68 Mile Training Ride

Today, I decided it was time for another training ride, my bike was fixed, my body was mostly healed and it was a gorgeous day.  I started out a bit late in the morning, as I hadn't really planned on this ride.  It was a Wednesday, so I did not have class and I knew I wanted to do some riding on Thursday, but I had a lot of simulation work to do for a class so I thought that would take most of my day.  But at about 11:00 am, I had about all of that simulation work that I could do.  So I decided I wanted to go on a ride and I decided I also wanted to go get a beer.  This coming weekend I was supposed to bike down to the Breckenridge Brewery with my roommate Laine, but the forecast for the weekend is supposed to be all snow and cold, so we had cancelled our plans for that ride.  But that did mean that on Wednesday I had a full route planned out and plotted.  So I decided to go do it and get a beer and then ride back.

I followed the bike path along C-470 down to south Denver to the brewery, only about 25 miles or so.  I made it down to the brewery (without crashing even once!) in about 2 hours.  I was feeling really good and had really enjoyed the ride, so as I sat there drinking my beer and eating some Lunch I started to look for a longer way back to Golden.  That was when I decided that it sounded like a fun idea to ride back along the South Platte River and then up Clear Creek (another 43 miles).  

When I set off from the brewery, I was still feeling great and I made great time through Denver averaging a solid 15 mph pace.  However, once I reached Clear Creek at about mile 22 (mile 47 cumulative) things started to slow down... a lot.  I knew it would be "uphill" along Clear Creek (obviously I was biking upstream),  but I did not realize that for how tired I was a few percent grade was actually quite noticeable.  On top of that I ran out of water at about this point as well.  What this meant was the next 21 miles were the hardest riding I have ever had to do.  It was slow going... very slow going (sub 10 mph for some stretches).  I even had to stop at certain points and just lay down, my legs, back, and neck were all getting really sore and my quads were cramping like crazy.  But I kept going on slowly and I did eventually make it back to the house, never have to get off and walk my bike.

This training ride, as exhausting as it was, was a great success I think.  I faced many walls and climbed over them, and despite utter exhaustion I was able to keep going.  I also learned that I need to drink more water and to not run out of water.  I am feeling better now that I have hydrated and can't wait to get into to bed and go to sleep.  So I will leave you all at this point.  Till next time.

Stats:

• Distance= 68.25 miles
• Time in saddle= 6 hours 16 minutes