FROZEN

 
53 kms | 2 h 11 m | avg speed 24 km/h | avg hr 147 bpm | 1.337 kcal

Another very cold day on the bike today. I left home at 8:30 and the ground was totally frozen. Have to be very careful which slow down the average speed quite a lot. Despite that it was a nice ride with no wind and beautiful sun.

Hoje foi outro dia de muito frio na bicicleta. Eu saí de casa às 8:30 e o chão estava congelado. Tive que tomar muito cuidado o que fez a velocidade média baixar muito. Apesar disso foi uma volta legal sem vento e com o sol brilhando.

My car frozen window: indication of how the ground would be.

I could see the first sign that the night was very cold and the ground was frozen was already from inside the house. The car windows in front of my house were covered in ice. I started cycling very slowly and tried to avoid the white road markings which stay longer frozen and are much more slippery. On the way to meet my riding companion of the day, Peter, I went thru a road completely frozen and that was quite scary. You can see on the picture above the frozen grass.

It took me around 38 minutes to reach Peter’s house. Which usually I do in 25 minutes. For a second we look at each other asking with no words: “are  we really doing this?”. But Peter is like me. A plan as a plan and must be carried out. So we went very gingerly towards the river Vecht and all the way giving each other plenty space. I still have the memory of my crash on the fist week of January and the fear of hurting my hips was quite strong.

At the Vecht, the road as exposed to the sun and the ice was melted. That gave us a bit more confidence and we could push more speed. That was great but right at the end we hit a little side of the road and both our back wheels slipped a bit. That was a sign to stop trying our luck and turn back home.

We went to the always painful Amsterdamrijkanaal which we expected to be fully in the sun and headed home against a light wind. That was the nicest part of the day and we could push a little harder. The sun was shining and it that gave a very crisp scenery of the channel.

Part of the lousy speed I can blame on the ice. But part of it is that I’m still not in shape. I can feel very sluggish and the legs are heavy. Maybe an effect of the weight lifting I’m focusing my training. But for sure the fact that I’ve gained 4 kgs in the last month doesn’t help. Note to self: I need to train harder and eat better…