today was officially the day I started training for the 40-mile bike ride I'm doing at the end of this month. Nothin' like waiting till the next-to-last minute.
The longest ride I've ever done is 28 miles, so I'm a little bit nervous about this one. Judging by how I did on the 15 miles this morning, though, I should be fine. As long as I stop and take a break ever 10 miles or so, that is. I don't know how the rest stops are set up on this ride, since I've never done any but the Space Race before. I'm hoping it's like that one, with a rest stop every 10 miles...that's what I'm training for, anyway. I know the centuries sometimes only have a stop every 20-25 miles, but since this one has shorter routes, I'm pretty sure they'll be more frequent than that. If not, I'm going to be in serious trouble.
It's always surprising to me how much more fit I've gotten in the past 8 months. When I did the space race in 2002, I did the 10 mile route, and that was just about my limit. When I did this year's in March, I could already see the difference. After 10 miles, I was just getting warmed up. Now, 6 months later, the 15 mile training ride wasn't bad at all. I probably could have gone another 10 or so, but time ran out on me. I still have a long way to go until I feel comfortable doing the 40-mile course, but I should be able to get there in 3 weeks of riding every other day. At least that's the plan right now. I'll pick up the walking schedule again after the ride has come and gone. It's really just as well...the walking was starting to get really boring.
Posted by Joy at September 6, 2003 04:51 PM