I had slacked this week with the riding. Today I made up for it.
Dimitrios and I went on a 40 mile ride in San Antonio, Florida. Yes, a town in Florida exists as well as in Texas. It's about an hour away on I-75. It's small and very rural and has THE MOST F**K**G HILLS I HAVE EVER DEALT WITH ON A RIDE IN MY ENTIRE LIFE.
Which made it cool, and also made it the DEATH of me.
The cool thing? Going downhill on a rural road where only orange trees are on both sides of you, continuing to pedal, which in turn, makes your speed go up to 38mph (yes, you read that right...38 MILES PER HOUR). Not only does the pedaling make you go faster, but you also gain enough speed to kind of propel yourself forward on the next upcoming hill and then the hike up that beast is not as bad.
The bad?? Hill after hill after hill that will knock you down to 8 miles an hour and make you feel like your lungs are going to fall out of your chest. No matter how slow you go, that incline just wants to destroy you.
I did good with hydrating and wasn't really fatigued until about halfway into it, then it was my foot's fault (so to speak)...my cycling shoes are new and with the socks I had on, the seams rubbed my big toe til I had to pull over and twist the sock around for it to not run. That also happened with my mountain cycling shoes and after a few wears, they stopped doing that/got broke in. I also got some shoulder and neck fatigue, but that's usual for me as I scrunch up on the bike when I shouldn't. But no dehydration, no starvation (Cliff Bars to take a bite out of while riding every 30 minutes and drinking water every 15minutes mixed with a sports drink). I think I finally found my 'fit' on the bike AND my regime to stay in the game.
Dimitrios helps too. There were a couple of times on those blasted HILLS where I would have just stopped if I was on my own and sat down and threw in the towel. With him there goading me on....really did help.
We started at 12pm and ended at 4pm. Awesome day.
I took the camera, but I didn't get any photos as I was too busy RIDING. my point-n-click is just too heavy for me to wear in my jersey pocket on my back. Gotta maybe get a handlebar bag like D had so I can just grab it when necessary and toss it back in there. Putting it in the saddlebag, doesn't quite work as well.
I think we're going to do this ride once a month so that my stamina on hills gets better, and continue to add miles to it each month like I had planned. By the end of the year, I should be putting in about 750 miles in just training rides (IF I stick with the plan that is). And with my 40 a week (10 miles a day) for every week....that will be 2080 miles in that. Granted, I'm sure the Florida summers are going to mess those numbers up (RAIN), but that's the goal anyways.
On the way home, we stopped in Tarpon for Greek food, a small walk (as that's all my legs could take) and home to shower and now...to collapse on the couch.
The 40 miles made up for four days of slacking. Tomorrow I will do 20 and then be caught up to have an 'off' day on Sunday OR ride 10 miles...however I choose.
Now, to the couch. I still need to post a lot more, but my hour of being on the computer for the day is done (sticking to only two hours a day on the days I'm NOT at work).
Happy New Year's everyone!
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