This ride is
not a race but just a day for social riding around the county. The day was
mostly cloudy and the wind was out of the South. I was planning on ride 50
miles. We started out staged by the distance we were riding with the 100 milers
first, then next the 100K riders. Then I lift with the 50 mile group. I was in
the middle of the group. The organizing of this ride was very laid back, but at
the same time well organized with sag wagons and rest stops with everything
that anyone should need. The route started out to the north north east with the
wind to our backs for about the first 25 miles, but there were hills on the route
much harder than I have managed in the past and I believe that was what zapped
my legs so much. I will say this I did not walk up any of the hills, I did
managed to ride up the hills, but I learned the real meaning to my granny
gears. And of course with the hills to climb there where hills to coast down
and I found that coasting is not always a good thing my legs would want to
cramp up when I started to pedal again so I just pedaled up and down the hills.
I was climbing a lot of the hills slower than I could have walked up them if I
was really strong. I rode up some of them at no more that 4.5 to 6 miles an
hour and there was the last hill that I climbed that I was not doing 4 miles an
hour on and that is when I decided that was enough and I called my wife to pick
me up. What was so sad was that I was less than 10 miles from my home. But I
also had a few down hills that I saw 30 miles an hour and that took me back to
my child hood days of riding my bike. I did talk to some very nice people along
the way and saw lots of them that were very much faster than me and some that
were about my speed. But I say very few really young riders and even fewer old
riders like me. And I say bikes that looked to be built up of parts that were
just laying around, and others that looked to custom made and cost as much as I
would pay for a car. And I saw bike shirts and tee shirts that advertised about
every business in the area as well as across the state and beyond. I even
noticed one man’s shirt was advertising a bike shop from Alaska.
I really enjoyed the ride and I will do it again. And I am
already planning to ride organized rides next year that are out of this area
even. I guess this kind of riding is in my blood. I know that I am very much
older now that when I was riding this type of rides in the past but I really
plan to get stronger, and I plan to keep this up.
And to answer the question that is in some of you minds. The
ride that I did that caused the 20 + years of not riding was so hard and I
pushed myself so hard that I just could not make myself get back on the bike,
and so I sold it. And Also in that 20 years I had to change jobs a lot to keep
working and lost my first wife to a car accident and just kind of let myself
go, and I am now really paying for that.
Also I got on my bike today and rode 14 miles. The ride
today was painful but it was something I had to do. For you see I had to get
back on the bike and go. I will be riding as much as the weather and my time
lets me this winter, and I am planning to increase my weight training and
walking to keep me in shape, fit, and hopefully help me improve my strength.
There are 2 days coming up I plan on riding regardless of
the weather and that is my birthday and New Year’s Day.
No comments:
Post a Comment