Two Sundays in a row now I’ve managed to get in good long bike rides. Today I did 51 miles starting from home and looping out around Hagan Stone Park and south. Last weekend I rode over to Caraway mountain and back, around 49 miles. Both were good rides and I’m pleased to be getting the mileage in my legs.
This week was much hotter than last and that did take it’s toll in the later part of the ride. I felt generally more tired at the end of this one than a week ago. Also, even though there’s a small mountain at the far end of the Caraway ride, I actually did more climbing today. Although only about a hundred feet more.
The ride to Caraway is always pleasant because there’s a lot of nice scenery, particularly in the second half of the ride. At least with the route I prefer. Lots of horse farms and the like. The ride around Hagan Stone Park has it’s own scenic feel too, but I guess it’s more similar to what I see on a lot of my rides, so the Caraway one has a slightly different vibe which makes it stand out.
I did have my camera along today, and took a couple of shots when I stopped at the park, but I never can bring myself to stop very often to take a picture. There’s just too much energy expended in the process of stopping and starting, so I just keep the pedals turning and think how nice it would be if I did stop and take a picture of whatever beautiful scene I’m passing. I was thinking today that it would be really cool if I could attach a video camera to my helmet or something and record one of my rides, but I’d probably have to turn the sound off. Nobody would want to listen the the roar of the wind across the mic and the sound of my wheezing for three hours.
At about mile 23 today something hit my thumb and there was a sharp pain. I’m pretty sure I was stung by something, but I don’t know what. I was concerned that I might have an allergic reaction, but nothing ever happened and the pain went away a little while later. I checked when I got home and there’s no sign of anything, so I guess it was just some weird random experience.
On both rides I stopped around the 30-35 mile mark at small convenience stores to buy a bottle of cold water to replenish. I’d never stopped at either one before, and both times I discovered that not only were they convenience stores but they appeared to be head shops as well, with display cases full of pipes and bongs. I had no idea. But it made me laugh.
The other thing I’ve noticed the past two weeks is that somewhere around mile 40 I start to feel a little hot-spot on the bottom of my left foot where my cleat is in contact with the pedal. So it seems like I need to make a small adjustment there. These are the sorts of things that are really difficult to get dialed in just right. I might make a tiny adjustment to the position of the cleat on the bottom of my shoe, but I won’t really know that it was effective in relieving the pressure spot until I’ve ridden another 40 miles or so, and in the meanwhile there’s always the fear that the adjustment might upset some other part of the mechanics of riding…like at the knee.
Anyway, since I never managed to post anything last week I thought I’d kinda catch everyone up on the past two weeks worth of riding. There have also been a few rides in the evenings during the week. I got Marcella out on the bike yesterday evening for a little over 11 miles. That’s her first ride of this season to start gearing up for Tanglewood at the end of the summer.