With my new work routine I’ve got much more flexibility when it comes to how I schedule my hours. If the sun is shining and there’s nothing too pressing on the timeline, I can duck out and enjoy a handful of weekday miles. Knowing it was going to be a sunny day yesterday, I got up early to crank through my workload in the morning before wheeling the Canyon Aeroad out of the house for a spin.

I hadn’t really planned to complete the metric century, just enjoy some much needed saddle time. Nevertheless, I loaded up with two full bidons and plenty of snacks to go the distance if I felt like it. When the sun shines and the wind drops in Tasmania, you’ve got to make the most of it! 

Without any sort of plan, I just rode! A quick local loop, out onto the highway, through town and into the backcountry behind Richmond, then down towards the coast. Apart from a few too many Mack truck close passes the miles were flew by and I had a permanent smile on my face. I really didn’t want to stop. Was it the fresh legs? Or maybe all the indoor training over the winter starting to pay off? Either way I pedalled past 50, then 60, then 70km.

Many of the roads out the back of Richmond seem to be full-time roadworks. I’d forgotten until it was too late to turn around – last time I rode down this section it rattled the bottle cages loose on my Kinesis Aithien! Luckily this time I sailed through unscathed…

I pulled into Red Square Cafe for a much needed coffee at 80km. I was pretty sure I’d been making good time, but hadn’t really been paying attention to my Garmin stats. Even though I have a powermeter I ride by “feel” mostly and boy had I felt good all ride! I didn’t think I had been pushing super hard – metering my effort to go the distance – so I was quite surprised to look down and see a 29.5kph average speed so far!

Fed and caffeinated I pushed for home. By now I knew that I would easily hit the hundred. I was enjoying being outside in the fresh air way too much so I took the long way home. I lifted the pace, got low and cracked on, finally swinging back into my driveway with a little shy of 115km on the Garmin.

Those days where you feel great and you’ve got the to time spare, you’ve really just got to ride! That’s ten resolution rides in the bag now, only two more to go for the year. Happy days!

Distance: 114.8 km / 71.3 miles
Total elevation gain: 1088 m / 3570 feet
Average speed: 29.9 kph / 18.6 mph