Winter has finally shown its face here in Denver, CO. On October 29th we saw 6 inches (ca. 15 cm) of snow and temperatures hitting 8 °F (ca. -13 °C) overnight (brrrr). However, most of October was beautiful weather so compared to my September ride recap, I was able to get in a total of 16 rides, with 7 of those being outside.
I am pretty happy with how much I have gotten to ride with our newborn daughter only being 2 months old now. My wife started riding again and is starting to get back into bike shape after being off the bike for 9 months. So we are now alternating who gets to get out and ride.
We had grandparents visit twice this month, which allowed my wife and I to get out for two rides together. As I have mentioned in the past, riding with your significant other is always enjoyable, especially when you have kids. It allows you to get out together for some quiet time. My monthly riding stats for the month of October were:
| Total Number of Rides | 16 |
|---|---|
| Road Rides | 6 |
| MTB Rides | 1 |
| Zwift Rides | 9 |
| Total Distance (mi) | 253 |
| Total Elevation (ft) | 16,391 |
Sleep has been improving as a result of our 2-month-old doing more consistent 5-hour sleep stretches and in the past week, she even snuck in a 7-hour stretch! That will be great once my wife goes back to work after maternity leave at the end of November. Hopefully, I won’t have to get up much in the middle of the night!
As demonstrated by the screenshot below, I still have been taking it pretty easy on the bike. Most of my rides are in Zone 1 and 2 as I just do not have the energy to push myself much more than that. I will probably plan to stick with that for a while, as winter is around the corner and I will be doing a lot more Zwifting.
One of the highlights of the month was that I got back out on my mountain bike. I have not ridden it at all this year due to my focus on road biking, but also I do not like riding it around the Front Range in the summer to the rattle snakes. I am sort of scared of them, enough so that I avoid them completely. The trails are crowed with runners, hikers and other bikers and at a moments notice you have to get over and put your foot down to avoid another trail user. A snake could be sitting there (a little extreme I know).
You can probably look forward to seeing more mountain biking this fall and winter from me as long as the trails are dry. If you haven’t already, go check out my Unlocking The Tron Bike in Zwift as I try to complete it by spring 2024.
Here is to more riding!
DRB