Pedal the Park – 60 mile ride

We rolled out at 9 am this morning in a mass start on the "Pedal the Park" Charity Ride. Cody and Janna from our TrySports team agreed to come and ride along with me. Or to say it a different way – help pull me to the finish.

Our course took us through many of the back roads around Huntersville, Cornelius, Davidson, and Mooresville. For the better part of the ride, I didn't have a clue where we were riding. The race organizers had placed little yellow turn signs at the major intersections to help guide us through the course. So it is very important that we paid attention to not only the road but to see if there was a flag indicating a turn.

Luckily, we only got off track once and that was early in the ride. But several of us were together and had maps so we got back on course pretty quickly.

Also there were rest stops along the course where we could reload our water bottles. These rest stop guys were absolutely the best. They kept a smile on their faces and helped keep a bunch of tired riders moving.

For the first 10 to 20 miles I was constantly watching my Garmin click off the miles. Being extremely tired before heading out on a 60 mile ride, I just kept wishing that I was finished. But as we pushed along to 30 and 40 miles, I started feeling a little better and tucked in behind Cody and Janna.

Boy, drafting along behind someone is fantastic. I stayed about a foot off of their wheels and it felt like I was just being pulled along until we hit the next hill. Then, I had to break out the lunch pail and it was time to work i.e. start climbing the hill.

Between 40 and 60 my legs felt like jelly, but strangely, physically, I really started to feel better. I found a nice consistent rhythm. And the last 10 miles just seem to fly by.

We completed the 60 mile ride in 3 hours and 50 minutes which is just a shade under 16 mph hour. My average heart rate was about 115 and maxed at 157.

After the race, Cody, Janna, and I took a picture at the finish line. Cody is sending it to me later. When he does, I will add it to this post.

One of the most interesting aspects of this type of ride is how we strike up conversations with the other riders. Throughout the ride, riders are being passed and getting passed as we all hop from rest stop to rest stop. So any time during the ride, you can just pull up beside someone while riding along at 15 mph and ask them how there day is going – totally awesome.

I do want to through shout out to Cody and Janna for letting me tag along. I think any time that if they had wanted, they could have dropped me.

-btw Cody can flat fly up the hills.

On a final note, now that I have completed a 60 mile ride, I know I can capable of doing a 100 mile ride. Probably, it will not be this fall as OBX now will consume the major part of my training, but definitely, I see myself riding a century next spring.

Later