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This past Saturday we rode 63 miles. That is the farthest I've ever ridden. The previous long was last year's Dam 2 Dam at a little over 50 miles. For about 70% of the time Saturday I felt great, rearin' and ready to go. The other 30% of the time it hurt. Almost 2000 feet of elevation gain which honestly wasn't all of the 30% of the "hurt time" - most of that pain was later in the ride when my knees were hurting so bad I thought I was going to have to stop riding. It wasn't the actual knee joint that hurt but the muscles or tendons near the joint. Weird. At a few minutes before 8AM the neighbors and I rode from our neighborhood (on the West Hill of Kent) down to the valley to meet the rest of the troops at the "green bridge." I think there were ten of us total -- a great number considering one of the stated goals of the day was to practice our paceline riding. We started south along the Green River Trail then south on the Interurban trail at a very leisurely pace. Once we reached Main St. in Auburn we grouped up and talked about paceline etiquette for a few minutes then we were off through downtown Auburn (yeah, the lights are NOT timed well at all for cyclists in Auburn). After a right on R Street we merged onto Auburn-Black Diamond Road where we started our paceline. We had discussed that each rider would spend 2 minutes at the front of the line. After my first pull I looked at the line in front of me and the realization hit me that I only had to ride at the front for 2 minutes out of every 20 (yeah that math was tough!). The real smile came across my face when I realized that when you start to extrapolate the numbers is when they get really exciting. Only 6 minutes per hour at the front of the line. Only 24 minutes during a four hour ride and finally only 72 minutes during a 12 hour ride (STP = 204 miles. 204/17 = 12 hours). Of course this is in a perfect world where you never break ranks but still pretty damned encouraging. That is how we will be able to do the STP in one day. We continued Green Valley Road then took 218TH AVE SE (which is a pretty good little climb) up to Auburn-Black Diamond Road on into Black Diamond,where we rested for 20 minutes with coffee and baked goods (I didn't buy anything to eat... I should have. I ate a Clif Bar I packed with washed down with a 16oz latte) then back on the road. On the way back we reversed the same course with the exception that we took Auburn-Black Diamond Road all the way back to Auburn instead of using 218TH and Green Valley Rd. Rob and I broke away from the pack coming down the hill from Black Diamond. Gravity is just too much in my favor on the way down hill and I was tired of tapping the brakes (I know you shouldn't in a paceline but soft pedaling and moving out into the wind were not slowing me down enough) Rob must have been feeling the same (not to say that gravity effect him the same - he's definitely in much better shape that I am) because he took off from behind me and opened up a good 100 foot gap before I could pursue (had to wait for a car to pass). I managed to catch up then we motored down the hill - it was a blast! We waited for the group at a stoplight at the bottom of the descent and brought up the rear of the pack for a few miles back to Auburn. Back on Main Street in Auburn I was feeling great, riding quickly between stoplights... not sprinting but really kicking it up a notch. Once were were back on the Interurban trail we decided to break into two groups one fast and one not so fast. I opted for the fast group (since I was feeling so froggy) along with four other riders. It worked well for a few miles. We dropped one rider then my legs (knees) started hurting. I wasn't even pulling and I had to drop out of line. I've never had my legs give out before my lungs before... it was a weird feeling. Even weirder is that I really didn't fall too far behind. Once I slowed a bit, and stretched I kept up with the other three reasonably well. We regrouped back at the Green Bridge in Kent where most folks had parked. I ate my last Clif Bar and both servings Clif Shot Bloks and finished the last of my one water bottle (24oz) of Gatorade. I rode my winter bike partially in consideration of others since it has fenders and the roads were wet in spots. Unfortunately it only has one water-bottle mount so I'm guessing that I was a little dehydrated at this point. Luckily I was able to bum a full water-bottle from someone who was not going to to the final 20 miles with us. Five of us continued on for 20 more miles - up the Green River trail through Tukwilla, around I-405 and back onto the Interurban trail back to (yep you guessed it) the green bridge. This last 20 miles was pretty painful for me. My knees where hurting and I was dehydrated and tired. The water bottle I bummed was a life saver. I drank most of it in the first 6 miles then refilled at a bathroom at about mile 8. I drank the entire 24oz refill by mile 20 and I was actually feeling a bit better. Even my knees were hurting a bit less. Lat but not least was the hill back up to our neighborhood. Damn that was a tough climb after riding 60 miles. You know what though - it was bearable even on my not-geared-for-an-old-fat-guy winter bike! I learned my lesson though. I need to bring more water and food. I'm a big guy and I burn a lot of calories and use lots of water during a 4 hour ride. Ride Stats:
Total Time (h:m:s) 5:45:03
Moving Time (h:m:s) 4:16:57
Distance (mi ) 63.18
Moving Speed (mph) 14.8 avg. 38.0 max.
Elevation Gain (ft) +1,960 / -1,960 Food/Drink:
24oz Gatorade
24oz Water
1 16oz latte
2 Cliff Bars (Oatmeal Raisin Walnut)
1pkg (2 servings) Cliff Shots Strawberry
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