Last weekend before the long ride

This was a our last weekend ride before the long ride. We have been training for a few months and it feels more like a few weeks. I can barely believe it is time for the actual race day. This week will be filled with lots of short workouts as Clay and I prepare for our 50 mile trek through Western Pennsylvania on Sunday.

Our weekend ride took place on Old 22 near our house and left me feelling confident about Sunday's ride (as long as we can avoid any major rainstorms). Riding on the road has not been what we have embraced on our long rides we have grown very found of the beautiful trails and had a tendency to flock to them. So this has left me uneasy about our upcoming Tour de Cure road ride. What I realized this weekend was though the baby hills left em feeling a little tired in the middle of them I had a quick recovery whenever we were descending or back on flat ground showing the level of the endurance that Clay and I have gained during our training. Adding a few miles each weekend didn't seem too bad, but once we started to hit the 30 mile plus threshold things were starting to get tougher. Next week will definitely be a challenge, but this week was a nice reward:

Trip Distance: 15.45 miles
Trip Time: 1:13:14
Average Speed: 12.66 mph
Maximum Speed: 32.75 mph

A ride that required small burst of energy and proved that our endurance has dramatically improved. There was a point with this ride would have been the same level of challenge that our 40 mile ride was last weekend.

Last Long Ride

This past Sunday we had our last long ride before the Tour de Cure event which is quickly approaching. Next weekend we will only have a 20 mile ride. This weekends ride was very rough for me. I actually ended up having numbness in two of my fingers and a little knee pain. The knee pain went away quickly; however, the finger numbness is still there though it is getting better ever day. All of my research indicates it is the ulnar nerve. For this reason we decided to buy some biking gloves for me.

I'm so excited to complete 50 miles on my bike. This sunday we completed 40 - 40 miles on my bike there was a point in my life when I would have thought that was insane and actually today I still think I am crazy at points, but the sense of accomplishment is great and our physical abilities are vastly improving.

This adventure has inspired us to run a half marathon in October - the catch we are running as a two person relay team - still at 6.5 - 7 miles each that is farther than we've ever run and we are looking forward to it.


Sunday, June 7 2009
Trip Distance: 39.5 miles (we were off a little because of changing om direction)
Trip Time: 3:01:46
Average Speed: 12.99
Maximum Speed: 21.43

Terrain - burgettstown to robinson gravel trail - long gradual hills