Week 2. Pseudo Trans America ride. “Shut up legs”

So week 2 is in the books. It had its ups and downs. I had 4 days of strong wind. One day it was 20-25 with gusts up to 30mph from the west. Of course, my ride was North, south and West with a short East leg. On most days the wind was my adversary. And it was a worthy one.

Had I been on the real ride I would have cruised as I would have been headed East with a tailwind.

But as a friend says “the wind is hills that never quit“ so I succumbed after 40 miles. The next day was better but not by much. I got in 52 miles and was going to do another 20miles but Barb talked me out of it. (It didn’t take much). The next day legs felt fresh and I got in 74 miles easily.

I said in an earlier post this ride would test my will. I did not expect it this soon. I bent but did not break. I’m still committed. But I’m playing a little catch up.

I rode with my normal group one day this week and they dropped me like a bad habit. While my legs were admittedly tired I should not have been that far behind. Then I remembered I had put on Continental 4 seasons tires. They are more puncture resistant and have a weather tread.

The offset, worse rolling resistance. Today I switched back to my Continental 4000’s and I picked up 1-1.5 mph. It doesn’t sound like much but it could mean 30-45min less on the road each day. And over 40 days could account for two full days of riding. I guess I’ll take the risk of flats. It will give me unscheduled breaks while I change out tubes if I have a flat. (Oops since I wrote this last night I got my first flat on the 4000’s but new ones arrived today)

I followed up my 74 mile ride with a 75 mile ride the next day. I received a good lesson on that ride. Because of some business issues I had to deal with (yeah I retired, sort of) I did not get on the road until 11 am. They say that “only mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the mid-day sun”. Add bikers to that.

The sun was beating down and despite 2 qts of water and 2 qts of Gatorade I got dehydrated. I managed to limp home but it wasn’t pleasant. It reminded me of a time when Katie was 4 and she did something that caused Barb to put her in “time out”. When Barb ended the time out she asked Katie” what do you think about that”. Katie replies “well, I’ll never do that again” and she didn’t.

I agree Katie, I’ll never do that again.

She was an interesting child, in fact so good I was worried she was too serious. I once offered her money if she got a note from the teacher saying Katie was disruptive in class or some such thing. The closest we got was at a Parent teacher’s conference. We met with one of her teacher’s who complained “Katie does homework for other classes in my class”. We asked “how is her grade”. The teacher replied “She got an A”. I guess maybe Katie was bored.

The governor issued a shelter in place edict today. I thought maybe my excuse to quit was here. But he specifically said outdoor exercise like biking is encouraged. Drat. Below is a meme I liked

So what next? Well week 3 has me scheduled to put in 455 miles. I’m a little behind but am comfortable I can make them up. The wind created some virtual climbing for me but I can make this up. I have a plan.’

Oh on the subject of roadkill. Since I’m riding essentially the same routes it doesn’t make sense to do a count but I did see the one below today. Glad I didn’t hit it!

I ended the week a little behind on scheduled miles but frankly I had some brutal winds to deal with so only being 29 mile behind is not bad.

I ended week two of my pseudo Trans-America ride in Virtual Las Cruces, NM.

After my next ride i will be in Virtual Texas for the next 3 weeks. UGH!

So week two is done. Over 800 miles, more than a quarter done. But it’s going to get tougher. The AZ winds are picking up and temps will soon be approaching 90. So it will be early to bed and early to ride (ride)

So until next week. May you have smooth roads, the wind at your back and please stay safe, healthy and practice social distancing. Doing a 5 hr bike ride is a great way to do it!!