Today I did my "Three Laps of Stanley Park" workout. I take it easy down to the park, then try to do three laps at the same speed, or ideally faster each lap. Two weeks ago I did the classic silly trick of burning up the first lap and then having nothing left for lap three. Today I still did the first lap a bit faster than the other two, but at least the third lap was faster than the second.
Unfortunately, I'm paying the price. My knee is sore -- actually the back of the knee. I discovered on the weekend that it's the digging I'm doing in the yard that wrecks it. I'm doing a lot of digging these days as we remodel the garden. Unfortunately, once the digging wrecks my knee, the cycling aggravates it. Maybe I need to stop pretending I'm 25.
The ride in the park is great for variety. It's up and down and has almost no straight bits. I find it a challenge to put together the lessons I'm learning about spinning the pedals in the park environment. I can spin when it's a longer flat stretch, but it's harder when you're constantly rolling up and down.
We're already into the time of year when an afternoon, even a weekday afternoon, means lots of tourist traffic. Today it was worth waiting for the afternoon, as it was sunny and 15 degrees or so.
I'm almost used to all the new views in the park. Last year's windstorms really changed the face of the park. Maybe that's why there were so many tourists wandering on the road: many parts of the seawall are closed, so people can't walk around the park like they used to.
There's no Google map for the route today. At least not yet. The road around the park is too twisty to map in the amount of time I have.
