ARKANSAS STATISTICS

     I can't say that I'm fascinated by statistics, but perhaps a little curious.  After a ride I'll fill out my spread sheet and look to see if the stats agree with perception.  Occasionally I can see something my body missed.
     Let's start with my HR.  I haven't seen anything higher than 160 for the last couple of years, but I did get it up to 159 earlier, so I'm saying my max is 160.  On the first ride, Thursday, with the heat and humidity and 18% grade, I hit 156.  My graph shows five peaks of 155 in the twenty minute stretch of climbing.  In that twenty minute stretch 13:40 was in Zone 5.  Average HR for the 17.2 mile ride was 129.  I classify that as a hard workout.  We climbed 1168 feet (my computer, yours might say something else).  Average speed was 10.5 with a max of 35.5.  I saw a lot of 3-4 mph going up.
     The next day was much better, with an average HR of 115 with a max of 146.  Only thirteen seconds in Zone 5 and forty-five minutes in Zone 4.  So, basically cruising.  Max speed was 30.9 and the average of 9.8 is skewed due to long stopping.  We had a handful of rollers in the 5% range, and I kept within myself.  Total ascent was 1780 feet so it wasn't like we were flat.  Remember, I skipped the tough climbs.
     Saturday I remembered to divide the two rides, the first segment riding out to the gravel and the second on the gravel loop.  The first twenty-seven miles took us two hours, forty-two minutes and my average HR was 114 with a max of 148, but only nineteen minutes in Zone 4 and 1 minute in Zone 5.  Considering there were six climbs over 10%, with the biggie at 16%, keeping my HR to just 148 was excellent.  Of course, then I sagged for a few miles before the gravel.  1602 feet of ascent.
     The gravel segment was only 10.2 miles, with a total time of one hour twenty-five minutes.  Again only nineteen minutes in Zone 4 and zero time in Zone 5.  Lots of time in Zones 2 and 3.  Average speed of 7.2 as I navigated some really nasty gravel, but I got it up to 26.2 on that downhill.  This part had an ascent of 808 feet, so I had 2410 feet of climbing total.
     Now for the last day, an "easy" day to Bentonville on the bike way.  Of course, the rain/wet played a part.  Two hours, twenty minutes (not counting lunch) for twenty-eight miles, with an average speed of 10.2 and a max of 23.8.  Two and a half minutes in Zone 4, zero in Zone 5.  Average HR was 102 with a max of 137.  We really noodled along.  The wet concrete played a part, but consider we climbed 1225 feet.  That's more than we did on Thursday.  Of course, Thursday was mostly over three miles.
     Here's my take-away on this: How about we take the Bentonville ride on Friday to give us an easy day after the tough intro Thursday ride?  Of course, those who don't do the Thursday ride might not see the logic.  I'm not advocating changing the Thursday ride, even though I had difficulty.  I really liked the gravel portion.