Took the northwest loop, which is the lightest traffic one can find on a Friday, still a bit more than usual. Started off good with Barry and I well-matched for speed, as he warmed up, but he was feeling really good so pushed the pace in the second half of the ride, and I fell back even using my higher assist levels. Going to look into an e-road bike rather than the e-utility bike I have now. Need something lighter and a class 3 to ride with my speedie hubby!

Warmup ride on a rainy morning on the trainer, so no outdoor ride today.

Under/over FTP intervals on this structured training ride. This has to be the most beautiful ride on Fulgaz. Stunning mountains and views in Mallorca.

Cooldown ride

About half-way into our northwest loop, Barry had a rear-tire flat. This is the first flat either of us has had in ages, so he had to remember all his skills. Plus he had never removed the rear tire on his new Trek, which has a thru-axle rather than the quick-release he's used to, and he also had to figure out the CO2 cartridge, as he's used to a mini-pump. But he did fine and got the tube changed. I looked for a long time but could never find a puncture in the previous tube. We were able to continue the ride, but I got pretty hungry because of that unplanned 30 min. stop. I need to go put a granola bar in my bike bag right now, because you never know when something unexpected might happen. Good ride other than that: humid, temp in 70s, fairly frisky west wend.

Rode to the northeast for the first time this spring. Warm, humid, and overcast to start. Then the sun came out. Light westerly breeze. I botched all three of the u-turns for various reasons (traffic, anxiety, etc) so lost speed there and had a tough time catching back up to Barry, even with my e-bike, since he was so fast today. Even with my issues, I had my fastest average speed, which shows how hard I was working. I'm debating a lighter-weight e-bike and class 3, so I am better matched with my super speedy husband. Mine is a class 1 and kind of a tank. I do enjoy it, but it would be better suited as a city bike than the fast recreational riding I am attempting to use it for.

The utility workers were out in force this morning! Telephone pole replacement all along one road, fiber optic cable installation, and a couple of other repair spots with linemen working; several one-lane road situations because of all this, plus one place with tree work going on. Other than all that, traffic was light. It was muggy after all the rain from the weekend, but roads had mostly dried out. Good ride overall, but this is my limit without a snack; I got hungry in the last few miles. Nunn water isn't enough for 90+ minutes!

Same ride as Wednesday but added an extra loop for three more miles. Plenty warm at the start for a sleeveless jersey, probably close to 80 by the finish. Sunny, SW breeze. Lots of cicada hum in the background. More traffic than usual on these quiet rural roads; guess because it's Friday.

Fast one today - Barry feeling good, so I had to use the higher assist levels of my motor more than usual. Typically I try to keep it in Eco mode (lowest assist level) for the entire ride, but this time, I had to use Norm (middle level) and even High a couple of times to catch up to him. Got a good workout since even w/assist, I was working hard, but I am a bit disappointed that the intense Fulgaz workouts all winter and early spring didn't make this any easier for me.

Finally, a warm morning and beautiful day for a ride on the road. 70 at the start, 73 at the end, sunshine, and a breeze - glad I have an e-bike, as the headwind was difficult at times, even with it. But the irises were blooming in people's yards, and it couldn't have been any prettier. Pollen tweaked me up towards the end, but well worth it.

Warmup ride

Cooldown ride

Structured interval training ride with short bursts above FTP

Cooldown ride

Beautiful ride in Germany with lake, rural hills, and fall foliage. Some short climbs up to 11% grade; the longest climb did not go above 6%, though. A lot of flat, a long screaming downhill, and some rollers. Good mix, great workout. Did this ride in steady mode so it wouldn't take 90 minutes.

Warmup ride

Cooldown ride

40/20 (above below FTP) Interval training ride with lots of recovery time, thus the super low speed/distance.

Warmup ride #1

Rolling ride with a longer climb in the middle, nothing over 6% grade. Pushed moderately hard and got a great workout.

Cooldown ride

Warmup ride #2

Cooldown ride

Moderately paced warm-up ride

I always forget how hard this training ride actually is, because the above-FTP intervals are many minutes long; it's a sweatfest!

An unusually warm week in mid-April finally prompted us to pull on the bike shorts and actually ride outdoors for a change, rather than on the smart trainer. Temp around 68 at the start and 78+ by the end of the ride, sunny, light breeze, plenty of tree pollen in the air but a beautiful day. Barry was feeling frisky on his new Trek Emonda during the second half, so I had to push to keep up, even riding my Kona Dew DL e-bike, but I didn't feel like it was the first ride of the year, since I've been training indoors. Definitely got a good workout keeping up with him! Only real issue was some hand stuff, which is not surprising for the first ride, plus the flat handlebars. 653' of climbing on this loop.

Easy warm up ride

Training ride with four blocks of 40/20 intervals above FTP plus numerous rest periods, good workout!

Warmup before training ride

Cooldown after training ride

Structured interval training ride with 20 second bursts above FTP and plenty of recovery time

Did not do this as a time trial, just wanted to see the sights and do the climbs! I did this one in steady mode to keep the time a little lower, since I had another ride planned after this. A couple of tough climbs followed by some screaming descents in the second half.

I pushed hard on this ride, as I was trying to see if I could come close to a friend who did it at a 16.2 mph pace. Nope, not today...maybe another time! It's actually nearly all flat with gentle descent in the last few miles, but I just couldn't go any faster...did this one after the Tour of Romandie, which must have worn me out.

Cooldown ride - pretty exhausted!

Warmup ride, easy spin

Structured training ride above and below FTP with some high cadence (100+) intervals. Tough but not the toughest of the training rides, especially since it 's not that long.

Tough one but very pretty, hilly ride in France - city, country, and lakeside.

Downhill to flat ride in steady mode to cool down after tough Walled City ride

Cooldown ride

Third FTP test, increased by one watt over last time...slow and steady progress

Warmup ride - before FTP test so went easy

cooldown ride

Rolling hills

Warmup ride

Whew...rode this one hard in a challenge w/my previous time from mid-January, and managed to beat it by over two minutes. Definitely got the HR up on this one. If only I were a larger person, my effort of 2 watts/kg of weight would yield me a higher average, but I definitely did the best I could do on this one!

Took it easy on this one after the tough Dordogne Dash! Even though my average speed was only a little lower, watts were quite a lot lower. It was just an easier ride.

Cooldown ride

Training ride in steady mode, short bursts w/high cadence & power above FTP

Rode this one after the Four Laps of London and found it pretty tough - the climb in the middle is over 7%, and I was working hard. Managed to keep my power up for the whole ride, and my average HR of 158 bpm reflected that. Whew!

Cooldown ride - exhausted after training ride and Salini Coast

Warmup ride

Cooldown ride

Training ride with multiple intervals above and below FTP, plenty of high-cadence intervals on this one (hard!)

Warmup ride

Long ride but not too strenuous. Good endurance ride.

Warmup ride

Training ride with bursts above FTP. Super slow overall because of all the forced low-power recovery sections.

Warmup ride

Training ride with brief bursts above FTP

Very pretty ride, starts with a descent and just lightly rolling after that.

Mostly downhill, then flat at the end

Warmup ride

Structured training ride with over/under intervals

Cooldown ride

Warmup ride

Training ride with structured intervals. Fulgaz hiccupped part-way through and I was not able to finish the ride, still got a good workout for the part I did with some tempo intervals.

Pushed hard for the first 3/4 of the ride since I missed out on part of the training ride I was doing today (before Fulgaz hiccupped). Cooled down during the last 1/4. Good ride, felt strong. Amazing how much warming up ahead of these rides helps with making them feel easier.

A much prettier ride in Costa Rica than the last one, but it is still not a place I'd want to live. Tons of motorcycles! And too Americanized. A nicely rolling ride with a couple of steep climbs (>10%). Definitely got the heart pumping!

Downhill (some screaming - over 30 mph) to flat. Riding with a cycling group for the second half was kind of fun. I wasn't nearly as fast as them, though!

Warmup ride

Interval training ride, many brief intervals above FTP with lots of rest in between blocks made for a very low average speed and power output. Still a good workout with the bursts of high power intervals. Beautiful ride!

First warmup ride, just cruisin'

Second warmup ride, picking up the pace and power a bit.

The finish to the Ironman bike leg in Nice, France, along the waterfront. Flat. This was supposed to be my training ride day, but Fulgaz kept crashing, and I was running out of time so decided to defer the training ride (which is almost an hour) to Monday and do other rides today.

Just did the first half of this ride to take in the screaming downhill. Pushed pretty hard so still kept the watts to a reasonable level rather than total cooldown level.

Final cooldown ride, fastest speed ever for this one - guess I finally warmed up!

Leisurely warmup ride

Rolling hill ride, sad to see so many billboards and signs, so much sprawl, trash, and development in such a beautiful natural environment. There is obviously no zoning there. This ride starts in Tamarindo, Guanacaste and goes from there. Very Americanized in town, less so out in the rural areas. At the end, there's a pretty bay, a boat anchorage, but the rider who filmed the video rides right past Margaritaville resort across the street. Gag! I just felt kinda bad for Costa Rica riding this...and for planet earth. I expected something magical, not trashy.

Cooldown ride - much less development here than in Costa Rica!

Warmup ride

Absolutely stunning climb in Mallorca, Spain. The interval training forced me to go super slow in sections, so my speed was even more ridiculous than it would have been had I ridden this for real; I may have hit 5 mph for an average...haha! But a great training session, over/under FTP, shorter hard intervals so easier than some of the training rides. Stunning scenery!

Cooldown ride, didn't need it after the long cooldown at the end of the training ride, but needed a couple of additional miles after that slow slog!

First warmup ride - not feeling great today

Second warmup ride

Cooldown ride - coasted a lot of this; I was pretty tired after my previous rides. Still managed to achieve one of my fastest averages on this ride.

Fairly flat ride, but I was tired and not feeling too well in the GI system today, so I had to work hard to get this done. A beautiful ride, though.

Increased my average speed by .3 mph since the last time I did this gradual uphill, beautiful ride on a cycle path through apple orchards in Italy. Watts up by 4.

Increased speed and watts quite a bit since the last time I did this ride. I think being warmed up ahead of time, rather than this being my first warmup ride of the session, made a difference. Plus, I know I'm getting stronger and able to work harder over time.

I think this is my fastest speed on this cooldown ride so far. I'm not trying to go fast, just to get my HR down after tougher rides, but it's nice to see the increase anyway.

First warmup ride

Second warmup ride

Cooldown ride - exhausted today

This was the first ride (other than a quick warmup) I ever did on Fulgaz, back in December of last year. This time, I averaged .73 mph faster, 2 watts higher, and finished three minutes ahead of my previous time. My HR was significantly higher, though. I think my HRM was not working properly the first time, as I was having problems with it initially. Either that, or I am overtraining now, which is possible! Been doing a lot of outside paving work as well, so need a bit more R&R.

Cooldown after a very tough training ride

Whew! Toughest training ride yet. Seemed almost if not as tough as the FTP test.

Warmup ride

This was intended to be a warmup ride before a training ride, but Barry and my Fulgaz sessions interacted badly after Fulgaz crashed on my laptop, and I could never reconnect to my trainer. Since he was already into his Fulgaz session, I aborted and will try again tomorrow morning. So, a super short one today!

Cooldown ride

Good ride, plenty of flat parts but a few small climbs, then a biggie at the end - 10% grade. Legs tired today after yard work yesterday.

Downhill cooldown ride - fast!

First warmup ride before training ride - flat and easy

Second warmup ride before training ride - pumping up the power just a bit more.

Third warmup ride before training ride, pumping the watts a little more.

Training ride with 40 sec/20 sec intervals, above and below FTP. Challenging but stunning ride in the Dolomites, prettiest one on Fulgaz yet!

Cooldown ride

Warmup ride before FTP test - legs felt tired after three days of walkway work outside

Cooldown ride - very tired after FTP test

TOUGH! My FTP only went up one watt since my first test on Jan. 1, despite giving up alcohol for a month and training hard, so that was a bit frustrating. I'm giving myself a break, though, because we've been doing strenuous outdoor work all week, and I did improve my overall speed for this very difficult uphill ride. The small FTP gain is not too surprising given my age, size (super petite), and the fact that I am a female. I'll keep plugging away!

Cooldown ride

A very beautiful ride, as the name says, through villages and countryside in France. There were quite a few flat to near-flat roads, plus a few climbs. Nothing too intense or long, but I still worked pretty hard. This is my last ride before my next FTP test on Friday.

Flat warmup ride, nice and easy.

First easy training ride focusing on pedaling efficiency (i.e., high cadence) instead of power or speed. As a result, both of those were low, but my cadence was good!

Needed to get my HR up so went hard here, achieved my highest wattage other than on the FTP test. Fun!

Final cooldown ride

Recovery ride - tried to keep my HR and Watts 10+ below normal, and was pretty successful, though this ride was near flat until the very end, when a steepish climb got me into my anaerobic HR range. Fortunately, it wasn't too long, and the next ride I did began with a steep descent. I was sorry not to see any kangaroos - just a lot of grassland/savannah, maybe some cattle grazing off in the distance. Bland scenery with brown grass.

Recovery ride #2. Again, a couple of climbs that pushed me beyond where I would have preferred for a recovery day, but my average watts and HR were lower than usual, so in that aspect it was good.

Cooldown ride

Great warmup ride, not too tough. New Zealand looks very clean, even in the city!

Structured training ride with multiple intervals over FTP. Hard!

Warmup ride #1

Warmup ride #2

Did this ride very early in my Fulgaz journey, about six weeks ago. This time I was 8 mins faster, about 1.6 mph faster, and my watts were 5 higher. Very pleased with my progress!

Cooldown ride

Cooldown ride after a tough training ride; heart rate a little slow to recover today.

Tough training ride with long intervals at FTP

Second warm-up ride and not my favorite - kind of a boring loop in the city and recorded at such a high speed that my regular speed puts everything else in slo-mo. Probably won't do this one again.

Beautiful warmup ride in Ireland; only wish it were longer!

Warmup ride that ticked up at the end, so I definitely got warmed up.

Cooldown ride, I needed it!

Fun to have an average over 18 for the first time in many years. That said, the ride was half downhill and half flat. I was actually averaging over 24 at the end of the descent, so had to watch my average tick down for the rest of the ride. No matter, it was a beautiful view of the sea and fascinating to see what Croatia is like. Trogir, the town at the end, is very touristy, with cruise ships and many tourists milling about. (No thanks.)

Warmup ride

Tough interval ride. Fulgaz forces you to go super low power for long intervals between the high power intervals, which is part of why the average speed is so low.

Warm up ride in a beautiful part of France

Cooldown ride

Training ride with intervals above, at, and below my FTP

Very pretty ride in English countryside, lots of tourists! Trended downhill much of the time but with a few short, snappy climbs. Good warmup ride before my training ride.

Cooldown ride

I accidentally did the "harder" version of this training ride instead of the regular version, and yes, it was hard. Very different scenery in the Abu Dhabi desert, sand dunes and definitely not flat!

Fun to do this warmup ride, as Barry and I rode the entire distance of this trail (out and back = 50 miles) when we were traveling around the US. The bridge is an architectural gem, and the trail is so flat that we were smoking fast (faster than I did this simulated, shorter portion). Loved it.

Tough ride with a Cat 4 climb that went on and on. Fun to do, though, because Barry and I had ridden some of these roads when we spent a month in Tucson ten years ago. I had forgotten how hilly those foothills were; guess they are called foothills for a reason. I pushed it really hard (too hard), so my average HR was really high, 158 bpm, and yet I only burned 219 calories. Sometimes it sucks being small!

Cooldown ride

Flat ride in the Netherlands in early May - lots of pretty flowers around! The "real road feel" made this one a bit more challenging than it would've been, as there were many cobbly/brick roads. Ooof!

Beautiful ride in Bavaria, Germany that was a bit harder than it looked, or maybe I'm just tired from a poor night of sleep last night.

Cooldown ride

Warm up ride. Did the same ride on Jan. 1 with higher watts and lower average speed, so I must be improving a bit!

Training ride with a couple of longer at-FTP intervals, tough!

Final cooldown ride

First cooldown ride after tough training ride

Easy warmup ride

Another tough training ride over/under FTP. It's a little depressing to ride for nearly an hour and not even get 4 miles in, but they do force me to ride at really low wattage for three long segments in between the tougher bits. I know the pros do this, so it is no doubt going to help me improve!

Easy cooldown ride after a tough training ride

Warmup ride

Fascinating ride along the Arakawa River in Tokyo. I visited Tokyo for work in 2000 but didn't know anything about this trail (it may not have been there). It is wide and obviously very well used, pretty busy with cyclists, runners, walkers on the day this video was filmed. The paved path passes by numerous baseball fields, and games were going on. Judging from the number of bikes by the side of the path, it appeared that most players cycled to their games - fabulous. This was my third day in a row of doing Fulgaz rides, and I could feel it. I am ready for a well-earned rest day tomorrow.

Cooldown ride

Cooldown ride

This was supposed to be a recovery ride, but I went a little harder than I planned, because someone else was doing the same ride nearby, and his time was shown on my screen. He started after me but caught me (of course), and finished about 2:30 ahead of me. No big deal, but just knowing he was seeing my time made me not want to ease off TOO much. Nice ride; I've never been to the Caymans. Very developed and too Americanized for my taste, though there were a few cute, colorful cottages before I got to the wealthier areas and city where much development was occurring. Flattish ride with a few short climbs on bridges.

Warm up ride

Structured training ride with intervals above, at, and below my FTP. App crashed at the end (first time that has ever happened).

Cooldown ride

A tougher-than-expected warmup ride - a couple of grades in the 8-9% range. Fortunately the descents made up for that, so I was faster than usual for these rides.

2716' of climbing on this FTP training ride, stunning scenery riding up a mountain in the high Pyrenees.

Cooldown ride

Warmup ride

Warmup ride #2

Tougher than it looked! This is an out and back ride: lightly rolling, then a big descent, then flat but on gravel, then back up the hill. Average speed was 16.2 after the descent, so I dropped nearly 4 mph on the climb. Sweatfest!

Cooldown ride, bring down that heartrate from 160 to <120!

Warmup ride before FTP test. Interesting, this ride was filmed in 2020 during the covid pandemic, on a boulevard that is normally very busy, but there wasn't a soul on it. The rider who filmed the ride got special permission to do so. Beautiful!

Whew! My first ever FTP test, and it was a doozy. I have a ways to go in improving this, but at least I know where I stand now. I also know that my maximum HR is at least 176!

Nice cooldown ride to bring the HR down after the FTP test.