Bikeforums.net is a forum about nothing but bikes. Our community can help you find information about hard-to-find and localized information like bicycle tours, specialties like where in your area to have your recumbent bike serviced, or what are the best bicycle tires and seats for the activities you use your bike for.BluesDawg
05-24-09, 02:35 PM
I reported yesterday (http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=544576)about my second 50 mile ride of the year being much better than the first one. Today I passed another test of my improving endurance by being able to complete 50 mile rides on consecutive days, essential for my upcoming week-long cycling tour/vacation (http://www.brag.org/).
Today's forecast was a near duplicate of yesterday's, a chance of rain all morning followed by a chance of thunderstorms in the afternoon. Yesterday I was caught by a brief rain shower at one point during the ride. Today I was even luckier and it never rained a drop until 30 minutes after I finished riding. It was overcast for about half of the ride. Then the sun came out making it a bit warmer and more humid than yesterday.
My legs felt pretty stiff when I woke up this morning, but after a little bit of stretching and walking around, they felt OK. I followed the same nutitional/hydration plan today; A good breakfast upon waking up, one water bottle of water with 1 1/2 Nuun tablets and another water bottle with Juven, a supplement for building lean muscle mass. I also carried a flask full of CarbBoom energy gel. I stopped once midway through the ride to top off both half-empty bottles with water.
I chose a different route today with a few more hills and one killer hill, the 1.5 mile heartbreaker, Claymont Road. I had to use my granny ring on that one, the only time I used it during both rides. I managed all the hills with no problems. I chose to stay seated and not attack any of the hills. At this point in my recovery I am more interested in making sure I can cover the miles and get up all the hills I encounter, not in how fast I can ride or how aggressively I can take on the hills.
Not surprisingly, I was a bit more tired near the end of today's ride than yesterday and I slowed down a little as the day wore on, but I never started feeling bad and my average speed was only 1/2 mph slower today. I feel good now about being able to handle the miles, the hills and the day after day riding I will encounter on BRAG in two weeks. :thumb:
Today's forecast was a near duplicate of yesterday's, a chance of rain all morning followed by a chance of thunderstorms in the afternoon. Yesterday I was caught by a brief rain shower at one point during the ride. Today I was even luckier and it never rained a drop until 30 minutes after I finished riding. It was overcast for about half of the ride. Then the sun came out making it a bit warmer and more humid than yesterday.
My legs felt pretty stiff when I woke up this morning, but after a little bit of stretching and walking around, they felt OK. I followed the same nutitional/hydration plan today; A good breakfast upon waking up, one water bottle of water with 1 1/2 Nuun tablets and another water bottle with Juven, a supplement for building lean muscle mass. I also carried a flask full of CarbBoom energy gel. I stopped once midway through the ride to top off both half-empty bottles with water.
I chose a different route today with a few more hills and one killer hill, the 1.5 mile heartbreaker, Claymont Road. I had to use my granny ring on that one, the only time I used it during both rides. I managed all the hills with no problems. I chose to stay seated and not attack any of the hills. At this point in my recovery I am more interested in making sure I can cover the miles and get up all the hills I encounter, not in how fast I can ride or how aggressively I can take on the hills.
Not surprisingly, I was a bit more tired near the end of today's ride than yesterday and I slowed down a little as the day wore on, but I never started feeling bad and my average speed was only 1/2 mph slower today. I feel good now about being able to handle the miles, the hills and the day after day riding I will encounter on BRAG in two weeks. :thumb: