Thursday

100 More



It's pretty comical, what goes on in my head during a big ride. There's much contemplation of—a furious searching for, actually—reasons I really don't have to ride as long or far as planned. But almost always, I end up doing exactly what I set out to do. That's what happened today. At various points I was thinking the ride could be cut to as few as 50 miles (that came with a solemn vow to do 100 on Saturday, yeah, right); or maybe it could be 75 if I threw in a series of killer climbs on Tabor (uhn-huh); or, well, 90, that's practically 100, that would be OK.

While this was going on, I just kept riding, which can be a pretty effective strategy. And not only that, I rode with good intensity. Except for when I stopped at a light or stop sign, or to pee or refill my water bottles (or, OK, to grab a burger and fries at McDonald's), I pedaled. No coasting, drifting, gabbing, hanging out in front of the 7/11. None of that. Pedaling, pedaling, pedaling. I ended up doing the 100.2 miles in 5:25, all told. That's 20 minutes faster than my time on the same route three weeks ago, even though the effort felt about the same (remember, I ride sans Powertap, so perception is reality here). Perhaps a good sign.

2 comments:

  1. That's a sweet time for 100! You'll take a huge chunk of time off that bike split. Nice job.

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  2. Thanks, Donald. Hoping for a faster bike split - and hoping to have a little more in the gas tank for the run!

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