my first century attempt
 

so two saturdays ago i had the bright idea that i'd try my first century. i took a light backpack with snacks and a sandwich, a thermos with water and a spare tube. i also had a waterbottle filled with water, a pump mounted to my bike and a bag under my seat with another tube and some tools and patches. i rode 30 miles and stopped in a small town to rest and eat my sandwich. then i decided to turn around. the thought of going another 20 miles before i had to turn around wasn't too pleasing considering how tired i was at that point. i did manage to do 60 miles in 5 and a half hours though. my legs hurt all last week from that ride.

Well, you got a metric century in then......

You'll do it next time, it sounds like!:D

By the way, when you do a high mile ride, be sure to go out the next day for a short easy ride to pull the lactic acid from your muscles, and you might consider a couple of Ibuprofen before a long ride, it helps! (Assuming you aren't Ibu sensitive, and Naproxen [aleve] works well too!)

Yeah - that halfway mark is a little mentally rough :) Next time see if you can stop after 40 or 50 miles.

I found the first few 30 mile rides I had to stop after an hour and eat, take a rest for a good 20 mins or so. Now I'm stopping during that 30 mile route for traffic and not much else.

after that ride, i really didn't care if i ever saw my bike again to be honest :p i'm back on it now though :)

Tom is right, and it's something I've learned the hard way. You have to get back on the bike the next day for a nice REALLY EASY ride. I've had rides that I thought if I made it back home I'd give my bike away and stayed off for several days afterward, now I push myself to get back on for a short 20-30 minute easy ride just to push out the lactic acid in my legs. Your body will thank you for this, and I've found that I recover a lot faster from doing this.

Jason

Good to have you back on the bike, and back posting. If it's not rude to ask, how is the weight loss coming?

60 miles is a great feat for a Clyde. How long have you been riding?

it's not rude to ask about my weight loss. it's coming around actually. monday will be start my 4th week lifting weights and i've taken off 5 pounds since i started on june 4th. i haven't weighed myself in a few days so i don't know exactly where i'm at now but i'm down a total of 10 pounds since i started my diet. my pants are starting to fit a bit looser, that i do know and i ain't complaining! i got my trek in the beginning of march so i guess i've been seriously riding for a little over 3 months. i've put 330 miles on it so far. i ride my bike to work every day since i only live half a mile away. i think tomorrow i'm going to whip out the trainer and do some spinervals.

Good for you! Keep it up and soon enough, you'll do that century!

Once you do one, it will show you that your physical capabilities are far greater than you thought they were!