Ride Review

The ride on Sunday was both fun and miserable. I'm glad I did it, but I'm not eager to ride over 40 miles again...not on my hybrid anyway. The first half of the ride was fun because there were hills, and I like hills. The second half was not fun because as soon as the route turned south, we had headwind. Somehow, the wind stayed with us the whole rest of the route and I was fighting it, sometimes uphill. The roads weren't awesome either; my wrists hated the bumping. I was tired, hungry, thirsty (and out of water), and I wanted to go home. However, the way home was to finish the ride. I rode for long stretches by myself sometimes, in the boring, flat, and windy nowhere. If there were any 66-milers, they were far ahead and gone. I saw mostly 100-milers who popped in and out of my route: they would pass me and then detour, come back in, repeat. I pushed as hard as I could toward the end because I wanted to go home so badly. The whole ride took me seven hours. After I finished, I rode at a snail's pace back home. Sometimes I walked. At home, I ate a bowl of vegetables, drank some water, and fell asleep for the next 10 hours. The next day I ached.

Before I did the ride, I didn't think it was a big deal. I've nearly ridden this amount, what was 26 more miles? While I was doing the ride, I thought I was nuts and kept asking why the heck I signed up for it. After the ride was over and I was telling people about it, I became proud of the accomplishment. It was a notable thing to do 66+ miles on a bike...up hills, on bumpy roads, and in wind. Every time I look at the map, I feel proud. That ride was terrible and I made it through. I look at the route for the Tour now and shudder - 104 miles? No way! However, I think I'll sign up for it next year. Again, I just want to see if I can do it. In the meantime, though, I need to get a road bike and improve my time. I proved I can do 66 miles, but in order to do 104, I need to be faster and better trained for hills. I'm hoping that with an increased paycheck, I'll be able to better outfit myself for longer, more difficult rides.

I've included a link to the route below (which will also give you all my ride stats) as well as my victory photo.

Route: http://ridewithgps.com/trips/7036226