*Almost* 100 miles

For my birthday, I decided I wanted to try and ride 100 miles on my bike in one day with my friend Rachel. It was a pretty ambitious goal considering the longest distance I had EVER gone on my bike was 40 miles and I had only done that twice in my life. I didn't work up to 100 miles slowly, I didn't train for weeks to condition my body or fine tune my nutrition/hydration plan. Nope. I just thought, "It can't be that much harder than 40 miles, and plenty of people have done it."

Well, my body let me know at 70 miles that it was done. My quads were cramping and even getting off my bike to walk was more painful than riding through the pain itself. I got the message loud and clear! Our car was waiting at mile 86, so I had to keep going, but only because there was no other way home. I eventually reached the car and stayed there while Rachel finished the course, accomplishing a 101.5-mile ride in 8 hours!! She's one tough lady, that one.

A few things I will take from this experience:

--Cycling with friends is a whole lot more fun

--Training matters. A lot. Build up to 100 miles over time.

--Hydration, hydration, hydration.

--Snack throughout the ride to keep fueled, don't stop for a regular lunch.

--Maybe try an official event next time with regular snack/hydration stops and bike support. There's a momentum and energy that comes from organized events like that. The additional support also means less to carry on my back and less on my bike.

--Curate a wider selection of things to listen to.

--Take more pictures. Remember to enjoy the ride, not just the destination.

So, I will try again. I haven't selected a date or organized a training regimen yet, but this is very much a task left undone.

Here's a picture of Rachel heading through one of the tunnels on our course.