Back in the saddle!

San Gabriel River Trail - 2.5 hour ride: halfway there!

I was out the door in the 7 o’clock hour on Saturday morning for a long SGRT ride in Duarte, CA, with an intermediate group of riders. I’m an advanced beginner rider with moderate endurance, moderate speed, moderate comfort level riding w/ feet clipped in while using one hand (usually my left) to fiddle w/ the bike computer display, or to grab my bottle and drink whenever I need to. I still prefer to stop riding to drink, and I’m not quite comfortable riding hands-free for more than a split second or actively eating while riding my bike.

I was definitely challenged. With six other tri teammates I rode about 35 miles total. There were a few others there who rode separately and at their own pace. As usual I couldn’t keep up very well, but I did my best to keep the person in front of me in sight so I wouldn’t get lost. My average speed was 15-17 miles per hour reaching up to 22mph on the flats (there were hills). In the last few miles on the way back my bike computer showed I was pushing a whopping 8 mph at times. I was pooped.

The group’s average speed was closer to 20mph. Reassuringly, members of our group either stopped and waited at the parts of the path where I could potentially go the wrong way or hung back and rode with me for a while. Since I had not touched my bike in two months before this weekend, my “sit” bones were so sore! Don’t think I’ll ever not have that soreness after a long ride, but that’s also good thing because I don’t actually want calluses developing there!

I carried lots of nutrition this time, as I learned my lesson from my last ride. I had two pieces of toast before the ride, and then a Luna Bar, a Clif Bar (both white chocolate chip and macadamia nut) and a bottle of water during the ride. I can go 35 miles comfortably on one bottle of water, but that’s just me. I feel like other people drink more water than I do. It would be a good idea in the near future for me to get another water bottle cage installed on my bike in case I ride a longer distance again. I definitely plan to.

I recently found out about a 30 day outdoor biking challenge called 30 days of biking. Though I’m a sucker for most 30 day challenges, alas I must admire the participants’ efforts from afar while I focus on other things this month. Instead of biking every day for 30 days, I will put my own spin on that and make an effort to bike at least once every 30 days through the end of the year. Sounds like a tame goal compared to the linked challenge, but this is an attainable one for me. Not to make excuses, but I’ve got two other sports to brush up on to conquer my biggest challenges yet: A half-marathon and an Olympic distance triathlon (0.9 mi swim, 24 mile ride, 10k run). After that, my sports season will be complete and anything else will be gravy icing a refreshing fruit smoothie.

Okay, enough about biking. Tomorrow I plan to run my WP 5K! If you’ve read this far, thanks for reading my biking babbles. I do appreciate comments and questions, and I actually *squee* out loud when I notice new subscribers to my blog. I hope that you find something that keeps you moving this month!

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