms of trying to get fit and prepare for the big ride is to just focus on constant pressure on the pedals, regardless of speed or conditions. At this point, I can't really manage that. This was my first real ride in years on something like a road bike - and it ended up being about as much as I can do right now. When I got home, I couldn't get my leg over the bike to dismount, ended up spending a bit of time straddling the bike and resting my chest on the bars before figuring out a way to get it out from under me. I went in and drank a liter of water and felt better, after my second liter and another tea I was basically OK. I still managed a 23h fast, which was tough - but I've set a tough goal for myself and it's past time to get serious about it.

From 253 lbs at start, I'm down to 235 now. Another 15 and there are a bunch of shirts in my closet that I can put back into service - I hope to get there by Christmas.