Now that there are less than 12 hours of sunlight each day, I’m finding it much harder to work my cycling into my daily schedule. If I wait for the sun to come up, my commute to work does not start until 7:00am at the earliest and to get home before the sun sets I have to leave my desk by 4:00pm. AND, that’s assuming I don’t have any pressing schedule deadlines that require a little extra effort/time.

As much as I prefer to ride outside with the sun warming my face, the sights flying by and the breeze cooling (or chilling!) me, I decided it is time to include the velodrome riding into the mix. It worked out well for me today — I worked until 5:00pm, drove to Boulder and rode for an hour, then drove back to work and stayed until about 10:00pm. Not ideal — but I was able to get my cycling “fix” and some extra time at the office.

I was the only one on the track. Guess everyone else is still trying to ride outdoors too. It felt great. The track’s bank seems less steep than last year, and although I enjoyed the ride there was no adrenaline rush like there was the first few times I took to the track. I rode fast. I rode hard. My top speed was 30.4 mph and I covered 20 miles in the hour that I rode. It will be more fun when some other folks move indoors too!