Today was a "training" ride, now that I am participating in a coaching program.

The schedule activity was this: Endurance Focus Ride: Medium
Once you are warmed up, keep your heart rate between 117 and 136 bpm. Make the total exercise time at least 1 hour 30 minutes but not more than 2 hours 45 minutes including warm up and cool down. If you get tired or have trouble keeping your heart rate up, finish out the time with your heart rate between 100 and 119 bpm. Spin a comfortable cadence while warming up and cooling down.

I picked pedal stroke as my focus from a list of 7 options:
Focus on one quarter of the pedal stroke at a time, doing 20 strokes for each quarter before moving to the next quarter. Thus, push down 20 times. Then pull back 20 times. Then pull up 20 times. Then push forward 20 times. When you have done all four quarters in this way, do halves: Down and back 20 time. Back and up 20 times. Up and over 20 times. Over and down 20 times. Repeat sets of quarters and then halves until you drop to your Recovery Zone or are ready to cool down.

You know that expression fast, good or cheap- you can pick 2? I feel like these training rides are like that. Follow the guideline for the activity, keep the right cadence, stay in the right heart rate zone. I can do the activity and keep up the cadence or manage my heart rate, but not all three. I picked a slightly hilly route so the HR was just out the window on most of the climbs. And I by chance, I ended up riding along with a 78 year old guy on a light mountain bike who told me about riding to the Grand Canyon and another ride from Flagstaff to Mexico, and we discovered we had mutual friends, so I didn't concentrate on counting pedal strokes the whole time, but it was still an interesting exercise. And I'm in awe of the 78 year old- wow- I hope I'm that fit in 20 years!