Not-so-gusty Ride

I'd been itching to get out on my bike since I got my tire fixed late last week.  The forecast consistently predicted Wednesday would be the warmest day this week, which indeed it was.  But in paying attention to temperature, I failed to noticed that it was also going to be a very windy day, not ideal conditions for an inaugural ride.  I went out anyway and, without any notable exceptions, the wind didn't factor in to the ride.  It's a good thing I went then because that night it snowed six inches.  I'll have to wait for that accumulation to melt before I can ride again.

Considering it was the first ride almost three months and I'm in less than peak shape, I managed a fairly respectable thirty miles.  The first half of the route was mostly flat or downhill, but coming back I struggled up a couple hills that really got the heart pumping.  I started southeast through some neighborhoods until I connected with the Platte River trail which I rode south (upstream) for about five miles.   I was going to stay on the trail system, but the other trails were unpaved and either too muddy or slushy to ride so I worked my way north along surface streets.  I took a ten-minute breather beside a nice pond in Englewood after which I found paved trails to use for most of the rest of the ride.

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Trip Statistics
Length: 29 miles
Ride Time: 3 hours 42 minutes
Total Time: 3 hours 04 minutes
Avg. Speed: 9.5 MPH
Max. Speed: 22.1 MPH
Total Ascent: 1,200 ft.
Max Elev.: 5,541 ft.

Elevation Profile

Pikes Peak from Tejon Street

Platte River Trail

Front Range from Whitman Elementary