I just finished a 34.758km bike ride that lasted about 1hh:40mm:42ss !
Except for lots of walking with the dogs, it's my first real sport activity since I sprained my ankle a little more than 2 weeks ago. That damn injury prevented me from running a local 10k race last Saturday and that sucks! But anyways, it's getting a little better and this Sunday with the great sun we had, I thought it was time to test it. A bike ride sounded a little easier on the ankle than running. I thought I would start easy and continue based on pain level. The good news is that I almost didn't feel the ankle at all while riding, which is why it ended up being much longer than planned. Almost 2 hours for the first ride in months, my behind will probably feel it, even with the chamois 😉
My old bike is in serious need of maintenance, the tires are pretty much bald, gears shift only they want to and the whole thing is very squeaky. But for this time, I just added air, as both tires were completely flat, and got started late afternoon when sun was still high up.
To avoid too much vibrations, I made sure to stay on good roads as much as possible. Well, it's Michigan at the end of winter, so roads can get pretty rough! And I also went through a few dirt and mud paths while exploring. Of course, I had no itinerary in mind and just decided as I went. As usual, I got lost a few times, and discovered some nice areas and parks that I never visited before even after so many years living in the area. That's one advantage over running, the extended distance makes it easier to find new places.
On the second part, the sun was getting lower on the horizon. Because I was relieved and glad my ankle held well, I kept adding detours and once again completed the ride in the night. Towards the end, I even tried pushing a little bit harder, with a couple miles under 3min45s (probably not impressive at all for road bikers, but with this heavy old mountain bike, that's not too bad). And the ankle was still doing well.
Overall, a very nice ride. Quite different effort compared to running of course. For instance, my average heart rate was barely at 135bpm, while it's always above 160bpm at least, even for easy runs. But the good news of course is that my ankle didn't bother me. I did feel it a bit after and this morning, but nothing really bad. I think I might stick with biking for some time (or at least until my appointment with a specialist next week) and let the ankle get stronger before resuming my running.