It's Fall in Florida, Time for a Fast Ride

I just completed the Thursday ride with the 8:30 a.m. "show-n-go" group that I've been riding with. The temperature has finally dropped in the Clearwater area signaling the arrival of fall and better biking weather. This morning when I left our home to ride to the starting point at the Publix at Boot Ranch the temperature was a refreshing 61 degrees (Fahrenheit). Just overnight it seems the temperature has dropped from the high 70's to the low 60's in the morning. This makes biking so much easier. With the temperature drop also came a drop in the humidity. The combination means less stress on the body as one's cooling system has to work a little less perspiring to keep cool. That also means you don't need quite as much fluid. The legs feel stronger, your heart rate goes down and it really makes for a nice fast ride. Perhaps it was also a light wind from the northeast that combined with the favorable weather that turned this ride into my fastest yet for a group ride. My Garmin says we did 69.20 miles in 3 hours 30 minutes for an average speed of 19.7 mph with an elevation gain of 1,357 feet and 6,929 calories burned. There were eight of us of varying ages on this ride. I don't know all the last names and in some cases only the nick names but we had Coach (70), Mike(42), Bob(37), Glenn(38 the Terminator), Ruth(40), Alan(65 the Termite), Jeff(35) and me(61). It's a good group to ride with as they are all experienced bikers and the pace line is very steady (as opposed to squirrelly) staying at 20+ most of the time but moving up to 24-25 with a little tale wind. For September I rode 866 miles averaging 18 mph, average distance 54.14 miles per ride, 48 hours 6 minutes total time, average heart rate 126 and 82,754 calories burned. My weight seems to be steady at 255-260. Still a little more than I would like.