Peta-Loop

1878.1; 51.3

Bigger ride still. This also included some major, major hills, and the corresponding downhills, one of which (on Spring Hill Road) got me a new speed record, I think, at 37 mph--without even pedaling!

I had guilt-free pasta and half a beer for lunch in Petaluma after 26 miles. After lunch, it was a bit of tough going for a while, but I stopped for a longish break in Cotati and seemed to recover. I expected Stony Point to be really windy and was pleasantly surprised to have almost no wind, and in fact a little bit of a tail wind when a truck would pass me, making those last 10 miles easier than they could've been.

One problem with riding around this area: you want scenery, you get hills; you want flat, you get traffic, industry, commerce. That seems to be the trade-off.

I'm wondering about the headaches, always on the left side near my eye. Maybe I should start taking ibuprofen before riding on sunny days like this, or maybe my helmet isn't fitting right. I did remember sunscreen on my face and neck, but got sunburned a bit on arms and legs.

I don't see how I can do 100 miles, ever. This 50-mile ride took about five hours including the breaks, and I NEEDED every minute of break, so we're talking at LEAST 10 hours to make 100. However, if I can work out the formula for not hitting the wall at the 35-mile mark, maybe that'll make it all more feasible. We'll see. At any rate, gotta feel good about a week with 48- and 51-mile rides.

Two Rides

May 11: 1803.0; 48.1
May 13: 1826.8; 23.8

Neglected to blog the 48-mile ride, longest to date on this bike (longest ride ever: 65 miles, but that was not intentional!). It was good.The 22 miles from here to Healdsburg must be one of the nicest rides in the county, at least on a weekday. On the bike path from Sebastopol to Forestville, then down the hill to the river and Westside Road following the river. Rode back on Old Redwood Highway, which isn't the nicest route but probably is the flattest. I thought it might be shorter than the Eastside Road route from last time--not so. Though I had a long "lunch" stop in Healdsburg, I was still beat by the time I got home, and really struggled to keep up any speed the last few miles, and my hands were numbing out from riding so long--it seemed to take so much more energy to ride hands-free (and upright) I couldn't do it for very long periods towards the end. But still, a milestone and something to build on.

So today, I was okay with just a short ride--but not TOO short. Thus I went up High School Road from Sebastopol to Occidental, across the Laguna, left on Sandford, right on Hall, left on Willowside, and onto the bike path. I could've taken that straight home for 18 miles, but felt I should do 20+ to keep up my pace, so turned left on Llano, right on Todd to the south end of Sebastopol, and into and through town and home on 116. Kept up a pretty good pace throughout--didn't time it, but suspect I did better than my usual average of 12-13mph. Felt good.