Time To Just Enjoy The Bike…
I’m back from my last Mountain Century of the season, Bridge to Bridge. Sorry for the delay on the post, but I took a day off from work and I had to conjure up the energy to spend more time on the computer. Don’t get me wrong, I dig reading your blogs and sharing with you guys… I was just enjoying a break.
So, my last ride was beautiful, enjoyable and gratifying. It just wasn’t as fast as I would have liked to ride. The weather was great. It started off cold in the upper 40’s and climbed to near 65 degrees and sunny. I felt good… I drank plenty of fluids… I ate plenty of food… I just ran out of gas toward the end. I didn’t feel like I bonked… I was just tired and didn’t have a lot of push left starting at about 91 miles. The ride totaled 106 miles. The ride has about a 12 mile climb that starts around mile 64 and it really gets my lower back. By the time I climbed the Blue Ridge Parkway… my lower back was pretty tight. The same thing happened last year. I’ve climbed plenty of mountains before but this one road gets me. I’m wondering if I need to do some more lower back strengthening exercises or something. Still, it really was a fun ride. In fact, I was singing out loud as I descended a section of the Blue Ridge Parkway at about 42 mph. It was really special because my family was there cheering! My mom and dad were on the Parkway and then at the finish line along with my sister and her family. My wife and 5 year old son and my father-in-law stopped at many points on the route and cheered me on. They really kept me going. My son had a cow bell and he jumped up and down yelling Allez… Allez! 
It’s the best motivation ever! You can see my time in the picture to the right… I was hoping to finish around 6:30:00… oh well. By the way, I have more pictures I just haven’t downloaded them from the camera and thankfully a friend of a friend got these shots at the finish and emailed them to me. Thanks so much!
So, this ride wraps up three GREAT mountain centuries this season and two road centuries as part of 24 Hours of Booty. Those are the organized rides I pedaled. Unfortunately, I did not log all my training miles. I guess I should do that next year. I’ll be interested in seeing just how much I pedal. Now, I will not feel pressured to get in a certain amount of miles or time in the saddle. I’m looking forward to enjoying my bike and my time on the road… whatever that may be. Cheers!
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Comments
WILL - Thanks so much. Yeah… he loved the bell and other riders were so pleased to see him cheering for them as well. They were laughing. I’m sure he would love to see a “real” race! I’ll get him to one soon. We’re thinking about the Tour de Georgia next year.
Great job up there D. Man you’ve put in some work this year in the mountains. You’ve earned some spinning time now w/ the flatlanders. That was very cool w/ your family out there. It seemed like an awesome day, cow bells are very cool too.
Oh I almost forgot. I’ve been using http://www.workoutlog.com to log my workouts. There’s some other good ones out there too.
ROB — Thanks! I’ve had a great time doing the events but I’m looking forward to recreational pedaling too. Thanks for the workout log suggestion. I’ve seen some of those before … I just never got organized enough to keep track. That will be my New Year’s cycling resolution.
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Congrats.
That’s a huge ride and a fast time.
Wow - your son had a cow bell and yelled allez, allez? That is just great!
You now have no choice but to bring him over to see the Tour de France ….. and the Tour of Switzerland (where the fans specialize in cow bells!)