cyclingmatters

After recently getting back onto my bike after ‘time out’ (aside from taking my granddaughter to school and back) I decided I needed to get back out.  In the beginning it was just short trips out with my granddaughter, a mile here, half a mile there, into town fo a little shopping and that was it.  Then I felt the need to break away from short trips and regain my previous fitness, stamina and, most importantly, enjoyment in cycling.

Not far from where I live, on the B5066 out of Stafford, there is a ride of just over 5 miles return, that includes a jolly good hill.  I thought that I could start using this road to improve my stamina and fitness, increase my speed and build some hill strength without having to go very far from home.  On the 21st April (2014) I took my mountain bike out (Specialized Rockhopper Pro) to just test the hill and get an idea of time and speed – and to check on my ability!

I set my Polar HRM (Heart Rate Monitor) RS800, and my GPS unit (Garmin Oregon 550t) up and was ready for the off.  Because I was all excited (and anxious) about the ride I didn’t record the ride accurately, but having said that, it was a success – I did it and I felt good.  Roughly, I managed 15 mins 14 secs on the outward journey, and 18 mins on the return journey (no break on this trial run).

Then, on 1st May I did the ride on my road bike (Specialized Secteur Sport) and the following images show my results.

The above image is an edited screenshot taken from Garmin Connect.  It shows my outward journey.

Above is another part of the same Garmin Connect page showing the conditions and speed of my ride.

The two images above show the return journey.

This final image above shows an edited screen shot from Polar Protrainer 5, it is showing the elevation of both the outward and return rides together with my heartrates.  Just a reminder here that I am 57yrs old and weigh around 11 stone.

So this is a ‘new dawn’ in my cycling experience with more, much more to follow. :o)