Wind-ervals and a Conversational Ride

I don't have much time for the blog right now, as most of my time is being spent on job searching, cycling, family, or selling our house.  The last excuse is a biggie, as we're deep in the process of changing realtors, and it is requiring a major change in direction for selling the house.  That's another post, but in the meantime, here's my road report for the last two days:

MONDAY 3/24/09

After two days off, which were spent doing simple and fulfilling things with the family, I decided to head out for some interval work.  I didn't realize until I got out there that the wind was averaging 25 MPH, gusting to over 30.  It almost knocked me over several times, and I could barely spin when I had a headwind.  I did 11 miles, then went home feeling very weak-legged.  I didn't feel good after the ride.  Too short, too hard, too windy.  Some days are good, some days are not.

TUESDAY 3/25/09

I met Speedo at 7:30a, and we rode southeast towards Progreso.  I had stupidly left my Garmin on overnight, and since it couldn't get a satellite fix, it burned the batteries down to zero point zero availability.  As a result, I have no ride data, but here's the route.  We did 56 miles in about 3.5 hours, fighting lots of rush hour traffic along the way.  I don't know my speed, cadence, or heart rate data, but the ride felt like a long, slow, distance ride that was on the edge of being bumped from slow to moderate.

Independent of the traffic, speed, and other stats, we had a great ride.  It was strenuous, but we were able to converse and enjoy the cool morning weather.  Conversation covered jersey design, Facebook, patching tubes, buying tires on the cheap, and all sorts of other cycling and non-cycling topics.  We did have to fight a strong wind (~15 mph?) on the way out, but then we embraced the same wind on the way home.   

One last tidbit -- I'm pinching cycling pennies these days, so instead of a CLIF Bar, I ate a PB&J sandwich at the halfway point.  Delicious.