Why did I do this?

[thekarens]

Can someone please explain to me why I signed up for a bike ride tomorrow morning that involves getting up at 5, driving an hour abd then riding hills in a headwind? I'm pretty sure normal people sleep in on Sunday mornings.

And to top it all off I paid to do this! I really am ill.

 

[Terry57]

Wow. I wish I could explain that, but I have no idea where you get the energy and strength of will to do that. But I bet you will feel great a great sense of accomplishment after you complete it
How long is the ride?

 

[crimson]

your not ill, you have a good heart.
you must be riding with a purpose...such as for cancer research etc...?

so think about your usual day, your probably not missing much, go get on that bike of yours and make the most of it....and enjoy it....then when you come home, you can have a good nap ...I'm sure you will deserve it....good luck tomorrow.

 

[RavensGryf]

Because! You LOVE cycling SOOO much Karen... remember?? That's why
It'll be great exercise, and you get to be in nature. Now that can't be bad... Have fun.

 

[thekarens]

Crimson, I love your attitude. You are the ultimate optimist! I don't know what the cause is or who the proceeds go to. A good chunk of our club is going so I signed up too.

Terry, we signed up for the 47 mile route, but I'm thinking I may bail and do the 25

Julie, you are evil! Lol! The route does go through the national forest.....sigh

 

[RavensGryf]

47miles?! 25 even sounds like a lot. Although I don't really have a concept of how long 25 mi feels like on a bike.

 

[thekarens]

47miles?! 25 even sounds like a lot. Although I don't really have a concept of how long 25 mi feels like on a bike.

For regular cyclists 25 miles is considered a short ride. With the hills and wind it will probably equal 2-2.5 hours. When Karen did her century (100 miles) it was 7 hours of actual riding not including put stops. On that same ride I did 62 miles and I think my actual ride time was 4.5 hours, but that ride was flat.

 

[thekarens]

Here's a pic of that ride. 11,000 cyclists can't be wrong

 

[RavensGryf]

The key word there was "regular cyclists"...

 

[MomtoPercy]

If I were you, I would have just taken my car if I had to go that far....

 

[Terry57]

Hi Karen, how was the ride? How far did you end up going?

 

[thekarens]

Hi Karen, how was the ride? How far did you end up going?

All in all it was a good ride. Neighbors kept me up a lot last night with their party. I considered killing them

It was misting when we started the ride, but the temp was 70 so that was fine. Then it started to rain and I wasn't too crazy about that, but it went back to misting.

It's kind of funny, at the first rest stop you have the opportunity to go left or right. I didn't realize there was a choice. I just followed some other cyclists and next thing I know I see a sign that says, "47 & 67 this way." I'm thinking, "What about the 25?" Well, once you miss a turn off you're pretty much SOL, so I did 47. Thankfully I didn't miss the turn for that!

With the stops it took me about 4.5 hours and I'm pretty sure I'll be feeling this tomorrow.

 

[Terry57]

LOLOL- your first part of this post had me spitting my drink everywhere - at this rate I will need a new computer
Glad you didn't kill them

Wow, I just cannot imagine 47 miles of riding, especially in only 4.5 hours. You are amazing, my friend!
Hoping you are not too sore tomorrow.

 

[lquan]

No, you're not ill. I love cycling myself. 64 miles round trip to the beach every Sunday is normal for people like us. When feeling lazy, 22 miles round trip up hill into the mountains is also normal. My bike budy is sicker than me. He rides on Saturdays and Sundays. He joined 2 cycling clubs. I just ride with him, no club. It is raining today. My bike is ridding alone in the rain. I am staying home with family and my bird.

 

[thekarens]

No, you're not ill. I love cycling myself. 64 miles round trip to the beach every Sunday is normal for people like us. When feeling lazy, 22 miles round trip up hill into the mountains is also normal. My bike budy is sicker than me. He rides on Saturdays and Sundays. He joined 2 cycling clubs. I just ride with him, no club. It is raining today. My bike is ridding alone in the rain. I am staying home with family and my bird.

You're smart! I ride with a club on Saturdays and generally my partner and I mountain bike on Sundays. I prefer to ride with groups for road riding. It just feels safer. I'm a relatively slow rider with an average of 14mph. My partner is in the 16mph group, so we rarely road ride together. If a beach was my reward I might be more inclined to do 60+ miles

 

[lquan]

My average is 14-15mph, too. I usually ride with a group of 3 or 4 on dedicated bike path along the river; there is not a single car in sight, only lots of bicycles. The bike path starts from a lake in the mountains and ends at the beach. In the winter the lake in the mountains overflows into the beach. I picked up the cycling hobby when I discovered the bike path next to this house.

 

[crimson]

too bad you couldn't drag the neighbours with you
if they want to be up all night, they might as well do something worth while.

awesome job for riding through all that drizzle, rain, and not so nice weather.
but I'm sure when you finished you felt good about what you accomplished.
that was a very looooong ride, I hope you took that nap

 

[RavensGryf]

Yay Karen! but now that it's over, doesn't it feel good to know you did the longer one? That's great

 

[thekarens]

Beth the nap was lovely!

And Julie, since I've been a total slacker regarding exercise it did feel good and now every part of my body hurts and is telling me, see, if you got back into the routine this wouldn't hurt! LOL

lquan, I wish we had a dedicated bike path. Instead we have a few "hike and bike" paths which are very crowed with joggers, walkers, cyclists, skateboarders, you name it. The longest one is about 35 miles out and back. Due to the congestion we rarely go there. Instead we road ride in the country where there's not as much traffic, but it's not much to see.