The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Rider

Training with a group will make you tougher physically...training on your own will make you mentally tough...

The view wasn't quite this good today, but it was close. It was day two in my attempt to ride a century this weekend. The weather didn't really cooperate with my intended schedule.

Saturday was THE day to get in 100 miles this weekend. I had Philly Boy, Supp Dog, Machina, Tommy Weed and The Plaskanator all lined up for a six hour trip through God's country. I was booked Sunday AM, so we had to get it in, right? Friggin' weather...

It rained from the time we rolled out at 7am, until I bailed almost 4 hours later. Sixty five miles in, I decided Saturday was NOT my day. High winds, rain and physical depletion set me up for a miserable ride. Philly and Supp bailed early because they really didn't NEED to ride for six hours...the rest of us did.

When I bailed at 65, The Plaskanator and Tommy followed my leader...I gave them the perfect out, it seems. The Machina is, in fact, the Machina...He manned up and rode to 101 miles in absolutely terrible conditions...to top it off, he managed a 20 minute run afterwards...WOW!

So, Sunday turned out to be my day...108 miles total, in 5:52:00...just over 18mph average. I was very happy with the effort and felt great most of the way. I had to stop and buy some Powerade around 70 miles. I picked out a yellow bottle, thinking it was Lemon Lime. I should learn to read labels...It was Lemonade. Not a great choice. From that point on, the ride got a little more difficult. If it weren't for the nice tail-wind home, I would not have arrived home feeling as good (which was bad) as I did. The Achilles was quite tight and achy after the ride...that's not good news.

More next week...

Happy Independence Day, Indeed!

So I was coerced out of my slumber this morning by Pauly to go for a swim. I looked out the window at 6am hoping to see raindrops so I could back to sleep. No dice. Pauly was in my driveway by 6:30.

Joel was a great host and swam 3 loops with us. NOTE: I was the only one man enough to go without the wetsuit. Apparently, they wanted to keep their girly parts warm.

After the swim, I allowed peer pressure to take over for better judgement and went for a ride with these two animals. What was billed as a 30-50 mile ride turned into a 40 mile time trial. I managed to hang on for most of the ride North to Grand Haven, but lost the slip-stream on the way up a short hill. I didn't mind...I was able to slow down to 22mph...Holy moly!

By the time I hit the driveway, I was happy I went, but cooked...40 miles at 21.5 mph average with a nice head wind on the way back...Joel and Pauly are animals.

Did I mention the hour long nap once I got home...cooked!