Well, this weekend helped to boost my confidence a little bit and I made sure to take the advice given here to assure success. Thank you again, all.

I was able to get in a 130 mile solo ride on Friday and was happy with both my average and how I felt afterward. I finished right at 8 hours in the saddle with only 3 short 10 minute breaks in between. My hydration was good, as indicated by needed pit stops (). WW bagels with PB, bananas, honey stinger energy chews (sweet, but not as bad as gels), and Skratch got me through the ride. Had half of a turkey sandwich on last two pit stops and each stop, downed a bottle of water, consuming a total of about 11 large bottles of fluid. Afterward my legs were tired, but I feel that I could have ridden another 30. The biggest hurdle was just boredom, since I was alone.

I rode a short, very slow recovery ride of about 20 on Saturday and then was able to ride a short, medium effort ride on Sunday of about 25.

I'll do a century next weekend, then about 10 days out start tapering and upping my calorie and fluid intake. Should have a base of about 3000 miles by the time of the event, so I think I'm about as prepared as I can be. Just trying to ride when it's hot to acclimate my body, as I'm a hot weather wimp.

Any additional thoughts or advice is very welcome!!

Susan - can't wait to hear your report of the Alaska ride!!