Originally Posted by
rsbob
No, sorry, that is hiking. Cycling is all about metrics: time, distance, speed, BPM and max, lactate threshold, watts, max watts, elevation climbed, % grade, total mileage, average speed, cadence, calories burned, VO2 Max, load, W/kg, moving time, total time Avg power, and on and on.
Then there is your training focus with…..
I went out yesterday afternoon for a 35+ mile ride on my fix gear. Stopped at mile 6 as I usually do for espresso Stopped a mile later after some gentle climbing to flip the wheel from 42-18 to 17. Then just rode. Beautiful warm day (70!), almost no wind. Watched the sun for a sense of time. (Left at around 3pm. Wanted to arrive home ~7 so rush hour ll happened while I was out on county roads. Only information on time or anything else was my cell phone, inside my wallet and in my jersey pocket. Primary roads are N-S and E-W making judging sun location and time easy. Stopped at that favorite bench for a break. Looked at my phone to confirm time. Right on schedule. A couple of miles from home I stopped, flipped back to the 18, put a sheet of newspaper under my jersey and armwarmers on. Cool down mosey along the MUP. Arrived home within minutes of 7pm in the very last sunlight. 47 miles at a steady pace. Hammered but in a really good way.
So almost no metrics. Time, yes, but the old sun time, ie timeless. Only other metric - the gear ratio which changed twice. Pure bliss. Riding at its best. (On a classic, 45 year old steel bike with 50k miles on it, all under me. New paint job, fit as good as it gets (never thought about it once except twice shifted my weight slightly to spare a butt with nowhere near enough miles to be conditioned), new wheels and rubber; GP4s and Corsa G+ tubulars.)
Fun how differently we can ride and still share that love!