Too nice not to bike

My plan was to get in another swim this weekend, but now it will have to wait until tomorrow. We had the luxury of another unseasonably warm January day (35*F - 48*F, sunny, wind 5-8 mph) so today was much better suited for another bike ride down the peninsula! It's important to take advantage of these nice winter days when they happen!

So I did 29.2 miles, averaging 16.2 mph, done before noon. That's 0.6 mph better than my last ~30-mile ride 2 weeks ago, so I think the slight adjustment I made in increasing my seat height and shortening my aerobar length helped a lot. My knees no longer hit my elbows and I get a more complete leg extension.

I was finally able to try out my hot new Sidi bike shoes, since I finally put new cleats on them, and they were incredibly comfortable! They have a strange ratchet mechanism and release, which snugs down nicely on my foot and feels comfortable while pedaling, but I always forget how to release it and have to spend a little while figuring it out again. I need to get that part memorized before I frantically try to get them off during any triathlons!

My lower back muscular endurance and getting my neck and shoulders accustomed to aero position still seems to be my limiting factor on the bike. I could keep pedaling, but the knives in my lower back and the crick-that-won't-stop in my neck induce me to call it a day.

I still need to get in another 3.5 miles running this week, which will have to happen late this afternoon when my husband gets home from his flying lesson. It might be a little hard to boot myself out the door then, if it didn't promise to be a spring-like 55*F by then!