Tuesday, July 7, 2009

So, That Was Not Easy

Hope that everyone had a great 4th (timely right?)! You're wondering what I did? OK, let me tell ya:

Friday the 3rd, myself and 3 friends decided to ride to the beach and back from our neighborhood. We figured it would be a cool way to spend one of our holiday days in addition to being the first test to see how we'd handle the distance that we'd face on one day of the charity ride. Cause you see, to the beach and back is about 100 miles round trip.

Actually, it went really well*. Going the 50 miles down was a breeze. We stopped, had a nice breakfast and then started making our way back. The first 30 miles back were also a breeze since it's all relatively flat. The last 25 miles were NOT a breeze. Before you start making the steady climb back into our town, there is one gargantuan, steep hill about a mile or so long that must be conquered. I swear, I thought I might have a gdamn stroke. But, I made it to the top without ever stopping or getting off the bike. Yay me!

From there, it was just the slowly building elevation all the way til we got back home. That and the motherf*@king traffic control. I swear we must have hit 95% of the lights on the way back. And I can tell you there's nothing quite as fun as having to stop at every light in 95 degree weather, sitting there baking waiting until you have to get yourself started again. It's not a lot of fun. Managed to make it the 105 miles at about 14.5 mph, so a pretty big accomplishment.

So the training continues and we're going to start ramping it up by doing 20 or so miles every morning and hopefully get a couple 30-40 mile rides in at night on top of that. At this point, about 5 weeks to go!

Oh, and if you're interested in donating to a good cause and helping a brother out, go here.

*If you don't count the fact that my junk was completely numb by the time I got back home. Gotta get that fixed before I end up a Viagra popper.

3 comments:

Lainey said...

Holy crap, that's impressive! Just reading about riding that many miles made me want a nap.

Wait, that sounds like I need a nap because your story was boring... What I'm trying to say is, I am lazy & that much activity would kill me. So, I will continue to look forward to your tales of adventure while I sit on my ass & do nothing.

Big Daddy said...

I rode 100 miles once. It was June, July, and August of 1986 . . .

onthevirg said...

@ Lainey - Thanks! It felt like a pretty big accomplishment. And believe me, I wouldn't mind sitting around just reading sometimes rather than submitting my ass to abuse that likely happens no where else besides prison.

@ BD - Hah!