Last road ride of 2009

I haven't been out on the bike for a proper ride for a couple of weeks owing to the weather so was eager to get out at the first opportunity on the road rather than being stuck in the garage on the turbo and the last day of the year gave me that opportunity. The weather was still freezing cold but the snow and ice had mostly melted away so I set off for one of my short usual routes around north Cheshire.

Now normally it doesn't take long for my heart rate to shoot up but strangely today despite 15 minutes on the bike and speeds of 20 mph my heart rate only rose into the 70's so I assumed either my HR monitor was on the blink or there wasn't enough moisture (sweat) on the strap contact points. Eventually after a hill my HR settled into the expected range so I'm assuming the problem was a dodgy signal rather than an inability to get my HR up - I hope... Normally when there is not enough moisture on my HR strap I just lose all signal and not get the weird reading I experienced. Strange...

On this ride I didn't go too hard with ice still being around in places but did get a few sprints in for a few intervals. So that's it for 2009, roll on 2010.


My Stats
21.5 miles, 1hr24min, Av Speed 15.4mph, Av/Mx HR 146/171