Longest Ride To Date
06-03-12, 09:17 PM
#1
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Longest Ride To Date
I'm getting ready to ride the Colorado MS 150 on June 30th and July 1st. This is my second year of cycling and I've been stepping up my mileage, commuting to work 3-4 days a week (~20 miles round trip) and hitting a few longer weekend rides (32 and 35 miles). Today I decided I was going to do a 40 mile ride, to gauge my conditioning. 40 miles into the ride, I decided to kick it up a couple of notches and ride all the way out to a local state park (Cottonwood Canyon State Park, Colorado).
Total mileage for today's round trip: 60.27.
I'm a little tired, but (other than a moderate sunburn), not feeling too much pain. When I got home, my wife said "I remember when you were excited about riding 60 miles in a week."
As an aside, I gotta say I love my bikes. I have a Specialized Roubaix that I ride a lot on the weekends, but my go-to bike for commuting and tooling around town (and the one I rode today, while my Roubaix was getting a crank/BB upgrade at the LBS), is my trusty Surly Long Haul Trucker. I'll post some pics of my LHT tomorrow and list the build, but that bike is damn near bulletproof and it carries my 230 lbs over broken MUPs, potholes and dirt roads like a champ!
My thanks to the people that post on this forum: your infectious enthusiasm is contagious!
Total mileage for today's round trip: 60.27.
I'm a little tired, but (other than a moderate sunburn), not feeling too much pain. When I got home, my wife said "I remember when you were excited about riding 60 miles in a week."
As an aside, I gotta say I love my bikes. I have a Specialized Roubaix that I ride a lot on the weekends, but my go-to bike for commuting and tooling around town (and the one I rode today, while my Roubaix was getting a crank/BB upgrade at the LBS), is my trusty Surly Long Haul Trucker. I'll post some pics of my LHT tomorrow and list the build, but that bike is damn near bulletproof and it carries my 230 lbs over broken MUPs, potholes and dirt roads like a champ!
My thanks to the people that post on this forum: your infectious enthusiasm is contagious!
06-03-12, 10:15 PM
#2
SuperGimp
Aw, I hit a PR myself today and I also ride a roubaix. Fantastic bike, love mine.
The MS 150 format is two long rides on sequential days, no? Make sure you can tackle that - I can put miles in on day 1 but sometimes that means day 2 is a rest day.
The MS 150 format is two long rides on sequential days, no? Make sure you can tackle that - I can put miles in on day 1 but sometimes that means day 2 is a rest day.
06-04-12, 01:05 PM
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Doing two long solo rides back to back can be tough, but in an event like this, other riders can help pull one along.
06-04-12, 01:46 PM
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Thanks for the support, guys - I appreciate it! I'll continue to commute 40-80 miles a week for the next three weeks, in preparation for the MS 150 ride, while adding a few longer rides on the weekends - and maybe a back-to-back (Saturday/Sunday?) set of 60-ish mile rides on the weekend two weeks prior to the ride.
A couple of pics of my Surly LHT:
https://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y25...urly-Rocks.jpg
https://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y25...nyon-Large.jpg
The bike is a stock "complete" LHT, with the addition of Ultegra triple cranks running with an Ultegra 12/27 cassette, Topeak rear rack, Schwalbe Marathon Supreme (25x2") tires and a Brooks B17 saddle. I originally bought the bike to handle my weight and be a comfortable and relatively fast commuter. I then continued to tweak the build with a focus on comfort and function. The Marathon Supreme tires eat up the cracks and bumps on the bike paths that I ride on for most of my work commute (9.9 miles each way), while rolling much faster than a knobby tire. These Schwalbes are almost slicks, but offer excellent traction on both wet and dry pavement - and have very low rolling resistance. Note: traction on wet dirt and sand is pretty sketchy! The Ultegra drive train upgrades improved the quality of the shifting, reduced weight and increased stiffness (energy transfer). The Topeak rack has been great for stuffing lots of extra weight onto my bike (laptop, clothes, shoes, etc). The Brooks has literally saved my arse.
I apologie for the attached pic, which is upside down. It seems to be easier to attach a pic through a link than it does to post a pic directly.
A couple of pics of my Surly LHT:
https://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y25...urly-Rocks.jpg
https://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y25...nyon-Large.jpg
The bike is a stock "complete" LHT, with the addition of Ultegra triple cranks running with an Ultegra 12/27 cassette, Topeak rear rack, Schwalbe Marathon Supreme (25x2") tires and a Brooks B17 saddle. I originally bought the bike to handle my weight and be a comfortable and relatively fast commuter. I then continued to tweak the build with a focus on comfort and function. The Marathon Supreme tires eat up the cracks and bumps on the bike paths that I ride on for most of my work commute (9.9 miles each way), while rolling much faster than a knobby tire. These Schwalbes are almost slicks, but offer excellent traction on both wet and dry pavement - and have very low rolling resistance. Note: traction on wet dirt and sand is pretty sketchy! The Ultegra drive train upgrades improved the quality of the shifting, reduced weight and increased stiffness (energy transfer). The Topeak rack has been great for stuffing lots of extra weight onto my bike (laptop, clothes, shoes, etc). The Brooks has literally saved my arse.
I apologie for the attached pic, which is upside down. It seems to be easier to attach a pic through a link than it does to post a pic directly.
Last edited by ColoradoClark; 06-04-12 at 01:50 PM. Reason: Silly attached thumbnail!
06-04-12, 01:48 PM
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Sort of related to this...I find that longer rides are more psychologically challenging than physical. My first century I found a group of guys to ride with and it just flew by and I felt great. But riding on my own, anything above 60 miles or so is tough, just because I just get bored and focus too much on how slowly the miles tick off or how hungry I am or how much my butt hurts. So not only will other riders pull you along physically, they pull you along mentally as well.
06-04-12, 03:05 PM
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Banned
Amsterdam Belgium, France, [Calais] thru England, Norway, Denmark, (ferry) Poland,
Cz Republic (then), Austria Germany France Luxembourg Belgium, and back to AMS.
No, was not knocked out in a couple days..
Cz Republic (then), Austria Germany France Luxembourg Belgium, and back to AMS.
No, was not knocked out in a couple days..
06-04-12, 04:04 PM
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06-04-12, 05:05 PM
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Congrats! Keep after it! Your training plan sounds good. I am sure you will do fine.
06-04-12, 09:53 PM
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Awesome deal, way to go. I'm a Roubaix fan myself.
