Endurance ride and distance ride - 57.03 miles
Left 12:32 pm, Returned 4:56 pm -- total time 4 h 24 m
Route
- Leg 1: Liberty to Wagner to Ann-Arbor Saline; right on Michigan Ave, then promptly left on Monroe, which turns into Jordan; curve right on Arkona; curve right on Goodrich; curve right on Hack; curve left on Britton Highway; right on Ridge Highway; stop at Sutton (dirt road) [stop at 2:30 - rest 25 minutes]
- Leg 2: Sutton back up Ridge Highway and Britton Highway; back up Hack and Goodrich; continue on Arkona to Jordan; stop at Braun (dirt road) [start at 2:55, stop at 3:50 - rest 10 minutes]
- Leg 3: Braun to ...... into Saline; jog Michigan Avenue to Ann-Arbor Saline, headed back to Ann Arbor; continue on Wagner; right at Liberty; on back home. [start at 4, end at 4:56]
Stats
- Leg 1: 28.54 miles; 1 h 57 m on bike; 14.5 avg mph
- Leg 2: 15 miles; 56 m on bike; 15.8 avg mph
- Leg 3: 13.49 miles; 54 m on bike; 14.7 avg mph
Totals
- 57.03 miles
- 3 h 47 m on bike
Food and water intake
On Saturday I had 4+ 20 oz bottles of water. Pancakes for breakfast, part of a sandwich and something else (?) for lunch, Indian for dinner.
On Sunday, I had 3 20 oz bottles of water before leaving. Pancakes for breakfast, snack of banana, and peanut butter & jelly sandwich before leaving. On Leg 1, had a 24 oz bottle of power drink and about 33 oz of water. Consumed 1/2 of a PB&J sandwich and a banana.
During remainder of ride, had 1/4 of a PB&J, 16 to 20 oz of power drink, another banana, and some water.
At home, had last 1/4 of PB&J, another banana, and the remainder of my 24 oz bottle of power drink. While cooking, had some cottage cheese & raw pie dough. Dinner was a vegetable & dairy quiche and a side of spinach. Right before dinner, drank 16 oz of power drink. Glass of cider with dinner.
Interesting happenings
People in Lenawee County seem very friendly. At the end of Leg 1 I really needed to pee, but the countryside around there is very exposed, so I asked the people whose house I stopped by if I could use their bathroom and they obliged, and were very nice about it.
Then, as I sat across the street from their house resting, eating, and drinking, these people's neighbor pulled into her driveway and called out the window to make sure I was OK. Then a cyclist passed by, and asked if everything was OK. We exchanged a few pleasantries about our rides, and then before he rode off he asked again whether there was anything I needed.
Finally, on the way back, a teenaged boy mowing his yard on a riding mower waved, which I thought was really unusual! A friendly teenager... what a concept (sorry to all you friendly teenagers out there!).
Impressions of ride
This was a very strong ride. I had not planned to go so far because my mileage ended up exceeding my previous top mileage for the season of 46.89 miles by just a little over 10 miles, which seems like a lot to push between rides.
I knew that because this ride would be longer that previous rides, I should plan to do it in at least three legs. Since my prior two-leg rides came in at around 28 miles for the first and 18 for the second, I decided to aim for no more than 28 miles for the first leg. However, this almost clashed with another goal, which was to make it as far as Sutton, because that is one turning point on the way to Adrian, which is a goal I sought after and missed last summer.
To my great relief, 28 miles and Sutton roughly coincided, so I reached my goal without violating the rule I'd made in order to preserve my energy. On the other hand, I did not meet my goal of an 18 or 19 mile second leg, but that was mostly because I had to pee so bad. I'm beginning to wonder if I'm over-hydrating -- having to pee pretty strongly for many miles has been an annoying feature of my rides lately, and I could certainly have gone longer during my second leg had I not needed to pee.
However, stopping at Braun turned out to be strategically advantageous in an unexpected way. I'd been carefully resting my crotch whenever possible by using down-hills to raise up out of my seat. I even used flat stretches when that's all there were. When I left Braun, I entered a more hilly terrain, and because I had just rested my crotch, I was able to stay in the saddle for quite awhile and use all down-hill stretches to maximize my momentum on the up-hill stretch immediately following it.
Near the end of the ride I was feeling a bit bloated with all of the food and water I'd consumed, but I knew that coming back on Wagner could be a bit grueling if one was very tired, so I'd hedged my bets and stuffed myself full of banana and power drink before I hit those hills. I arrived home feeling pretty good considering the distance. My crotch was not sore, and I was tired, but not wasted.