Saturday, 9/19 Rides!

Today was the first of a series of long century training rides and I was the only lady along with three seventeen year old boys and two adult male hardcore racers. Aaaa! The great news is that this 50 mile ride is a new personal best for speed and time :D

50 miles in 3 hours (really 3:16 but we stopped three times to consult google maps and refill water which probably amounted to fifteen minutes). I'm not going to try to figure out how much time was spent at lights, but with all the lights in downtown Saint Louis is looks like my average speed was STILL 16.67 mph!!! :eek::eek::eek:

Definite personal best.

The bummer was I bonked hard at about mile 42 and lost the pack and rode home tired and lonely :rolleyes: Boys don't like waiting up.

But still! PR! :D

Also, my HR monitor says I burned 2887 calories :) What should I eat tonight! I'm resisting every urge to over indulge ;)

Sounds like a great ride! Congratulations. I know what you mean about boys not waiting up, but it sounds like you hung in there for a long time, so kudos to you. However, if you bonked, then your nutrition, before or during the ride wasn't right. What did you have for breakfast? Any fuel during the ride? I can't ride on full stomach, but a banana and a cereal bar and a good deal of water pre-ride is a minimum for me for a 50mi ride. A lot of people would say that isn't enough - you just need to figure out what works for you. I also always carry food with me. I don't always need it, but sometimes just knowing that I have a banana, some cliff shot blocks and/or a payday candy bar in the event of an emergency (ie, I get hungry) keeps me going. On a longer ride, it is almost always at about 50miles is when I start to need to take in more fuel. so I am not surprised that you started to bonk around that mile marker.

In terms of after-ride nutrition, I would say it depends to some extent on your metabolism, but I let myself eat anything I want/crave for the day of a long ride, but you should definitely try to replenish protein, carbs, and electrolytes in any way you can.

Congrats Reesha on your ride!! That is an awsome accomplishment. Happy Eating!!

I just went for a measily 8 mile ride today over to my friend I usually visit. It has been over a month since I had really done any rides due to the extreme heat in the Southwest. I just know that mountains/hills right now are awful. I am using my granny gear so I can make it. Sounds bad, but at least I got out there. Once I get a few rides under my belt, things will be much better. Buring off the "summer 5-10" will help too. We had a high in the 90's so I figured, its good to go weather.

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Originally Posted by chicagogal

Sounds like a great ride! Congratulations. I know what you mean about boys not waiting up, but it sounds like you hung in there for a long time, so kudos to you. However, if you bonked, then your nutrition, before or during the ride wasn't right. What did you have for breakfast? Any fuel during the ride? I can't ride on full stomach, but a banana and a cereal bar and a good deal of water pre-ride is a minimum for me for a 50mi ride. A lot of people would say that isn't enough - you just need to figure out what works for you. I also always carry food with me. I don't always need it, but sometimes just knowing that I have a banana, some cliff shot blocks and/or a payday candy bar in the event of an emergency (ie, I get hungry) keeps me going. On a longer ride, it is almost always at about 50miles is when I start to need to take in more fuel. so I am not surprised that you started to bonk around that mile marker.

In terms of after-ride nutrition, I would say it depends to some extent on your metabolism, but I let myself eat anything I want/crave for the day of a long ride, but you should definitely try to replenish protein, carbs, and electrolytes in any way you can.

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I had a peanut butter and fluff on whole wheat :o (a little short on time) and brought quarters of peanut butter sandwiches with me on the ride (1 quarter ever 45 minutes or so). I should have had a banana though.

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Originally Posted by Red Rock

Congrats Reesha on your ride!! That is an awsome accomplishment. Happy Eating!!

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Thanks! :)

I settled on a good sized bowl of warm quinoa with a tablespoon of olive oil, salt, pepper and freshly grated parmesan cheese. I think that will fill me up and replenish me nicely :delicious:

I would have baskin robbins mint chocolate chip Ice Cream. But that's just me.

I won't rule out ice cream for later ;)

I had frozen custard. :)

I took a 24-mile ride today with a group, which I've never done before. There were seven of us, and I didn't know any of them before meeting them in the parking lot by the trail.

Trail: http://bikewashington.org/trails/ncr/ncr.htm

I am so stoked: I did my first 50 mile ride today in four years, almost to the day! I had my bad accident (fractured pelvis in three places) while training for a century in April 2005. After surgery and extensive PT, I started riding again and was slowly building my mileage when I did the 50-mile organized event in Sept. '05. Then I lost my dad in a car accident the following month and just couldn't get out on the road until 2007. My father's death really did a number on my confidence, which had already been shaken by my own accident, and I am sure there was some depression involved too. I did start mountain biking in '06, so that was the one silver lining during a dark time - I just felt safer off the road.

Started road riding again, now and then, in 2007, but DH wasn't really into it by then so I didn't road ride at all in 2008, only rode MTB with a girlfriend. This year I am doing both and loving the road again. I've done several 40-45 mile rides with DH, but it felt really good to finally break the 50-mile barrier again. I guess there just might be a metric century in my future this fall! :D

Well done Reesha and Emily :)

Georgeous spring day here today (Sunday). Blue sky, no wind, blossom, daffodils, lambs and calves :D

First ride combining distance and a climb today, actually a little more distance than I'd intended - my guesstimate was about 10 k out, so ended up just short of 70k ending with the 300m climb to my house. Did a lot of it standing up including one continuous stretch of about a kilometre. There are still a couple of places where I'm in the lowest gear (34x25?), standing up, and have only just enough momentum to keep going, but keep going I did, all the way up :D.

And I wore my new 'She Loves Hills' jersey :)

Wish I had access to Baskin Robbins mint choc chip:p

Aw Emily, I'm so sorry for all your troubles, but welcome back to the road. That's awesome! :)

I did the Knox County Bicycle Challenge. It was a beautiful day, maybe just a bit chilly, but a sunny, clear, early fall day.

Maybe it wasn't the greatest idea to put on a much firmer saddle just when I'm ramping up my mileage. :rolleyes: But all I mean by that is that I should've done it much sooner. It'll be great once my *ss toughens up.

Reesha, congrats on your 50 miler too! I was a lot slower than you, but this was partly a utility ride for us with plenty of stops. We first rode to the post office, then to a friend's house to drop off something, then to the farmer's market, then to the food co-op for groceries!

The last 25 miles just had one "rest stop" for snacks and stretching, but we were riding our Bike Fridays, and DH had full panniers of all our groceries! I had a rack with rack pack on with various junk in it (including clothes I peeled off, b/c it was chillier at the start). We averaged 13.2 mph, which I was happy with under the circumstances! :p

I went out for a short loop at dusk. Saw a couple riding on the wrong side of the road. I looked at them while I passed, and wondered if they were tourists who didn't know the rules of the road. I stopped to make an adjustment a little bit up the road, and when I saw them coming, I pointed to the road and said you want to be on this side and the woman spoke with a clear southern New England accent, and said but the drivers can't see us because the sun is in their eyes.

I got back on my bike, wondering if I should explain why they'd be safer (like I'm sure a lot of you would have done) on the right, but decided they were adults, it's their choice. Oh well, at least I showed them by example. I went on my way.

When I circled back around, I saw them again, and they were on the right side. The man waved at me and smiled and I waved back. I was a little worried about them for the rest of my ride. They had a big hill coming up, along with the setting sun, no helmets, and no confidence. Talk about setting yourself up for disaster!

Yay Emily!! Glad you're enjoying it again!!

CA

Congrats on passing 50 miles (again) :) We both know how good it feels!

I woke up this morning literally 1.5 lbs lighter-- I realize some is probably water weight but DANG! Next saturday is 50 mile ride #2. Then an 80 miler the following weekend. These fat-burn rides will help me reach my 148 lb goal at last!

Thanks! :)

I cleaned my Bike Friday today as it really needed it from riding on the Virginia Creeper Trail last Saturday (see photos/story on my blog here: http://emilys7.blogspot.com)

While cleaning my tires, I noticed that they said "inflate to minimum 55 PSI, max 95 PSI. No wonder I felt kinda sluggish yesterday, despite having a fun and good ride! I inflated them in the garage with poor lighting and couldn't read the inscription on the tire, and I always forget what they should be since I am used to inflating my mtb tires, which take lower pressure. We had let a bunch of air out of our tires to ride on the somewhat bumpy unpaved Creeper Trail, so they were low. I inflated both front and rear to only 45 PSI! Silly me - d'oh! :o