Since I started riding again in March of 2009 I've had two goals. The first was to ride my age, now 58, and to ride a century. Until yesterday my longest ride was 47 miles.

The weekend weather was finally cooperating so I decided on Friday that I would ride the Prairie Spirit Trail which is around 51 miles long making a loop sufficient to get my century.

Since it a rail trail consisting primarily of crushed limestone I used my commuter bike, Giant Cypress DX, with 700x40's rather than my much lighter road bike.

So, I got everything ready on Saturday and discovered a bad spot in my rear tire which I replaced after a quick trip to the LBS. Up at 5:00 AM on Sunday for the the 40 mile trip to Ottawa, Kansas, the northern terminums of the trail.

Three things I screwed up were forgetting to bring ibuprofin for my bad knees, enough food, and not filling all three water bottles at the last trailhead where water was available.

I guess because it was Sunday, there were no business open in any of the small towns along the trail so I had to make due with the foor I brought and suffer through the knee and posterior "discomfort. I also ran out of water during the last 10 miles. I drank a tremendous amount of water during the ride, much more than I thought I would.

The first 51 miles to the southern terminous went well and I probably pushed a little too hard wasting valuable energy that I could have used on the return leg. The second half was into the wind and that plus running short on food kicked my butt. But I made it and can now cross that off of my to do list. Needless to say, I slept well last night.