It’s about time
It’s about time that I stepped up my longer rides in preparation for the racing season. I’ve had some hiccups this year in getting my base distance in due to a nagging injury and the crappy weather we’ve endured this winter.
The injury I’m working on fixing but it’s a slow process. The weather, well, that can keep me indoors on the stationary bike which is difficult to get motivated for. I’m fortunate in that I can ride .5mi from my house and be on a trail so I can at least head in several directions from there to get some time on the bike. Nothing beats actually getting out on the bike. The changing terrain, wind, temperature and trail conditions create a certain challenge each time out…something I really enjoy about mountain biking.
I don’t own a road bike so I can’t get in long steady miles like others normally do this time of year. A road bike is on my wish list but it’s not at the top so it’ll have to wait.
Yesterday I set out to do 3hrs on the bike and picked a perfect place to ensure that I met my goal. I visited Batsto in Hammonton, NJ which is a JORBA park. It’s only about a 20min drive from home and provides some different loops to choose from. I went with the green-blue route which is 9.6mi in length.
This offers the opportunity to stop at the lot to change out gloves or remove clothing if necessary. It also challenged me to stick to my 3hrs or bail…I got three laps in and probably could have done a 4th lap if I had the proper clothing and another set of gloves. For some reason I tend to sweat up my gloves and because the temps were in the upper 30’s it became a little uncomfortable.
The nice thing about the blue section is the flowy goodness!
The terrain reminds me of our local trails at Seaview Trails. You have some small climbs then you can open it up on the down hill portions. It’s kind of like riding a human powered roller coaster.
All in all a good day, I got to run in to some guys I knew would be out there and I met my goal. Now I have to keep it up and extend the rides to 4hrs!
