Bicycling in Bloomington

 My guideline for bicycle and bad weather is 15^o as the minimum when sunny and dry and 35^o when raining. Today, the average temperature on my two thermometers was 34^o and there was a rain and snow mix when I wanted to go out at 9 AM. Usually, I would run when I can’t bike but I’m resting a small injury to my calf, so I rode indoors.

I like riding indoors for a few reasons. First, it gets me on the bike. But, mostly because it’s so efficient. For a long time, I had a trainer but didn’t use it often or like it much when I did. Last year, my daughter bought me a Troy Jacobsen DVD for my birthday. After using it a few times, I learned to like riding indoors with the direction that comes from a DVD. Since then, I’ve accumulated 4 additional DVDs and each works well for me under different circumstances.

Today, I rode a virtual reality ride - 17 miles in about 50 minutes. The ride starts relatively easy where my HR was in the 120s. After about 15 minutes, my HR went into my lactic threshold that I assume is between 135 and 140. For most of the ride, my HR was 145 - 160. At my age, my max HR is less than 160, so this was a demanding ride for me. It would be very unusual for me to ride that hard outside. With the warmup and warmdown, it was a good hour of riding.

Similarly, when I ride indoors in the morning, I can choose among workouts that range from about 35 - 50 minutes. Each is a little different and each emphasizes different aspects of riding. For example, a couple workouts have one-legged spin sets that I would never do on my own. For a day with limited time to exercise, a 30 minute hard spin session on a trainer is very efficient.

Generally, Bloomington has reasonable weather for riding but for those days when the weather is bad, when I have to exercise before sunrise, or when I just want to spend my time most efficiently, training indoors with a DVD works for me. Of course, nothing beats a nice day outside on the bike.