One of my fastest times and a flat.

Well, it was a nice commute to end the holidays with. I was determined since I did not get much biking in last week due to taking my kids down to Tucson for a bit of a vacation on Friday and Saturday to go all out this morning and see what I could do. The morning started out fast but I had a hard time getting my heart rate up into the upper seventies despite speeds in excess of 20 mph. Once my warm up was complete and my heart rate finally rose I managed to keep it at 22 - 24 mph most of the way through Mesa and Gilbert. Approching the 101 I started wondering why it was getting so hard to maintain 22 and why my heart rate was going up. Then I started thinking about how hard the last couple of bumps felt and stopped and sure enough I had a flat. Luckily I still had an extra tube even if I had used all my patches on my kids tires (they managed to ride 12 miles last week on Wednesday by the way, not bad for 4 year olds or even for a 7 year old but the 7 year old can do 18 mile rides now with the right incentives - McDonalds and candy at gas stations- She'll make a swell Randonneuse yet!). Anyway, it turns out I had a staple through the sidewall. Interesting I have gotten 2 sidewall flats so close together lately. Anyway, I picked my bike up and moved on noticing my speed had dropped somewhat from the stop. Heading down the frontage road for the 101 I managed to hold my average steady and my heartrate between 80 and 85% which I figure is a good training zone for speed (I am hoping to really have a good Brevet season this year as far as personal records go). I think this weight I have been losing is helping as well. So far I am at 7 pounds lost since October So with any luck I will be under 200 again for the 200k the first weekend in January. Well, back to the ride. I managed to get my groove back heading across Chandler and wound up with an average speed of 20.5 mph when I got to work, it is my first 20+ average commute for the year (I had a few last year before I got sick). Anyway, it's a personal record for the year anyway but and hour and 11 minutes is not shabby seeing as my fastest time is an hour and 9 minutes.