Lake Stevens bike course? Been there, done that

Today was a day off of work, so I got a few co-workers to ride the Lake Stevens half-ironman bike course with me. The course is about 28 miles long, so on the race you do it twice. We only did it once - 28 miles of no shoulder and trucks lumbering alongside was enough - but I was really elated that we did it. I had heard it was hilly - it was, but not terribly so. Well, let me explain: it's a hilly course, but there are no significant climbs (certainly not on the level of what we rode last weekend!). There are a couple of steep parts, but they're over quickly, and a couple of really fabulous fast downhills. And going with three men who together have like no body fat and who ride all the time - better than me - kept me motivated to work hard.

We averaged 15.6. That made me super happy. I had hoped to average 16, but riding in a group, stopping, etc drops you a little.

Then, to finish off my biking this week, I rode the Sammamish River trail for 1.5 hours just to practice in my new aerobars. It's definitely more squirrelly to be in the aeros and something to get used to, but it made me want to increase my cadence and it was definitely welcome to have a new body position. By the end of my ride, I felt really comfortable on the trail. We'll see what happens next time I ride on the road. I also made another adjustment to my bike: I put my seat up quite a bit to get a better leg extension. It's now at the proper height, I think. It wasn't before because I was nervous about stopping on the road and not being able to touch the ground while sitting on the seat, but I'm a more confident rider now, so I think I'm okay with getting off my seat and standing over the post like I'm supposed to when I have to stop at lights, etc.

So, how about today's data? Let's see if I can reconstruct it all:

Food:
Breakfast: Bagel and cream cheese, milk in coffee: 350 cals
While riding: Powerbar, 220 cals
Lunch: Sandwich and apple, 810 cals
After riding again: Mojo bar, two cookies, dark chocolate: 450 cals
total so far: 1830 calories
Dinner: Chicken breast and salad, a little more dark chocolate: 700 cals
Total for the day: 2530 calories yay!

Exercise:
Ride my bike a lot! 2000 calories burned