50 Mile Bike Ride on Silver Comet Trail

Heather and I got up at 6:15AM. A little late. We had set the alarm for
5:30AM and Rusty was meeting us at 6:30AM at the start of the trail... a
40 minute drive.

I loaded the bikes onto the car and filled the tires to 110psi. We were
off.

I was a little (a lot) miffed when Heather casually informed me that the
plan was to bike and then run. I didn't have my running shoes with me.
I had run a hard 5 miles the day before. I had been planning on a 38
mile bike ride all week.

So I decided to go it alone. I didn't know how far I would go, but
Rusty's "that's ambitious" comment certainly fueled me.

I set out alone.

I had a Camelbak water carrier and three Powerbars. I stopped at 10
miles to eat a powerbar. I felt great. I was barely breathing hard. My
pedaling was smooth. I was getting used to the aerobars. They were
twitchy and I found myself switching back and forth a lot from aero to
trad.

From 10mi - 15 mi was annoying. There was a break in the trail every 1/2
mile. People were all over the place. I couldn't get into a groove.
Each time I slowed I had to then reaccelerate. This forced me to output
a lot of torque with both knees. But it was only my left knee that I
worried about. It had the typical dull pain.

Then at 14mi I ripped myself a new Xxxhole. Literally. I dismounted to
let a car cross. As I got back onto the bike I was in too tall a gear
AND I didn't clip in properly. The combo wasn't pretty. I successfully
positioned myself over the saddle, only to slip with my right foot and ram
the seat up my ass. The front of the saddle nailed me in the butt about
1/4 inch from dead center. Not pretty.

Then exactly 4.2 seconds later I tried to remount and did essentially the
same thing slamming my undernut-to-Xxxhole area (what's that called?).

My ass was in a flaming state of pain but I knew that I had to
ride through it. It's not like I was going to stop and rub my ass. The
ladies don't dig dudes who stand around rubbing their asses. It's not like I was going to ask
somebody, "Hey, does this look bad?" For
about two miles it felt like I had a tennis ball between my ass cheeks
while my
body swelled the area to defend from further attacks.

By 20 miles the ass pain was gone and I was enjoying life again. The
trail switched from a nice pavement to a bumpy concrete. It slowed me
down quite a bit. Lots of vibrations.

I stopped again at 20 mi to eat another powerbar. I also consciously
drank a lot of water. I've had a camelbak for six years and I've never
gotten to the bottom of it. I had no trouble drinking all of it today.

I wasn't sure how much further I wanted to go. 50mi sounded like a nice
round number so I headed for that. The five miles between 20 and 25 were
hilly. My left hamstring started to hurt. Actually, just to the left of
my left hamstring. The muscle/tendon that runs from the back of my knee
to my butt. That was the determining factor. I wasn't hurting from a
cardio perspective... in fact the workout was very tame with a very
moderate heart rate.

I turned around at 25mi.

By 33mi I was starting to feel the distance a bit. I noticed that I
wasn't sweating much so I downed a lot of water. I was worried for a
while that I'd run out but I found a water fountain.

Aside from the few miles of ass pain, miles 38-45 were the toughest. My legs were
OK. My heart/lungs were OK. But my ass was killing me. The saddle was
just painful. I had to shift around a lot. Every mile or so I had to
get out of the aero position.

I stopped at 45mi to eat the last powerbar and drink some more water.
The trail was getting busy and I couldn't really maintain a good pace at
all. Too much weaving in and out of slower runners/bikers.

But I made it.

50 miles!

Can't complain.

Heather had finished her bike/run and left the key at the car for me. I
drove home and wrote this summary. I feel good. Not nearly as worn out
as I expected to be. I think that I'm doing a much better job of
hydrating and eating than I ever have. I ate a fourth powerbar in the
car on the way home. And drank a powerade.

The biggest thing I enjoyed about the ride were the long stretches where
I could get into a groove. My heart rate wasn't up but I was cranking
out the miles. In aero position I went into something like a zen state.
Very fulfilling.

I averaged 15.5mph over 50.35 miles and completed the ride in 3:15:40.
Lots of room to improve.

Well, I need a shower now.

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  biking

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  biking