Rapha Festve 500 - day 8

You know that feeling when your kids wake you up at 3 am and you just want to go out for a ride? Today I did just that. At 3:42 am I started my Garmin and headed out in the darkness, again. My goal was to do about 120 km with an average speed of 25 km/h so I wouldn't be late for work. I did the same route as I did on the last day of the Festive 500 last year. In 2010 we had -12∘C and a lot more snow so I knew I was going to be faster this year.

-2∘C today so I had my warm gloves on. 

After riding about an hour and a half in mostly dark forests it was nice to ride through some villages with street lights and houses with lamps turned on.

Still happy!

When I was riding through Leksand I was about half way. Here I ate a Snickers and drank a little Coke, which I had brought with me. My average speed here was 25.0 km/h. I felt that I had been in the saddle for 2 hours and 20 minutes but I wasn't exhausted or anything. In addition to the candy and Coke the wind was now going to be in my back so my confidence was high. From here on I could take it a bit easier yet still go faster, the perfect combination!

When I left Leksand I set up a goal to rase the average speed from 25.0 to 26.0 and when I arrived at work my Garmin told me that I had an average speed of 26.1! It was a balance act trying to reach that goal but at the same time trying to preserve as much energy as possible. I had to ride home from work as well!

115.4 kilometers in 4 hours and 25 minutes with an average heart rate of 144, look at the complete Garmin data here. I never got to see the sunrise because at this time of year the sun rises at about 9 am.

Today I was only working half-day and I ate a classic Swedish shrimp sandwich, or Räkmacka as we call it.

After work it was time to sit in the saddle again, but this time in daylight!

Gravel/ice roads

Not quite as fast as my shadow

Studded tire, icy road and forest. No surprise here!

I decided for a detour when i got to Falun and caught up with some friends. Really nice with some company when my legs had started to hurt, even if it only lasted about 15 minutes or so.

Adding 43.03 kilometers to the morning ride gives me 158.4 kilometers today and 429.37 kilometers in total during this Rapha Festive 500. You'll find Garmin data for my ride home here.

158.4 kilometers in 6 hours and 3 minutes and a half-day at work and still I made it home before 2 pm!