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Last Wednesday I was itching for a good bike ride, so I headed out around 8:30 am for a long ride (I was thinking somewhere in the low 50’s for mileage). The humidity was 97% and almost 80 when I left, so I knew it was going to be a hot ride.
I made sure to add nuun plus again to my 30 ounce bottle of nuun, which I think made a significant impact on my ride. To be honest, I wasn’t expecting the ride to be great. I’ve been sleep deprived for about 2 weeks now, and I’ve been on my feet a ridiculous number of hours a day, so I wasn’t going in with fresh legs at all.
I finally finished listening to The Help during my last bike ride so I started a new audiobook this ride (The One and Only– it was good at the start but now, about half way through, it’s turning a bit weird), which kept me entertained while riding.
One exciting part of this ride was that the trail wasn’t flooded this week, so I was able to go back to my normal route! It’s crazy to see how much the corn has grown throughout July (I haven’t been up that far on the trail since the end of June now!). The wild flowers were beautiful too, and I tried to deeply soak in the beauty and smells around me. I picture these rides all winter, so I’m trying to be mindful of staying in the present moment as I am riding.
The first 15-20 miles my legs felt heavy, but around the 1.25 hour mark my legs felt like they loosened up a bit and I fell into a good rhythm. By the time I hit 37 miles I started to think that today might be a good day to try to break my personal distance record. My PDR last year was set during my birthday ride, when I biked a metric century, hitting 64 miles. I figured I could easily hit 65 or 66 miles on the ride, but then I realized it was stupid to not just hit 70!
Unfortunately, I hadn’t exactly planned on going that far, and definitely could’ve used some more fuel and fluid since it was so hot. Last week’s detour was actually helpful this week, as I was able to get in more miles by going down that route as well!
There was a nice breeze that was critical for me staying cool while I was riding, but I was still dripping with sweat by a few miles into the ride. Every time I stopped to take a picture or to eat something it felt overwhelmingly hot, and I was even more thankful for that breeze once I started again! I’ve mentioned before that I absolutely love the salted carmel gu flavor (I tried it for the first time last August or September), and while I couldn’t use it as my only source of energy (too sweet!), it gives me the perfect little boost of energy after about two hours of biking.
Hitting 70 miles was HUGE for me, especially since 4 years ago I had no intention of ever biking again. I jumped off the bike with a huge smile on my face, wishing that I had the time to keep biking (I only had an hour to stretch, shower, eat, and head to work!). This ride felt amazingly good, but it shouldn’t have! It was a fun way to close out biking in July and start the celebration of my birthday. It’s great to see that I’m stronger than I was before 🙂
Here’s what I ate on the ride:
Mile 8: 3 shot bloks (cran razz)
Mile 19: 1 honey stinger waffle
Mile 29: 1 salted carmel gu
Mile 40: 3 handfuls of dried craisins
Mile 49: 3 shot bloks
Mile 56: 3 handfuls of dried craisins
Drank: 50 ounces of nuun. 1 water bottle (30 ounces) had nuun plus in it, adding more carbs.
When I got home I immediately grabbed my addaday roller to dig at some of my muscles before I sat in my counseling office. It worked well!
Now It’s your turn to share! What’s one accomplishment you’ve had lately that you’re proud of (it can be little or big- as long as you’re proud- share it!)?
Biking is a sport that intimidates me. I am fine if I’m on a trail/path that is not crowded, but put me near traffic or a lot of bikers (like the Lakefront Trail in Chicago) and I’m a mess. I’m not steady or confident enough on a bike and I really struggle to navigate if I don’t have a wide open path in front of me. It is a fear I would like to conquer, though! How do you fuel leading up to/after a long ride like this?
I definitely don’t love riding next to a lot of people either, and I try to take roads that I know have minimal traffic along them! I had a friend get hit by a car while biking and died, so I’m very wary of biking near cars! The morning of I try to eat a big bowl of oatmeal or a couple eggs and OJ. Most of the time I don’t really think about it the night before- I just eat whatever I’m going to eat for dinner. I do try to eat an extra snack before I go to bed too. I also try to make sure to be extra hydrated the day before.
Wow! that is freaking awesome, congrats on the PDR!
Thank you! It feels good to have done it!