Over the weekend, I participated in a 150 mile bike ride. (my 4th in a row here in OK). I trained very little this year (maybe 200 miles in the last month, with 2 training rides over 35 miles).
I was concerned with my current weight(240) and the fact that I never seemed to get my seat heighth quite dialed in. I also had a seat flat last Tues. and haphazardly rebuilt my saddle. I considered taking my bike, since I wasn’t confident about completing the ride. In the end I decided it would be better(for me) to just ride the Coker as far as I could and be happy.
This year I joined a bike team named “skinned knee”. I showed up at 6 AM ready to go (after 4 hrs sleep).
In many ways I appreciate the fact that most people are used to seeing me at these rides, so I was able to skip the hoard of pre-ride question and answer sessions.
I had a great time the first day riding to the lunch break (56 miles)
After lunch my legs started cramping on the steepest uphill of the ride, but I made the hill.
I sagged into camp and only rode about 40 miles the next day (mostly in the rain)
Day 1 - 63 miles at 11.3 mph
Day 2 - 40 miles at 10.5 mph
No UPD’s and only the lightest of hot spots under my shorts. (I feel like I could ride a long ways today.
Only 1 “where’s yer other wheel” meant as a joke by a close friend
Way to go, Mark. You’re a powerhouse. Was your intent originally to try to ride 150 miles in two days? Did you outlast or outdistance many of the bicyclists?
My goal for the first day was to get to the lunch break(56 miles). It was 84.5 miles to the end of the 1st day with all the worst/best hills in the last 25 miles.
I probably could have gone the 84.5 miles, but it would have been ugly. I hate riding with cramps. If I would have continued, I would have gotten up early the 2nd day, hooked up the nite rider light and tried for the remaining 75 miles. I still might not have finished because the ride was stopped at 4 pm because of lightning.
On the other hand, I had nothing to prove to anyone, even myself.
The 1st & 2nd year I did the entire route. Last year I didn’t train much either & rode about 100 miles. I’m happy with how it went and couldn’t expect much more.
I did go further than some of the bikes & passed many on uphills. This ride caters to the slow riders & encourages riders to go any distance they want.
I think I’ll stick with the MS150. I have a sister-in-law who has MS.
