Long Ride - 81 Miles
July 16, 2007 at 12:11 pm | In Long Rides, Traffic, Weekend Rides, weather conditions |Saturday, July 14 Saturday, I rode a little more than 81 miles. It was at least 10 more miles than my previous long ride. I rode it with my daughter who is training for an Ironman and needed to ride 90 miles on Saturday. She rode a loop before I joined her. Our average speed was 14.8 mph. The distances were PRs for both of us, so the average speed was good (in my opinion).
The ride was similar to one we did earlier this summer, except when we got to the Forest, we went to the Forest headquarters to get water. My water bottle flew out of the cage when I hit a bounce at the bottom of Boltinghouse. It opened and the water spilled. We also added an out and back on Clear Creek Trail and we didn’t go out to the water treatment plant. At the end, we added my standard Old 446 ride (about 13 miles) to reach the target miles.
For a summer ride, the weather was reasonable. It was cool when we started but it got warmer over the morning. The heat was tolerable. The traffic was much heavier than any recent ride. Saturday mornings have more traffic than Sundays, when I typically do my long rides. However, at no time did the traffic affect our ride. We both enjoyed the ride.
My summer rides are aimed towards being prepared for the Hoosier Hills Tour in September and the Hilly Hundred in October. I plan to ride both this year.
For the past 3 years, I started training for these rides in late July or mid-August. Last year, I had only one 40 mile ride by this time and didn’t have any 50 mile rides until the third weekend of August. Since I’m already ahead of previous years, I can do a few off-road rides between now and Hoosier Hills. Next Sunday (weather permitting) - either Wapehani or Brown County for an off-road ride.
3 Comments »
RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URI
Leave a comment
Blog at WordPress.com. | Theme: Pool by Borja Fernandez.
Entries and comments feeds.
You’ll have to come up to South Bend to try out the new Potato Creek trails. I spent some time on Saturday clearing undergrowth with members of NIMBA (Northern Indiana Mountain Bike Assoc).
I think you’ll like the trail. It’s about 6 miles, and from what I saw, it’s much less technical than Rum Village, fewer twisties, and more flowing sections. It’s a bit bumpy right now, but if enough people ride it, it should smooth out.
Comment by William — July 16, 2007 #
Hey, John. Good work preparing for what appear to be two, very cool long rides! The Hilly Hundred sounds like a great route at a great time of year. What bike to you plan to use, and how do you have it set up?
Definitely let me know if I can offer any help in preparing for the Hundred.
Keep the pedals turnin,
dr
Comment by David Rowe — July 18, 2007 #
Hello DR,
Thanks for the comments.
I have a mongrel bike - Specialized frame, 105 parts, Sun rims, and other parts that my son-in-law had and that I bought. A friend didn’t like the frame, so he gave it to me. My son-in-law (William) built the bike for me.
No idea how it’s setup. It seems to have the right rings and cogs to ride Hoosier Hills and the Hilly.
John
Comment by kennedyj — July 18, 2007 #