While professional athletes are busy grinding away on the Tour of California and the Giro d’Italia, I’m prepping for my own ride…the Tour de Cure. The weather has not been cooperative, and I’ve certainly had my moments of weakness, but today was another milestone — a 72 mile ride with multiple climbs.

Overall I think I faired pretty well, although admittedly I needed a few brief breaks along the way. Next weekend I’ll tackle a similar route, although I think I’ll try to space out the climbs a bit more in an effort to mimic something more akin to the route that awaits me in June.

Here’s a look at today’s route and performance:

A couple quick notes:

• The week of the tour I’ll actually be in NYC for Internet Week until Thursday. Flying back with a compressed schedule is concerning, but I’m sure the good folks at Jet Blue will make the trip as comfy as it can be.
• On Friday we have a scheduled move from San Jose to Sunnyvale.
• Sunday is the ride, starting at 6am. For those asking to watch, you’re welcome to come but be warned: I’m anticipating struggling through this ride. If the jet lag, move, and the climbs don’t kill me, I’ll update with my results.
• This was my first ride using Strava (an app specifically designed to track cycling ride data), and I must say it is impressive. I’m brewing a post about this app, but from the angle of building smart products on user data while navigating through user privacy concerns. Fun!

p.s. Good people at Strava, don’t fret! It’s a positive post.