Despite only riding a couple days this week, I went ahead with my normal Saturday 100km ride. Feeling a bit crampy now that it’s over, but it was a nice ride anyway. On my third trip over the Grapevine Lake dam I stopped and snapped a couple of photos; one of each side of the dam. Here’s the lake side, showing the Gaylord Texan resort across the lake.

…and on the other side of the dam is the Coyboys golf course. It always looks really inviting at 7am with the sun shining on the greens.

I felt pretty good on this ride, but for the last 8 miles or so. Started to run outta fuel, mostly due to the strong winds this morning. No worries. Average speed was 19mph and I spent just over 3hrs on the bike.

One highlight was meeting this nice couple on their uber-cool tandem bike. Now that’s what I call drafting on your partner! Had a brief chat with them at the next stoplight and then went back to the solo riding. Interesting trip today.

I’m relatively new to cycling and there are still quite a few things that I haven’t yet figured out. One of these things is average speed. What I mean is, though I vary my workouts (gentle rides, interval sessions, hard-charging rides, etc…) my average speed stays within a very narrow window. I’m not sure how that works.

For instance, on Monday I did a 45.5-mile ride that was what I’d call a gentle ride. No abrupt accelerations, no intervals, just an evenly paced, easy ride. My average speed for that 45.5 miles was 19.7mph. For me that’s pretty good. By contrast, if I really put the hammer down and ride balls-out for say 30 or 35 miles, my average speed comes in at 20 to 20.2mph. That’s a very minor difference in result, while my perceived effort is markedly different.

I guess what this means is that I don’t yet know how to ride fast and efficient. My guess is I’m putting out too much effort for too little gain when I decide to ride hard. What gives? (and please note that I’m talking about solo rides, not group sessions) If any of you more experienced riders out there can offer me a clue, I’d be thankful. It bugs me that I am doing something wrong and can’t figure out what it is. Grumble.