Fifty Plus (50+) - tomorrow ride

So my bike needs a little adjusting, doesn't want to shift well into the higher gears so I'm going to ride to the bike shop. It is 31.95 miles one way, 63.9 round trip.

I rode 50.15 miles last weekend & today 25.78 miles with no riding in between, just went to the gym a couple of days.

I plan on taking some fix bars, a couple of power bars & two bottles of water. Anyone have suggestions of other things that might be better to take to eat????

The trip has a few hills & a couple climbs but nothing really that bad. Today coming home I had either a side wind or tail wind but made the 25.78 miles in an hour and twenty three minutes, which I was really happy with.

I know tomorrow I won't be going that fast specially if I plan on getting home in one piece. This will be close to a metric century so that is a good warm up for my century next month.

Power bars might be OK but don't taste that good. How about Fig Newtons-A Sandwich- piece of cake- dried fruit.

But for a 32 mile Ride- I would find a cafe to have a coffee and pie at while the bike is being checked over. In view of the 32 back- it might be worth 2 slices of pie.

Power bars might be OK but don't taste that good. How about Fig Newtons-A Sandwich- piece of cake- dried fruit.

But for a 32 mile Ride- I would find a cafe to have a coffee and pie at while the bike is being checked over. In view of the 32 back- it might be worth 2 slices of pie.

I don't mind the taste of some of the power bars & I bought a bunch of them on sale the other day. They just take a while to chew them.
That is what I meant was fix Newtons. I have also heard banana's work well. I like the sandwich idea as well, I've heard just peanut butter sandwich's are good?

As for the cafe shop I don't drink coffee but a piece of pie sure sounds good with maybe some milk or better yet ice cream. Oh wait maybe that should be left for after the ride. :D

It won't take them that long to just adjust the bike plus I'm scared if I wait around to long I won't want to ride back. :eek:

It is almost 6:30 & the temperature is already 30 degrees so another 10 degrees & I'll be on my way. I want to try & get most of the ride completed before the winds pick up. I HATE WIND!!!!:mad:

Bananas are good.

Don't do what I did once...stop for lunch at a Weinerschnitzels. Those chili dogs were great going down. That's when the good times came to a screeching halt. :(

I try not to eat stuff while riding that I don't eat at home. So, I keep an energy bar or something like that in my bag for emergency, but I try to avoid eating them.

As posted above, I'd look for a place near the bike shop to sit down and eat a light meal of "real" food. Barring that, in my bag, I'd take something like: cut up bananas, a bag of home-made trail mix (dried fruit/raisins/m&m's/nuts), Oreo's, a pre-made PB&J sandwich cut in half....

Hope the (not so) LBS knew you were coming and got you in and out ASAP...

Power bars are one of the abominations of cycling. Taste of sacharin- constituency of cardboard and on a cold day will break your teeth. The only good thing about them is that you have to drink a lot of Liquid to wash them out of the mouth.

The same goes for some energy drinks- Tried one once called Maxim. Foullest tasting drink I have ever had. I now stick to gels as the emergency energy and a Fruit flavoured energy drink. Snacks on a ride are something I am used to- as Bengeboy suggested- or it is to the cafe.

. Snacks on a ride are something I am used to- as Bengeboy suggested- or it is to the cafe.

Stapfam: When I lived in the UK, my favorite ride snack was McVitie's. Though when I was being bad it was Walker's, Salt & Vinegar flavored (Winner of my family's coveted, "Best Crisps in the World" award). Not because crisps make good ride snacks, but it was a way to sneak yet another bag of Walker's without the spouse noticing.

The trouble with your plan is the possibly long wait at the shop. You'll cool down completely and, if it were me, my legs would be stiff a a board when starting back. I try not to stop for more than about 10-15 minutes on a long ride.

I eat Snickers Marathon bars on a long ride and I think they're great. I have digestion issues that most folks don't have, so I'm a bit limited in what I can eat when bathrooms are not readily available. They taste pretty good and provide a good energy lift.

Stapfam: When I lived in the UK, my favorite ride snack was McVitie's. Though when I was being bad it was Walker's, Salt & Vinegar flavored (Winner of my family's coveted, "Best Crisps in the World" award). Not because crisps make good ride snacks, but it was a way to sneak yet another bag of Walker's without the spouse noticing.

Crisps are a good way of getting salt back into the body- but McVities Chocolate Digestives are out of this world. Have to be plain Chocolate, of course, but How do you nick a 1lb pack of the wifes favourite biscuits out of the cupboard- with her playing hell with you when you get home?

I MADE IT!!!!!
The LBS is really good on weekends at doing small adjustments. When I got there one of the guys took my bike & had it shifting better in 5-10 minutes. I sat down & ate my peanut butter sandwich that I took, drank some water & I was back on the road so I don't think I was there more then a half hour at the most.

I have to also agree I was afraid I would get cooled off & stiff, but the weather turned out nice except for the damn wind!!!:mad:

The last stretch of about 7 miles I had the head wind of 15-20 mph. Did I mention I HATE WIND!!!!:)
I do have to say the ride home wasn't to bad on that stretch so it helped get me back into the swing of things plus it helped keep my average speed of 15 mph. I did have a question? I have a Cateye computer & when you stop does it also stop or does the time keep ticking?
I think it stops because I went 65.61 (but the guy at the shop test rode my bike twice) miles in around 4:22 hours.

Besides the sandwich I ate 5 fig newton bars, one power bar & drank 3-3/4 24 oz bottles of water

As for my body I am sore, my legs are sore, my neck is sore, my arse is sore. That is the first time of riding that my arse got sore so I guess I put in a good distance this time. The shorter 35 wasn't bad & even the 50 mile wasn't to bad but I am learning after 50 miles is when the fun begins. :rolleyes:

Besides the DAMN WIND it wasn't a bad ride. I was really surprised to see so many people out riding today.
Another bad part (besides the wind :D) was I got passed by a bunch of riders. :mad: I was able to pass only one gal in the head wind. :mad:

There is a local bike club that me & my buddy are thinking of joining, it would be fun to ride with a bunch of people to get the feel of the draft & all that.

Thanks for the ideas on food.....

I I did have a question? I have a Cateye computer & when you stop does it also stop or does the time keep ticking?

Sounds like a great ride. To answer your question, I think Cateye's have settings for both (total elapsed time plus automatic start/stop). I think the default is for it to stop/start when you stop, so, if in doubt, I'd guess your MPH is your actual running MPH. You can check the documentation (though I find my Cateye's documentation almost indecipherable).

Most Cateye computers have an "AT" (auto) feature that starts and stops when you do, thus recording only your moving time/speed, etc.

I MADE IT!!!!!

As for my body I am sore, my legs are sore, my neck is sore, my arse is sore. That is the first time of riding that my arse got sore so I guess I put in a good distance this time. The shorter 35 wasn't bad & even the 50 mile wasn't to bad but I am learning after 50 miles is when the fun begins. :rolleyes:


There is a local bike club that me & my buddy are thinking of joining, it would be fun to ride with a bunch of people to get the feel of the draft & all that.

Thanks for the ideas on food.....



Didn't think you wouldn't.

Sounds as though you did your longest ride yesterday so get out and do a recovery ride today. Unless you are planning a normal ride. Just do a few miles- no effort going in- no speed and a slightly higher cadence than you would. In other words stay in a low gear and put no effort in. This will just get the muscles working and stretch them a bit from the good nights sleep you had last night.

And if there is a club locally that has a grade of ride groups you can progress up with- Go for it. Just make certain it is not the local race team that blast's everywhere at 30mph.

I woke up this morning feeling pretty good. I expect once I set on the saddle I'll have a few sore spots but most of the soreness I had last night is gone.

The not shower was good for the back & legs & I did a few stretches this morning as well.

I'm going to call my buddy & see if he wants to do a short ride today, something like 20-30 miles & I'll just do some spinning, maybe even let him lead for a change. ;)

It's 40 degrees out, I just finished my bowl of oatmeal & toast so I'm ready to go.

I met my buddy at his house & we decided kind of what direction we wanted to go, just wasn't sure where we were going to go.

Ended being a really nice day for a bike ride, even though it was 10 degrees cooler then yesterday we didn't have the wind so I was happy.

I took everyones suggestions & just pedaled in one lower gear, plus I followed him for a while as well. There were a couple hills that I stood up on, but my legs really felt pretty good.

We ended up doing a loop of 25 miles and averaged 14.0 mph so that is one mile slower then I usually ride, so I can say I took it easy. :D

When I got home I took a walk with the wife & our two Sheltie's around three blocks & now I'm done for the day.

I was a little sore in the arse but not that bad, just kept changing positions & stood up on the hills, but I'm happy with how I felt specially after yesterdays ride.

I hope to keep riding a few small rides during the week, then doing a 50-60 on the weekends, hopefully that will be enough to prepare me for the century in June.

I was a little sore in the butt but not that bad, just kept changing positions & stood up on the hills, but I'm happy with how I felt specially after yesterdays ride.

I hope to keep riding a few small rides during the week, then doing a 50-60 on the weekends, hopefully that will be enough to prepare me for the century in June.

Few weeks of riding to the plan and you will be ready for the century at the end of April-with one exception. A couple of 4 hour non stop seated rides to attune the butt.