August 11th rides

[makbike]

I rode to school this morning with thoughts of getting a decent ride in after the kids left. Unfortunately, the rain moved in this afternoon and my long ride did not materialized. I simply rode home. Just 4 miles today but I'm looking forward to the century on Sunday.

[Kalidurga]

Today was a great ride after having bad legs 3 days ago. 31 miles on the Western Maryland Rail Trail: My third ride this year over 30 miles (my goal by the end of the season is 45, which is out'n'back on the WMRT) and I hit a new average speed of 15mph. It was challenging, but felt surprisingly good. I'm lovin' the clipless pedals and whatever the bike tech did to my saddle during my fitting last month. And the weather was just beautiful, with a gorgeous sky!

Had an interesting encounter, too. While I was stopped for a break at the halfway point, a youngish guy comes riding down the C&O towpath on a long, low recumbent and stops nearby, so we started chatting. Turns out he's part of a group of 19 people riding all the way from Seattle to Wash, DC to raise money for bike advocacy. I expressed amazement at the distances he'd been doing each day and mentioned that my longest rides so far had been a measly 30 miles. The conversation then followed thusly:

Him: "You could go out and do 100 miles tomorrow. Really."

Me: "Yeah, maybe, if I were mentally prepared for it, maybe."

Him: "My longest rides used to be about 30 miles, and then one day I just went out and rode 100. You could do it."

It was great to hear something so encouraging from someone doing a ride like that!