I rode in a 50 mile charity ride Sunday Sep. 23, 2007, benefiting Habitat for Humanity. My previous longest ride was 30 miles, so I’m pretty psyched, and pretty sore.
Click the link below for the write-up and GPS charts.
http://home.nycap.rr.com/rduhan/Tour50mile20070923/
If I was to do a longish ride today, I’d qualify for RTL, but I don’t have the time today. At least I got a taste for the distance.
Nice writeup Steve! You had a truly beautiful day for the ride. Were you able to relax enough to enjoy the fall foliage?
Props Steve for your new long distance mark!
Gotta love chamois butt’r for those rides.
Thanks for the writing, stories ending with free pints are my favorites.
P.S.: I found electrolyte tablets to be the best thing for me to completly avoid cramps and really ease muscle recovery.
Thanks, Perry - the foliage was a good distraction for some of the worse hills.
Thanks, Vince. Yeah, Butt’r and free pints rock!
Maybe I’ll give those electrolyte tablets a try my next long ride.
One pic so far. End of the ride, very tired. Brew pub behind me, holding two icy cold beers for me. Take the picture already, so I can get a beer!
'grats on the long ride! It’s a pleasant surprise when one pushes his limits… and finds it wasn’t a limit after all!
I, too, have had great results with electrolyte tablets.
One thing I didn’t notice in your write up was any mention of stretching… how do you fit that in with your riding? I find that if I stretch about 1-2 miles into the ride, and again at every rest stop, that my legs and I get along much better…
I don’t stretch nearly enough, but I actually did a few good thigh stretches at the 28.5 mile checkpoint. Mostly because I was afraid my quads were about to lock up for good.
Steveyo, way to go! A PB on distance with some good climbs mixed in! Isnt it great to spend hours on the 36er, you can really put in some miles, and see some country. Congrats again on the ride, you are a better human being now. Keep up the hard work:)
Thanks, Mike. I may be better, but my legs feel worse! 
It was truly a beautiful day and a great ride.
Steve, congratulations on the new personal best! A really great ride, and great write-up. You’ve already established yourself as a climber to be reckoned with, so it was only a matter of time before you joined the Half Century Club. Welcome!
It’s too bad about the one negative with the biker. Her attitude aside, she was absolutely wrong…you just don’t pass on the right without very loud and clear warning. Hopefully one of her posse straightened her out on that so she doesn’t continue to represent a hazard.
Glad also the UPDs ended up injury free. Back in May, I busted my big toe via one of those “toe jam” falls on a steep downhill, and I’m now forever paranoid about a repeat injury. Those steeps can get pretty hairy, especially with the bicycles whizzing by you at close range while you’re working like crazy to keep your balance and avoid any swerves. I love doing the distance events with bikes, but the steep downhills are definitely my least favorite part. Better the uphills, where the natural order is restored, and Unicycle passes Bike. 
I’m sure JC would join me in saying we’re glad to hear you had some espresso associated with your distance ride, even if only in the form of an energy gel. Sometimes you have to take what you can get, and you made up for it by quaffing the two pints after the ride.
I brought my 36-er along on vacation this summer, and got to do some riding on the back roads of upstate NY. Some of the terrain was probably pretty similar to the outskirts of your ride…really pretty country. Perhaps if I pass through again next summer, we can figure out how to make a ride intersect.
Congrats again, and pedal on!
Thanks, Tom. You’re definitely one of the folks who inspire me.
Indeed, that’s why I do all those uphill events.
Yeah, the farm country where we rode has a coffee shop defecit. The Clif gels have a pretty hardcore espresso flavor and boost and made me think of yours and JC’s espresso ride. The fresh, brew-pub pints, well, that was the best part!
Where were you?
Great ride Steve! Thanks for sharing the write up. Sounds like another epic ride. Glad the weather perfect. 50 miles is an incredible distance.
Nice rolling!
Thanks for pointing that out Steve, I actually missed that post. This ride had me going until I read, ‘That’s right, 100% singletrack, with rocks, roots, stairs, log crossings, bridges, and steep up and downhills.’ Oh man, I’m just not that technical. Reminds me of that cyclocross event where I met you and we “raced” (I was left in the mud while you roared off from the starting line).
OK, I won’t write it off yet. It would be fun to join in another uni event, even if I’ll have to run with the wheel.
Steve,
What an accomplishment. Congratulations ! I read the write up and enjoyed.
Ken, there’s a few obstacles, but most of the trail is just winding, smooth dirt track through the woods. Much of it was really not that technical, with just a a few parts where even bikers walk, no shame in that. You’d have a blast!
rem48, thanks!
Fantastic steve.
I enjoyed the write-up. Nice details re the cycle shorts etc.
Thanks, Cath. I had friends who asked me to leave out the part about cycle shorts next time. 