I got my second vaccination shot one week ago. They tell me the immunity will be up to full strength in about two weeks. That would put a first ride possibility on a Saturday and I’d rather not attempt braving the crowds of tourists I’ve seen here on a weekend. That pushes me to the next Monday after. As I type this, I sit at tee minus 9 days to when I will take my first outdoor ride since March twenty-third of last year. On that ride I determined I couldn’t ride around home and maintain any reliable social distance thanks to the crowds of mostly maskless tourists. That and the parks restrooms and drinking fountains all closed for the first stint of the lockdown. It took me a couple of weeks to decide to order a smart trainer and it showed up in late May. I used two different smart training applications, Zwift and Kinomap. I looked a few others. I decided Kinomap was the bang for the buck bargain I was after. I’ve not gotten bored, it has been interesting, entertaining and educational. I have enjoyed exploring different parts of Europe by the seat of my virtual bicycle. I managed to add power meter pedals and a head unit to connect and record my rides. Those in anticipation of riding outdoors again.
One of the features of the Wahoo Fitness Elemnt Bolt is I can load a route from Strava and virtually re-ride it, though without video, but the resistance and speed will be there. I plan on doing one of those prior to heading outside for real. Just to check how I feel real to virtual.
I figure the first several rides are going to be constrained by my water carrying capacity of me and my bicycle. I am hoping I can do one of my old usual loops out to Ortega Park and back. Reviewing the metrics from the last time I rode that route almost exactly a year ago, I can see it is about a two hour ride, but a massive for my indoor distances of nearly fifty kilometers. It is relatively flat with only three hundred and sixty-one meters of climbing. I would normally ride out to the park, stop and get water and a restroom break then ride back home, looping around the harbor at Dana Point.
One thing is clear from checking over the bicycle before this morning’s workout session, I’ll need a complete wash up and wax. The dust and dirt have built up pretty badly with this thing on the training stand. I’ll also need to change the training tire and tube out for my old GP 5000 I began cooking last June.
My initial training goals are going to be very modest. I just want to work back into riding for a couple hours a day on real roads. As I figure out what rest stops are available to me I hope I can work up to my old metric century loop. Then work at that to eventually ride an imperial century; first one hundred kilometers then one hundred miles.
I know I’ll be carrying a mask and my little bottle of hand sanitizer and still attempting to maintain social distancing. I plan on pushing myself to train earlier in the day to avoid the more casual lunchtime crowds. I know from past experience there are larger crowds of riders out on weekends, but those are larger later in the mornings so weekends I figure to hit early morning. For me that will mean re-training myself to wake early, get breakfast and get on the road. I figure I need to get to waking at about 6AM.
During the workweek I aim to be turning onto the road at Dana Point about 9AM. Which would put me leaving the house maybe half past 8AM.
My plan for here is once I’m riding outdoors to do a weekly diary of sorts. Photos, some data, some thoughts, And maybe even some achievements. We’ll see.
My equipment list has increased a bit since last time I was outdoors. The Wahoo Fitness Elemnt Bolt head unit and Garmin Vector 2 power meter pedals. I’ll also be using the Wahoo Fitness Cadence sensor I got with the smart trainer package. Thankfully I have a stock of CR2032 batteries.
My next installment of this diary will include preparation as well as finding where I packed helmet, gloves and sunscreen away along with that seat bag with all my tools and pump.
My subscription to Kinomap is canceled so, these next few sessions will be running either off Wahoo Fitness or the Elemnt Bolt using either their workouts or some of my rides as routes.
Along The Way 