poperszky

I hit the 20 mile mark tonight which is my longest ride yet. I'm not sure doing it in 90+ heat was particularly smart, but the schedule called for it to happen today and I didn't want to fall any farther behind. I think I am going to stablize here for a week or two and try to get my speed back up, as I have extended my distance I have dropped down to 13.5 and I want to get it back up to 16 or so.

One of the fun parts of the ride was looking at places on the mup that I used to struggle to reach and realize they are only a 1/4 of the way on the ride now. Next goals are to do 20 miles x 3 for a metric, then 20 x 5 for a full century

GeoBigJon

Congrats on your goal completion.

10 Wheels

Keep it going..

Rock31

congratulations! keep on riding

engstrom

Way to go! It's always fun when I ride past spots on my way to work and realize that a year ago I was already worn out when I reached those spots. Now the 7 mile ride to work doesn't wear me out at all.

BHOFM

It is a wonderful feeling to know you conquered the beast!

Congrat's

I remember when two blocks was my goal! When I got there
I bought some ice cream! EZ-Mart! Now if I do less than fifty
before breakfast I feel I have failed.

tiretread

Congrats!

goldfinch

Twenty is a big milestone! Congratulations and many more miles to you!

steve85

Congrats on 20 miles!

Mr. Beanz

Cool! I say mix it up. If 20 is a long ride for you, only do 10 next time out but at a harder effort. Then the next time, maybe 15 at a mellow pace. Then do a 22 miler at a mod pace. Then back down to a short fast pace again the repeat the cycle. I bet it increases your long distance speed.

Seattle Forrest

CONGRATULATIONS!

You did it - and you lived to tell the tale. While doing your first 20 mile ride in 90 degree heat may not have been comfortable, it didn't kill you, so it made you stronger.

poperszky

Thanks I am going to give that a try, as well as adding some hills to my route. But those will have to happen early morning or late night, no way I am doing those in the heat.

Thanks for all the encouragement guys, seems kind of silly to post about hitting 20, when there are people on the forum that regularly do centuries. But I'm not competing with them, I am competing with myself.

Crazydad

Nice job! Keep it up and before you know it 20 will be nothing. And doing it in the heat is all the better 90 sounds pretty nice down here....

CJ C

absolutely AWESOME!!! Congrats.

I like Mr. Beanz training tip, sounds like a good way to keep it fresh and hit goals.

unabowler

Congratulations!

Mithrandir

You will get there one day. Trust me, you will. My first 20 miler was a huge accomplishment. Now I do 20 miles for my daily workout, and next week I'm increasing that to 25! And look how much I weigh!!!


Also, don't fret about the 90. All that will happen is that you might go slower, and you will sweat more. So make sure you bring plenty of cool water! 20 miles = 48oz minimum in my book. Look into purchasing another 24+oz at the midway point, or just carrying a 3rd bottle. The hotter it is, the more you need to drink.

F15Todd

Congratulation on knocking out that first goal...keep it going.

zjrog

Way to go Terry! I still haven't hit 20, but doing plenty of dumb things with my new knee... Like jumping off the back of an ATV... Good luck getting the metric and full century soon!

poperszky

Beanz, thanks for the tip on mixing up my rides, I added a hill route once a week and and a couple of medium rides instead of trying to go farther each time. Something is working, I just did 27 miles (20 percent increase over my last distance ride) this morning (The length of the MUP I ride), and I did it faster than my last two distance rides. One other change I made, since I am riding longer than an hour, I added a couple of Gu packs and a bottle of 50% gatorade solution (250 Calories total) and I could feel the difference in my legs on the return trip. Since one of the reasons that I bike is for weight loss, it was counter intuitive for me to eat, but as I ride longer and longer, it is just necessary.

steve85

I wouldn't worry about the calories you take in while you're riding being counter intuitive, chances are you'll burn them all up anyway and it ends up helping more that it hurts like it showed for you today. I'm gonna start doing that myself, I went on my longest ride this morning and my legs were out of gas by the time I was done with only water with me. Nice job.

zjrog

Great job Terry! I prefer Gatorade G2 these days. Since I work in the desert and go through a lot of it, I chose the low calorie stuff. Does it help? Anything for hydration helps. And on busy days at work, I use various protein rich bars and always have a gel of some sort in my lunch box.