Long Ride

This morning, I had to lead a ride with my gym's Cycle Club, so I had planned a 53-mile loop up to Caesar Creek State Park and back.  There were five of us at the start, including one newer guy on a flat-bar bike, a regular social rider, and two more experienced, faster guys.  We started out, and the two fast guys took off to add a few extra miles.  They met back up with us a little later, and we all pressed on.  There were several significant hills in the first half of the ride, which were particularly challenging for the newer rider.  They took a lot out of me and the other lady as well, though.  We decided that when the route took us back to the bike trail, we would just take that back to our start location instead of finishing the planned route with a few more big hills.  It was the same distance, but definitely easier since it was flat.  We met a LOT of other cyclists on the road today, which just goes to show that we picked a good route. :-)  It was hot, challenging, and long at 53 miles, but fun, too.  We took a lot of breaks along the way, so we got back to the park pretty late, but I'm really glad I got a good ride in since I've done little else well this week...  I'm also learning that I really need to start figuring out my fueling plan for these longer workouts.  I didn't have any sports drink or gel or bars or anything at home, so I only consumed a Snickers bar and some Gatorade I bought mid-way through the ride and was starving by the time we finished.  Yeah, this has got to be an important aspect of my training in the coming weeks...

But now I've got to get the house cleaned before Hubby gets back with his brother!  And then to bbq...