768 Miles Per Hour!!

The speed above is that of the speed of sound. I didn't quite hit that on my ride yesterday, but I did get up to 42.5 mph. That was scary enough. I went a total of 52 miles and I could have gone for a while longer, but I felt my legs becoming sore and I didn't want to get into any over training problems. When I started my ride it was about 48 degrees. Cool, but not cold. Ten miles in I had to remove my long sleeve riding jacket. I went the rest of the way in just a riding jersey and riding shorts. It ended up about 58 degrees when I was finished three hours later. The loop I do had a few pretty wicked hills that are about a mile long and very steep. I have a compact crank set so I don't get to take advantage of a granny ring. The agony lasts for about 10-12 minutes when it usually takes me less than 3 minutes to go the same distance on a flat.

It would be nice to have 3 or 4 people to ride with but I think the drafting would make me too lazy. I'm having to do all of the pulling on my own and I think it will make me stronger once I get into some group rides. Currently I am pedaling almost constantly with no time to rest. My heart rate stays between 150-160 bpm the entire time. When I'm able to draft off of a few people that should drop by about 20 bpm.

With my marathon training, I think I had a solid program, but I think it assumed a better fitness foundation than I had when I started. I should have been running for about a year before just throwing myself into it. My body type wasn't meant for distance running so I should have given myself more lead time. Having said that, I am extremely happy I did it. It's pushed me into a better level of fitness that has continued since December of 2007.

Without doing all of that running, I would have never considered doing a 200 mile bike race when the opportunity presented itself. There are now about 5 of my friends who want to be involved as well. Lots of people are looking at expensive bikes and making their wives very uneasy.

Unlike a marathon, I think endurance riding is something anyone can do, once you get use to the saddle on your bike. ;-)