Did the weekly Sunday group bike ride again. Well, only three of us to ride, some others are on a special ride in North Carolina. Anyway, only rode for 14.5 miles. Some parts were a bit tough but nothing like last Monday's "B" ride. So I wanted to ride more, having not done much last week due in part to recovering from last Monday's ride, some rain, and some other things Friday-Saturday that needed to get done. Maybe only 8 miles since Monday, including 3.8 before dark Saturday (test for Sunday) after getting done with other stuff.
Well, I had been looking at some other trails in a different area, and felt OK to ride more ( the rest during the drive to get there helped). So I loaded up and drove over to the other trails I wanted to try. A group of trails, mostly flat. Rode one to the East for a few miles and came back. Rode a trail that went up North a bit, then the trail changed more to the West, along a road, a bike path along the side of the road. That road was pretty flat, not much elevation change, I rode 4 miles on that road before I turned around to come back. Got back to near the paring area, had not quite hit my ever-increasing goal. So, rode a bit more and came back, and then I hit the goal that I had NO PLAN TO DO ANYTIME SOON, but felt well enough during the ride to do it:
So, uh, yeah. 14.5 miles on the group ride, and over 26.7 miles on my own, for over 40 miles Sunday. Total riding time (wheels turning) of 4:05, about 9.8 mph average. Total time from start of the group ride, to ending the last ride, was a bit over 6 hours, so about 2 hours of "rest time", about 30 mins during the group ride, 30 mins to drive to the other trails, 20 minutes putting the bike on the the car and removing the bike, about 40 minutes of "other" including some breaks, stops to take pics, and waiting for traffic. And I did not feel "dead" when I stopped for the day either. I had a total of three 100 calorie breakfast bars along the way, never felt out of energy, simply had two at the 10 mile break of the group ride, and then during the ride along the other trails, when I had hit 30 miles and though yeah just maybe I'd go for 40, had one more bar. I could have ridden some more but my bottom had had enough total seat time (Though a decent long break could have been OK). And I wondered if maybe I'd feel run-down after the ride, so I didn't want to push things further.
Keys to being able to rack up over 26 miles on my own, after the 14.5 mile group ride, were:
Temperature in the mid 70's, not too hot, not cold, not humid, just right. Although the wind did have an effect.
Wore new sport shorts instead of blue jeans, better for the legs (not to be confused with form-fitting Lyra bike shorts, NFW).
The trails, and a the 4 mile road, were pretty flat. Though there were some elevation changes for parts of the trails, but not killers. One was steep enough to have to walk up but it was only about 100 feet. The real killers last Monday were ones 1/4 mile long or so, I could try to ride parts for a few hundred feet then my legs got worn out and weakened for the rest of that ride. So, the areas I rode in after the group ride today were easier.
And also very key, I had no pressure to try to ride faster. Even though on the "C" group rides, they wait for me to catch up, there is still pressure not to take extra time (self-generated, nobody is trying to pressure me). So I often use one gear higher, or pedal a bit harder, than I otherwise would or should. Now, when I drove to the other location, I did have a goal in mind, try to get in more miles than last Monday's ride, but just to top it, and that was only if I felt up to it. Also I went down one path a few miles, came back, assessed how I felt, then went onwards onto a different trail or path, back, then on another path, back. So, it was not like I rode 13 miles one way to force myself to do 26 by the time I got back (also needlessly risky in case of a mechanical problem I could not fix before dark, to walk back say 13 miles or get a taxi. ).
For awhile the goal was 35 miles. Then as that 4 mile stretch of road turned out to be mostly level with very gentle inclines, that helped me get in more miles with some easy riding (It turned out that I had been on that road before and recalled how flat it was). Although when I got back to the parking lot, I was at about 37 miles. So, I did a bit more than 1.5 miles and then back to help top it off at 40. I could have ridden more...... but there was no good reason to do so, breaking 40 was enough. I may feel this for a few days, but again I feel nowhere near as bad or wiped as I did from Monday's ride. I was woozy when I had finally stopped Monday's ride. I was clear-headed and my body did not feel over-exerted today. My legs did get tired at times, but that was mostly temporary going up some inclines. I didn't wear them out to the point of being unable to pedal at a decent speed on flat ground as happened Monday. Although.... it will be interesting to find out how my body feels on Monday after such a long ride. Last week, after that grueling Monday ride, I tried to ride to Target the next day and my legs felt so weak that I turn around after 3/4 mile, legs like weak kittens.
UPDATE - I wrote the above before going out to ride again today. I was planning to take the day off from riding but with the forecast very good for today, not as good for later, and feeling OK, I decided to go. I wanted to try out part of a different trail while the weather was good. I rode most of that trail, and felt mostly OK. The last half of it had more inclines than I expected, that whole trial is supposed to be mostly flat. Not bad, just I was getting concerned of doing too many combinations of up and down. So when I saw another sign waring of a steep downhill grade, meaning more of an uphill climb coming back, and not knowing how many more up and downs there might be, I decided to turn back before reaching the end of the trail. I'll go for the end of the trail another day when I haven't had such intensive riding before. Ended up riding over 14 miles for the day. So, over 54 miles for two days.
Oh, Sunday and today, I took an old Garmin Summit GPS unit with me. Got it in 2002 to use to help in finding rockets. It has no map, really crude by today's standards, but it works. So, if I got lost….. I can use it to navigate back. I took this pic when I stopped to turn around before reaching the end the trail.
And this one showing one of the downhill signs as well as the trail in the woods.
I want to follow up about the brake lights and piezo beeper. Still working fine. But Sunday as I was following one of the riders, he too often would slow up without any warning. Now, he did not slow quickly, but also I did not see why he would begin to slow like he did, not like he was avoiding anything, and I'm not counting when we were coasting downhill and needed to brake to keep from going to fast near turns. So, what I want to get across is that as far as I'm concerned, I wish he DID have a brake and beeper system for his bike. It would be safer if he did. Also, since he was not slowing much, the commercially made ones that use G-sensors, probably would not trigger. So the KISS mechanical switch using the rear brake handle, actually may be best for a brake light. Anyway, I'll soon be replacing the original with a new assembly that will have turn signals included, finally have the parts I want.
- George Gassaway