Metric century today!

April 22 post

If I’m going to attempt the Shelburne Falls 200K next Saturday, I need to get in a good training ride today. It’s sunny with temperatures in the mid-40s and northerly winds 5-15 mph. I’m planning to ride north-northeast through Leverett and Wendell to Warwick, then head west to Northfield and back south via Erving, Montague, and Sunderland. We’ll see how it goes—I’ll post an update later.

Update, April 23

I did the ride, and a few extra miles to round it out to 70. Left home a couple minutes before noon, and returned at about 5:50 p.m. I spent 5 hours and 24 minutes moving, plus another half hour stopped, all told. The first half of the ride was largely uphill, from Amherst through Leverett, past Lake Wyola in Shutesbury, then up to Wendell Center. I had a downhill run to Wendell Depot, followed by a ride up Moss Creek Road to Laurel Lake. After a brief circuit of “downtown” Warwick, I headed west toward Northfield.

A couple miles west of Warwick, I reached the second half of the ride: a long downhill into the center of Northfield, followed by a mostly flat ride home, with a few hills to keep my legs limber.

It was a gorgeously sunny spring day, starting out chilly (temperatures in the low 40s) but warming up into the mid-50s as I continued, despite climbing up into the hills. There was a 5-10 mph wind from the north, though, which made the first half of the ride more challenging than it would otherwise have been. The wind was at my back for most of the ride home, but it had diminished in intensity.

I had a slice of bread with peanut butter just before leaving home; while riding I had a peanut butter sandwich, a Clif bar, and 40 oz. of regular Gatorade that I picked up at the Wendell Country Store. All told, I probably consumed about a thousand calories before and during the ride, which is not too much less than the maximum I can digest. Despite sucking down sugar water, my tummy was feeling empty by about mile 55. I had forgotten that feeling from longer rides—this was my longest ride since May 2010.

Now I need to decide whether to do the Shelburne Falls 200K next Saturday. My legs were tired yesterday but only slightly sore in a couple spots. I cycled to work today and felt OK, though going into the wind was a little tougher than usual. But I’m not sure my rear end is up to another 55 miles in the saddle. The last time I rode a 200K, I built up to it more gradually, with 50, 60, 70, 80, and 100-mile rides before the big one.

Photographs are in a set over at Flickr. And a map with some statistics is available on Strava.