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So what did I do to get in a bike ride this weekend? I know that I won't get to ride for at least a week. I have plans Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Going out of town Thursday through Sunday, so no bikey for me for at least 7 or 8 days.

I headed out this morning at 10:24 on a quest to follow up my 52-mile ride from last Sunday. I don't know why, but for some reason I felt compelled to follow it up with another long ride. I don't know who I'm trying to impress or why I feel like I have something to prove. Determination does strange things to people. Besides that, I really enjoyed telling people that I rode 52 miles last Sunday. The looks on their faces were like, "huh?" "Why?" "Are you nuts?" I did receive several kudos from fellow riders including our department's medical director. He was happy for me as he knew how badly I wanted to achieve this goal.

I could have went mountainbiking today, but I didn't try to organize or plan it; and I really didn't feel like loading all that stuff in my car to go ride by myself. Sure I could have called people at the last minute, but then I could just get up whenever and head out on my road bike without much hassle at all. There will be more time for mountainbiking anyway. It's easier to dress to ride mountainbikes when it's cold. My jacked up layers don't look so dorky in the woods.

I left my house and headed over to Plantation Road. From there, I headed downtown to climb Mill Mountain. It was beautiful riding up MM and out to the Parkway. The leaves have peaked now, so it's going to start looking ugly soon. I decided to ride out the Parkway to Mountain Pass Road. I had asked Tim where the Parkway intersected Mtn Pass. I couldn't remember ever having seen this. He said it was the first bridge after passing 460. I drove out Mtn Pass Friday night to preview this route. I discovered that I didn't know where they intersected because I always turn and go out Laymantown Road to 460. Anyway, I enjoyed the Parkway a lot. I actually saw many deer and saw three horses cross on the horse trail. I had to stop near Explore Park to put my knee warmers on. I was getting cold - I really wish I had had my shoe covers. While I was putting the warmers I saw three bikers come from the Explore Park spur and head down the Parkway in the same direction I was going. I stretched, drank some Gatorade then headed on out. I acutally caught the third guy in the group close to Rt 24. I was proud to be able to say "on your left." Hee hee. =)

I was having a good ride, but I was getting hungry - not a good sign. A lesson to me huh? I got to 460 and started to bonk pretty bad. I actually stopped on the road side to try to eat some HammerGel to see if that would help me survive. I rode on to the first bridge I came to. Found the path on the left, walked down to the road and started riding again. Something didn't look right. I didn't think the path looked this way Friday night, and soon enough I saw a road sign that said, "Rainbow Forest Drive." UGH... This was the wrong road. I rode a bit more second guessing myself. None of this was familiar to me. I thought about calling my Dad to come get me in my Jeep, but hell I didn't know where I was. So, I headed back to the Parkway and continued out it, hoping to find Mountain Pass Road.

Sure enough, Moutain Pass Road is the second bridge from 460 and the path was just as it appeared Friday night. I did alright at first on Mtn Pass then it decided to kick my ass. I kicked my chain off and soon after I started to lose patience with this road. It was a lot steeper in places that I realized. I ended up walking up the switchback section. Once I got rolling again, I faired much better. Although the hunger was horrible! I got to Rt 11 and decided to ride straight back to my house rather than going off on some other backroads. I could have stopped at one of the stores and got a snack, but I was already running close on time. Instead, I just gulped more gatorade and rode on. I kept a pretty steady cadence for a while despite the bumpiness of the road. Once I got near the huge intersection, I sat up and paid careful attention to all that surrounds it. I almost got smushed by a tractor trailer truck. I called him an asshole and gave him a dirty look as I rode by to the stoplight. Once I cleared the intersection I felt much safer and continued on my quest to get home. As it turns out Rt 11 wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Most people gave me plenty of room and I was able to negotiate safely home.

I ended up riding 40 miles in right at 3 hours. I was starving so bad that my legs and hands were shaking when I got home. I immediately went and fixed two peanut butter sandwiches and devoured them. I am very pleased with my ride today. I wish I could have handled Mtn Pass a bit better, but I'd never ridden my bike on it, so it was harder than I thought it would be. The Parkway was great today. The traffic wasn't bad at all up there today. I do need to anticipate my rides a bit more and prepare by eating accordingly. This week's ride was harder than last week. I think there was more climbing involved and it definitely is harder riding solo. All in all a good effort. 92 miles total on the road bike for the last two Sundays isn't bad huh? =) YAY ME!

The ride route can be found here.

Distance: 40.17 miles
Time: 3:00:04
Avg Speed: 13.4 mph (max 35.6 mph)
Avg HR: 129 bpm (max 159 bpm)