← Blog/April 26, 2026 · 2 min read
Back on the Bike, Miles Starting
Two days of trail run soreness forced a full rest day. Today I got back on the bike and started the ramp toward TheBayRide.
The honest version
I did a trail run a few days ago. The second-day soreness was bad enough that I had to take a full rest day before touching the bike again. That's not a complaint, just the reality of asking a 209-pound body to do things it isn't fully trained for yet.
Today I rode. 25.92 miles, 99 minutes moving, 389 feet of gain.
The numbers
- Distance: 25.92 mi
- Moving time: 99 min
- Elevation: 389 ft
- Avg power: 107W
- Avg HR: 137 bpm
- Max HR: 170 bpm
- Work: 637 kJ
- Avg speed: 15.7 mph
107 watts average is low. My FTP right now is 216W, so I was riding at roughly 50% of threshold. This was not a hard ride. It was a ride to shake out the legs, confirm the body still works, and start moving in the right direction.
The max HR of 170 tells part of the story. I wasn't pinning it, but there were moments. The body is still recalibrating.
Why this matters
TheBayRide is 135 miles around the Bay. August 29th. That's roughly four months from now.
Four months sounds like a lot of time until you do the math. If I need to be comfortable riding 135 miles in a day, I need to be doing 60, 70, 80-mile long rides in July. To get there, I need consistent volume in May and June. To build consistent volume, I need to start now, with rides exactly like this one.
25 miles is not the destination. It's the floor. The point is that I did it, and I'll do it again, and the numbers will move.
What I noticed
Legs felt heavier than expected for the first 20 minutes. That's the trail run talking. By the back half of the ride they loosened up. No pain, no mechanical issues, no excuses to stop early.
The suffer score came in at 87, which feels right for a moderate aerobic ride at this fitness level. It shouldn't feel easy yet.
What's next
I'm going to keep sharing these numbers, including the weeks where the volume drops or I skip rides entirely. The goal isn't to look like I have it all figured out. The goal is to show what training actually looks like when you're also running an event, a company, and a household.
If you're riding TheBayRide in August, whether that's the 35-mile Bay crossing from SF to Oakland or the full 135-mile loop, now is the time to start moving too. Not next month. Now.
More soon.
From the ride
Ride the Bay with us
The Bay Ride is a charity bike ride around the Bay Area. 135 miles all the way around, or a 35-mile option from SF to Oakland.
Register