Tour de Nash

On Saturday, May 20, I competed my first metric century ride (62 miles.) I have only had my bike for three weeks and the Tour de Nash seemed like a nice event to try out and get a feel for how my body holds up for several hours on the bike. Aside from a rider who kept getting right in front of me and spitting (she only hit me twice,) the ride was pleasant and I had a lot of fun. I met a few people and got to experience riding in a group for the first time in my life. Group riding may seem counterproductive to training for an Ironman triathlon because out there you are on your own, no drafting, no companionship, but it was the distance I was shooting for and I am trying to get involved with the cycling community anyway. Solo rides will come later.
I completed the ride in 4:05, not subtracting about 12-15 minutes for rest stops and missed turns. Unfortunately, I don't yet have a cyclocomputer to keep track of my own speed and distance, but some of the riders in the group said we averaged 17mph for the first 34 miles. That's pretty good, considering we were riding in downtown Nashville traffic the entire time. I still have a lot of work to do to get to an average 20mph or better for the Ironman, but I'm pleased with my performance on Saturday. I was pleasantly surprised at my performance on the hills. That seems to be a fairly strong point for me.
This week I am going to taper a little for the GJCC tri on Monday. (Although it is hard to taper from a training routine that hasn't really existed.) All the same, I want to be well-rested for the tri on Memorial Day.
I'm working on my training plan. I should have a tentative schedule up on my personal site in the next day or so. I'll link my blog to it once I have reached that point.