Clydesdales/Athenas (200+ lb / 91+ kg) - 50 Miles!

Well... I attempted to ride to my father's place which is about 100 miles away from Boston. No small undertaking since I've never ridden more than about 45 miles at a stretch and that was about 10 years ago (I've ridden about 35 miles in one shot this year but that's the longest ride I've done recently). Well... I set out at about 8AM on Saturday and got about 40 miles when I realized that I was definitely going to be late for dinner so I called my dad and asked him to come pick me up. We'd agreed earlier that he would bail me out if I got in over my head. So I kept on riding and made it a total of 50 miles.

Lessons learned, detailed route planning is key (I went too far North), the Atlantis is definitely not the fastest bike (especially with two loaded panniers), and central Massachusetts is kinda hilly. Next time... more planning, and giving myself more time to get further. Today a spot on my achilles tendon hurts like crazy but other than that I feel great!

Congrats, keep it up!

Nice! 50 miles is no slouch of a ride! Keep on Truckin', you'll make that ride!

Ice down that Achilles Tendon and take some Ibuprofen to ease the inflammation (Assuming you aren't sensitive to it.....).

It'll help. :p I know this from experience with both knees and Achilles Tendons as well as other joints and tendons. ;)

Well... I attempted to ride to my father's place which is about 100 miles away from Boston. No small undertaking since I've never ridden more than about 45 miles at a stretch and that was about 10 years ago (I've ridden about 35 miles in one shot this year but that's the longest ride I've done recently). Well... I set out at about 8AM on Saturday and got about 40 miles when I realized that I was definitely going to be late for dinner so I called my dad came and asked him to come pick me up. We'd agreed earlier that he would bail me out if I got in over my head. So I kept on riding and made it a total of 50 miles.

Lessons learned, detailed route planning is key (I went too far North), the Atlantis is definitely not the fastest bike (especially with two loaded panniers), and central Massachusetts is kinda hilly. Next time... more planning, and giving myself more time to get further. Today a spot on my achilles tendon hurts like crazy but other than that I feel great!

I'm glad you rode 50 miles, and had a good time doing so. You are fortunate you planned for a rescue; you could have been stranded.

Assuming dinner at 5:00 PM, that was nine hours for a hilly century on a bike carrying a load. Plus you didn't plan the route in detail and it was three times the distance you'd recently ridden. You don't do things by halves, do you? :D

Wow! Congrats on the fifty-miler!!! Hope the Achilles quits barking at you soon...

Thanks everyone! I'll get back out there as soon as my tendon is less grumpy with me. :)


I'm glad you rode 50 miles, and had a good time doing so. You are fortunate you planned for a rescue; you could have been stranded.

Assuming dinner at 5:00 PM, that was nine hours for a hilly century on a bike carrying a load. Plus you didn't plan the route in detail and it was three times the distance you'd recently ridden. You don't do things by halves, do you? :D

No... halves are not my strong suit. :D

The route wasn't planned in detail but I did have maps with me and a general knowledge of the geography of the area. I took a hilly and somewhat out of the way route (about 95 miles vs 80) to avoid metro areas, busy roads and general cycling unpleasantness, upon further reflection I don't know that it was that bad of a route relative to the alternatives I found while poking around online last night.

Amusingly enough upon checking out elevation info on Bikely I realized that I had just crested the highest point on the trip right before my dad picked me up.

Hoping to tackle this one later this summer. How long do centuries (or near centuries) generally take? I know it would depend heavily on the terrain.


Ice down that Achilles Tendon and take some Ibuprofen to ease the inflammation (Assuming you aren't sensitive to it.....).

It'll help. :p I know this from experience with both knees and Achilles Tendons as well as other joints and tendons. ;)

Thanks for the advice Tom! I iced it down last night and it felt a lot better, pretty sore this morning but I'll pop some more ibuprofen and hopefully that'll help.

Thats a nice long ride. I usually end up taking the moped whenever my trips are farther than 30 miles round trip.

Ice down that Achilles Tendon and take some Ibuprofen to ease the inflammation (Assuming you aren't sensitive to it.....).

It'll help. :p I know this from experience with both knees and Achilles Tendons as well as other joints and tendons. ;)

I did a 38 miler on Sunday. My legs were a bit warm but my achilles were indeed sore as heck!!