It seems crazy to ride my bike to the fitness center to do a bike workout. But, it turns out that it's a great choice. I don't plan to do much road riding (at least for quite some time), probably limiting it to my weekend ride (at most). It's way too hilly around here for me to be able to do a ride that will allow me to maintain a cadence and heart rate that is in line with the scheduled workout. It is so much more effective to head over to the fitness center. Once my rides reach a certain duration, that calculation will tip in favor of getting out on the road. And, there is the equally valid need to get actual experience doing hill climbing.

There is another option of riding on my rollers. But, I'm not ready to do that yet, either. Riding the rollers takes practice. I also miss out ln the stats that the stationary bike provides so conveniently for me.

It was great to be able to monitor my heart rate and cadence on the computer screen of the bike. While I do have the HRM equipment, it would have been incredibly inconvenient to have to keep looking at my watch. I don't have a cadence meter on my bike computer.

So, speaking of stats, here they are to the best of my recollection. I hadn't thought that the bike would provide the averages at the end of the workout (although it should have been a good assumption). The workout was fifteen minutes in Zone 2. Average speed: 15.6 (? It was 15 point something); Average cadence: 96 (It was definitely in the mid 90 - something range); Average HR: 138 (It was definitely in the mid- to upper-130 something range). Tomorrow I will make sure to bring pencil and paper with me to record it accurately. I think it will be extremely helpful to track the stats over time.

I can say that riding in Zone 2 feels a lot different than running in Zone 2; running is way easier, even with the 5% downward adjustment for the HR on the bike.

The ride to the fitness center and back provided a really nice warm up and cool down. It takes me just around five minutes each way.

I'm definitely going to need to get my act together better, though. My alarm went off at 6:45 am. Now it's already 11:30 am and I haven't done one minute of work, yet. I do need to confess that I spent a bunch of time on non-work related things so far this morning; I could have gotten started by 10:20 or so, even with having done ten minutes of meditation after breakfast.

So, I guess I should focus on getting an hour of work in before I grab some lunch.