What a Contrast!

What a difference a couple of days can make!

I left early and headed up to Smithville just when it started to sprinkle.  I didn't think rain, to speak of, was in the forecast, so I headed up to the lake.  Half way there, I noticed the rain picking up just a bit and thought about returning back home.  The rain didn't seem to increase so I decided to get my ride in.  My only concern was possible slick asphalt which meant I had to take it easy on the curves.

At first, I intended to ride 40 miles to get a good start on the week, but my legs were still just a bit sore from Saturday, so I opted for just riding the Anita Gorman/Cabin Fever trail.  I also remembered to try and relate the biking to marathon training with respects to incorporating an easy run after a hard/long run.  I surely considered Saturday a long run, relatively speaking, kind of like a 16-20 miler while marathon training, so I backed off and did a nice easy 18.37 miler.

This ride turned out to be one of the most enjoyable I've experienced!  I had the trail to myself as there were no runners, walkers, or even another cyclist for my entire ride.  This is quite unusual for Smithville.  On ANY given day of the week there is always people using the trail!  The only sound I heard was a few birds and the tic-tic-tic-tic of rain drops hitting my helmet.

To top that off, it wasn't warm or cool, it was just kind of neutral, which was also something new to me.  I was never warm or cool, just super comfortable for the entire ride.  It was also eerily quiet, except for the birds here and there.

This ride was almost the opposite of Saturday!

Total of 18.37 miles, average speed 11.3 mph topping out at 15.4 mph.