A long Saturday Ride!

[gayathri]

Given the vagaries of schedules coming up, this past weekend, was the one that we'd decided to try and do the pre-ride for the Piccolo Fondo. Trying to prevent more of the previous week's mishaps - I was finally forgiven with our Saturday friends for missing dinner entirely and almost missing the event itself - but only because @byronium cooked the most amazing pot roast the next evening to make up for it... I completely over-managed the actual ride planning, resulting in still yet ruffled feathers. I think most of them smoothed out but it did mean that I didnt get to spend a lot of time with @byronium except on the ride itself. But that was more than made up for by driving with @llamaeyes with the top down! and the heated seats! 

We got going about 30 minutes later than planned, but I'm really happy with how I did on this ride. Moving speed of 11.1 miles an hour would make for a pretty respectable pace if I can keep it up for 6 hours. My seat is not in the right place anymore and the muscles around my knees were suffering. i'm really looking forward to the fitting I'm getting done next weekend. 

Been working on making sure my blood sugar is good on these rides, andt his time, tried adding some perpetuam to my cytomax to try and add some protein to my liquid diet. It worked well, didnt really make me feel like I was going to throw up from having food in my stomach. 

This ride went better than last week's, tho the middle part, from mile 13-15 took a lot longer than I had expected - both @rhiannonstone and @llamaeyes struggled, but they made it! what a great inspiration for me! 

I had this weird reminder this weekend too, by @llamaeyes pointing out that I dont look like her on a bicycle. That other than my middle, i'm getting so lean in every way. (I think it makes my fat parts look fatter, actually, but I know I have an odd view of what I look like) The less weight is making it easier to go faster, having my flat speed be closer to 19mph and even to let the uphill speed get to something faster than walking. 

The worst part of the ride for me was the downhill where @byroniium hit abot 41mph - I had to slow down, because I jstu couldnt see - the overhanging trees were so dark, and the road was narrow, and it was hard to know if a car was going to do something stupid. I did have one almost hit me - a car with a bike rack on its back, with the driver yelling something unintelligible. Thanks, thanks for nothing at all, jerk! 

Biggest issue for me was my feet cramping up - the shoes are too loose! it hurt a lot. :( but didnt hurt my actual riding - i pedaled thru the pain, knowing hot water and ibuprofed would help it later. 


Getting back, @llamaeyes and I abandoned @byronium and @rhiannonstone around mile 26, as @llamaeyes was starting to feel like everything was going to go to hell and she really wanted to make sure she was back to her car. Of course, this is when we get lost. Fortunately for me, I recognized a road name and ralized we must have missed a turn. We added 2 miles and a hill to our ride, but poor @llamaeyes did it! @byronium and @rhiannonstone showed up a little after we did, finding the correct route tho there was mention of a gravel path - it wasnt clear if the correct route had offroading or they were just on the wrong part of the road. 

it still felt really great to be getting faster, even on the hills. My coworker, Stork thinks that I'll have the hills conquered as long as in my head, they are. I think its a mix of both making sure I get some longer distance biking in the next few weeks, as well as some seat time just pedaling during the week. 

Looking forward to the challenging month ahead!