Ian F
Well-Known Member
After a rough couple of weeks with personal and family issues, I decided to go out for a long ride on Saturday... As much as I love mtn biking, when I need time with my thoughts, I hit the road. So I packed 4 power bars, 2 gels, water, a bottle of Gatorade and my standard hill-ride from my house up into Bucks Co. with plans to stop for water refills and a rule of not "attacking" any of the climbs to the point of burning.
For awhile, things were going as planned and by the time I reached Lambertville (after crossing the foot bridge from PA into NJ and down Rt 29), I decided to stretch things out a bit and do a meandering route out to Hopewell. All was well, although I was defintely starting to have trouble keeping below lactate threshold on even minor climbs... The last. long-ish climb of the ride up Goat Hill Rd was slow going... but I coasted to the bottom back into town and got ready for the off-bike trudge across the New Hope bridge...
Ok... WTF was going in Lambertville on Sat?
It seemed like half the population of NJ and PA were o nthe sidewalks... it was freakin' nuts... the walk across the bridge (bikes are not allowed to ride across with car traffic and there were WAY to many cops around to push the matter...)
Fortunately, I had anticipated the amount of walking I'd be doing and had swapped my Speedplay road pedals for a set of Egg Beaters which allowed wearing my Cairnes mtb shoes that are more comfortable for walking (and riding in general for that matter...).
So I finally made it across and I'm back in the saddle splitting traffic down 32 to get the hell out of No Hope... (I need to check if I can cross at the Washington Crossing bridge as then I could bypass that hell of that tourist trap alltogether...) Existing New Hope, I'm at about mile 70... starting to feel the miles, but feeling positive since it's basically a flat (slightly downhill) ride home from there.
Enter Washington Crossing... crap... park visitor center is closed... and I'm starting to run low on water... the water I do have is hot as hell too and not much of a thirst quencher... The gatorade is gone... the bars have been eatin... just the two gels left... I eat one now and wash it down with warm water... fun...
Mile 80. Throat is killing me... probably from the dry air and not drinking enough. Weird feeling I've never had before. Taking a deep breathe is painful. By mile rough estimate, I still have another 20 miles to get home.
Mile 93. I hit the wall... I'm passing by a soft-looking plot of grass in front of an office building near Tullytown and the alure is too much... down I go. Ahh.... I rest for a few minutes (resisting the urge to take a nap - afraid I wouldn't wake up until after dark), down the 2nd gel and a few more gulps of water... wait a couple of minutes for the caffiene to kick in and make the last push to get home.
Mile 100.19. Roll into my driveway. Drink fluids. Shower. Drink more fluids. Head out with the truck to help a buddy move a lawn mower...
Oddly enough, my legs didn't kill me the next day. The lungs and throat feel better today. I seem to have my "saddle-butt" as well as even after almost 9 hours on the bike (like I said - it was a slow day) my butt isn't sore.
Lessons learned:
#1. Didn't drink enough. Gotta remember the rule: one bottle an hour... minimum...
#2. eat more... with more variety... 4 energy bars just wasn't enough, although I wasn't exactly famished when I got home...
#3. I'm done with Speedplay pedals. I've been fiddling with those things for nearly 10 years now... and it was nice to be a long ride where I wasn't fighting with the pedals, wearing shoes that are barely acceptable or walking like a duck...
For awhile, things were going as planned and by the time I reached Lambertville (after crossing the foot bridge from PA into NJ and down Rt 29), I decided to stretch things out a bit and do a meandering route out to Hopewell. All was well, although I was defintely starting to have trouble keeping below lactate threshold on even minor climbs... The last. long-ish climb of the ride up Goat Hill Rd was slow going... but I coasted to the bottom back into town and got ready for the off-bike trudge across the New Hope bridge...
Ok... WTF was going in Lambertville on Sat?
It seemed like half the population of NJ and PA were o nthe sidewalks... it was freakin' nuts... the walk across the bridge (bikes are not allowed to ride across with car traffic and there were WAY to many cops around to push the matter...)Fortunately, I had anticipated the amount of walking I'd be doing and had swapped my Speedplay road pedals for a set of Egg Beaters which allowed wearing my Cairnes mtb shoes that are more comfortable for walking (and riding in general for that matter...).
So I finally made it across and I'm back in the saddle splitting traffic down 32 to get the hell out of No Hope... (I need to check if I can cross at the Washington Crossing bridge as then I could bypass that hell of that tourist trap alltogether...) Existing New Hope, I'm at about mile 70... starting to feel the miles, but feeling positive since it's basically a flat (slightly downhill) ride home from there.
Enter Washington Crossing... crap... park visitor center is closed... and I'm starting to run low on water... the water I do have is hot as hell too and not much of a thirst quencher... The gatorade is gone... the bars have been eatin... just the two gels left... I eat one now and wash it down with warm water... fun...
Mile 80. Throat is killing me... probably from the dry air and not drinking enough. Weird feeling I've never had before. Taking a deep breathe is painful. By mile rough estimate, I still have another 20 miles to get home.
Mile 93. I hit the wall... I'm passing by a soft-looking plot of grass in front of an office building near Tullytown and the alure is too much... down I go. Ahh.... I rest for a few minutes (resisting the urge to take a nap - afraid I wouldn't wake up until after dark), down the 2nd gel and a few more gulps of water... wait a couple of minutes for the caffiene to kick in and make the last push to get home.
Mile 100.19. Roll into my driveway. Drink fluids. Shower. Drink more fluids. Head out with the truck to help a buddy move a lawn mower...
Oddly enough, my legs didn't kill me the next day. The lungs and throat feel better today. I seem to have my "saddle-butt" as well as even after almost 9 hours on the bike (like I said - it was a slow day) my butt isn't sore.
Lessons learned:
#1. Didn't drink enough. Gotta remember the rule: one bottle an hour... minimum...
#2. eat more... with more variety... 4 energy bars just wasn't enough, although I wasn't exactly famished when I got home...
#3. I'm done with Speedplay pedals. I've been fiddling with those things for nearly 10 years now... and it was nice to be a long ride where I wasn't fighting with the pedals, wearing shoes that are barely acceptable or walking like a duck...
