Cheaha Challenge Complete!

That is a brutal ride! I only rode to the second rest stop but finished with a total distance of 47.8 miles in 2:58:09 at an average speed of 16.1 mph. I'm proud of the fact that for my first major ride of the season that I was able to ride the furthest I've ever ridden. The Mountain Goat last year had been the furthest at 42 miles.

Thankfully the weather held off for me and the sun tried to peak out a few times. The temperature was good, the early morning start wasn't cold and it didn't really warm up to badly. It made the ride pretty nice and bearable.

Next year I'm going to try and push to the 3rd rest stop where all the nice scenery is, I hear that rest stop 3 is a great stop to make. But I just didn't feel that I could pull off that final climb into #3, I was pretty spent after climbing up to #2.

The return ride made me realize just how hard and far I had pushed myself. I really struggled to maintain a good solid pace as I neared Piedmont. But once I got into the neighborhoods and realized I wasn't that far out I pushed hard to get my ride time under 3 hours. My offical time is 3:23:29 if I remember correctly.

Overall a good ride and a helluva good event!

Here is the link to the GPS information on Motionbased.com

Wow, I'm running out of time!

The Cheaha Challenge is coming up in less than a month and I've hardly had time to get some seat time on the bike. This ride is gonna bust my ass. I'm excited and scared all at the same time. I'm just hopeful I'll be able to get some decent mileage with some climbing. But honestly I have no idea what to expect out of this ride nor to I feel ready for it. However, I've paid my money and I've been talking about it since I signed up so I can't back out now!

Anyone wanna join me....please...?

Back on the Bike

The days are getting longer and the temps are getting warmer..hooray!

It's finally time to get back on the bike and squeeze my fatass back into my riding shorts! I got a good ride about 2 weekends ago, myself and a friend put in just over 20 miles riding the BOT loop. It felt good, I wasn't terribly sore and only ran out of gas briefly after pushing myself to hard.

Yesterday I decided to get a quick ride in before dark. I ended up doing the 6 mile loop near my home. I concentrated on the hills because I need to prepare myself for the upcoming Cheaha Challenge in May. Overall I felt good about my performance because I was able to climb the mile long hill going home without standing and without a break.

I just need to keep it up and through in another lap.

Beautiful Day

Yup, today was an excellent day for a ride, sunny and warm! Did a short 30 minute ride of about 6.3 miles today to work on getting my legs back under me. Man do I ever need to keep riding. The route was a shorter version on my 7.5 mile loop which involves some gnarly hills and let me tell you that not sitting on a bike for a period of several months and then trying to just jump right back into it will prove to you just how fat you've become. I don't think I've been this tired since I started riding! I was so tired on my final hill climb that I didn't think I was going to make it. Thankfully I did and I'm absolutely wore out!

In other words, get on your bike as often as possible to keep your stamina and body acclimated to riding!

A good reason for winter riding gear!

So today looked to be the first nice day to get out on the bike that I've seen in several weeks. It was nice and sunny and looked warm...but alas it weren't meant to be! Around 1:00pm I got my gear on went to the garage and pulled the bike out. My first clue should have been the whirling wind when I opened the garage door. And when I stepped out of the garage to realize it was bit chillier then I had realized.

Bearing that in mind I decided not to attempt my 7.5 mile loop but rather just a quick flat out and back of 4.7 miles. And I am damn glad I chose that option. Because it got damn cold damn fast! I still don't think my balls have come back down! The temp was 55 when I started with a nice 5-10mph gusting wind! By the time I finished 17 minutes and 35 seconds later the temp had dropped to 48. Needless to say I will be looking for arm warmers and leg warmers and a riding jacket. It was a beautiful day to ride but not without the right gear!

Not cycling...Running!

Since the daylight is beginning to wain in the early afternoon I started back to jogging at least once a week. Hopefully the jogging and then some weekend riding will help me maintain my endurance levels and maybe keep my weight from climbing anymore than it already has.

Today a coworker and I decided to run the 3 mile loop in Homewood. Part of the Wednesday's Trak Shak runs. We ran a total of 2.74 miles at a 10:58 pace. Overall, not a bad time considering both of us hadn't really done any running in months. Cycling has definitely helped keep my endurance up as I was feeling really good at the 2 mile mark but hit a wall at about 2.25, never the less I was able to push through without letting up.

Winter Cycling

This will be my first winter to ever trying riding significantly so I'm hunting down whatever helpful information I can find on how to prepare and dress for cold weather riding. The video below is by a few guys in Tasmania and the tips on the clothing are good to know.