M7 Out & Back

Out to lovely Glenwood, home of the McMansion, at around 2pm to hit the M7 again. It's not scenic, but it's great to be able to do two to three hours unmolested by traffic. I can actually ride with the iPod there, which is a big help on the long rides (as, indeed, it has been on long runs).

Where I park is not quite at the start of the bike track, rather it's about 1.5km in from the start. I got kitted up, called Mohammed about his efforts at GC (next time, mate), and then cruised down to Old Windsor Road to the start of the track - I wanted to get a GPS plot on the full track.

Felt okay early on, much stronger than last week, despite a strong headwind. I was hoping to do about another 20 minutes over last week, with a turnaround of about 1 hour 15 or so. As I continued, I decided to go the whole way, and made the turnaround at Cambden Valley Way, 38.6km, in 1:15:58, and pushed hard from there.

It was tough work heading home from there, but managed to grind it out. Reminded me of some of my long runs - it was good, I felt strong, had some up and down periods, but managed to finish the whole course in 2:36:14, 77.19km (by the Garmin) at an average speed of 29.6km/h. Pleasing, as I'd wanted to cover the M7 in less than three hours, and the next goal from there was 2:45. I'd like to cover it in better than 30km/h average speed, and then under 2:30.

Fitness is coming along nicely. Felt much stronger than previously.