Great Weekday Ride

Leaving work early to go and ride your bike is NEVER a bad idea. Last week I had stayed late at work a couple days, so I had some extra time to play with, but was waiting for a perfect day to take advantage of that time. Well, yesterday was that day. Lower 70's with nothing but sun a clear blue sky. I took off from work just after lunch and drove to my usual start spot to get in a nice afternoon bike ride. Things got interesting though once I got to the previous 25 mile turnaround spot. I was feeling a lot better than I was at that point on my previous [and first] 50 mile ride, so I decided to go an additional 5 miles so I could get in 60 miles. But then I thought to myself "heck, why not just go all the way to 35 miles, and then turnaround and see if I can do 70 miles?" So that's what I did.

I kept on heading west for as long as the W&OD trail would allow, and take it from there. Well I found the end of the trail at about 33 miles out. DANGIT! I ended up out in Purceville when I hit the end of the trail, so I just started riding on some random roads until I hit 35 miles and then made my turnaround. It's an interesting feeling being so far out there, and knowing that the only way back is to get yourself back. Almost like going into survival mode: it's up to you now to get yourself back. But it's fun and I like to challenge myself when I can. Knowing at that time that this would be my longest ride ever, I was a bit worried curious as to how I'd hold up on the return trip. Turns out I held up okay! My legs were certainly tired and my vision was incredibly blurry [that's from all the wind into the eyes, I need to get some bigger lenses for my glasses!] but overall I was feeling pretty good. I was also encouraged by the fact that I didn't bonk out or die, and when I looked at the stats from the ride, I was pleased to see that I averaged 1mph faster than my two previous long rides, and during my longest ride ever! Guess my legs are getting stronger or something. I also worked on sitting in a more aerodynamic position to help reduce some wind drag, and concentrated on proper pedal stroke as well. Both those things seemed to make a noticeable difference.

I was pretty encouraged after completing this ride in a pretty decent time, and while doing it solo [it's a lot easier to ride in a group because you can get behind people and take turns drafting. The pack as a whole moves a lot quicker than one person can by themself.] Hopefully I can continue my training and riding at a solid pace for another 1.5 months leading up the 100 mile Tour de Cure ride. I'm now more confident than ever that the ride in June will be a great experience and my worry level has dropped significantly. Again I repeat, leaving work early to go for a bike is NEVER a bad idea! On with the ride report and pictures!

Click 'view details' to expand for full summary.

Excited to leave work early and go ride, only to get immediately stuck in traffic!

And again. I hate the never-ending construction and D.C. traffic!

That's better! There were some horses in the background of this photo but as soon as I hopped off the bike, they spooked and went running off. Oh well, their loss! [Def click to expand this shot!]