Another weekend, another bike ride. This weekend, I finished my longest ride ever (by about a mile) – 44.5 miles with 2220 feet of elevation gain. It was a great ride! It makes so much difference when the weather is decent. I had loaded up all this cold weather gear on a bag on my bike, and I didn’t need any of it. I even took off the tights I’d put on over my shorts, and just had a woolen long sleeve jersey and shorts for most of the ride. To start, temps were in the low to mid 50s and overcast, but I think it must have been at least 60 by the time I finished, with sunshine peaking through here and there.
I love that I’m getting to the point that I can cover a significant distance on my bike. It’s a way to explore this place that I live that is different than being in the car. Unlike running, I can cover a lot of ground, but unlike driving, I’m going slow enough to appreciate it.
Speaking of going slow, I just never seem to get any faster. I averaged 11.5 mph. That pace felt comfortable. The hills were tiring, the downhills were lovely, and the flat felt like my easy running pace – comfortable. I do feel like I could probably go faster but traffic and route-finding really slow me down, as well as worries that I’ll get so tired I won’t be able to finish. The main issue with being slow is just that it takes so long, and I just don’t have that much free time. Every hour I’m away, H is at home with the kids. He’s awesome to let me ride, but I usually spend half my rides feeling super guilty.
I have time for two, maybe three (if I hire our nanny for an extra day), more rides this summer. It’s been a brutal spring weather-wise, just ridiculously cold and rainy, but I think the worst is over. However, we’ll be in Virginia for August, and we have some other weekend commitments, so I’m nearly out of time for the year. I’m planning a 50 mi ride next weekend, and then hoping to do a 60 and then 70 mile ride. We’ll see. I’ve only been able to get about 50% of my planned rides off due to weather and other commitments.