Back for a Longer Ride

It has been a long time since I did a bike ride that was over 25 miles.  I'll have to go back and look, but possibly even since June 1 when I did the Tour de Cure!  But Walter and Prenavi were doing so much more this weekend with their MS150 ride, that I felt like a loser if I didn't get off my duff and get some time in the saddle.  So I posted a request for an early Saturday ride to Brie and she was game so we met at her house at 7:30 AM.  My husband dropped me off and I was ready to go.

We headed down Green Berry, turned down Leslie, jumped on the greenway to Dunklin, down Dunklin back onto the main greenway, out to Country Club, past the furniture store, out to Meadows Ford, up Scruggs Station, back to town and back to the greenway and headed back to Brie's.  At the bottom of the Dunklin hill, I slowed way down to make the 90 degree turn back onto the greenway and forgot there was a barricade gate there to keep cars out.  Good thing I wasn't going that fast because I hit it plenty hard enough. OUCH!

I suffered a bit going up the Leslie hill, but I caught my breath by the time we got back to Brie's.  Stopped there for a bit and refilled my water bottle and talked to her and her husband, Eric.  Finally drug myself back out the door.  I wishy washed about whether to ride home or downtown to meet my family for the Labor Day parade.  Decided there were less hills to go downtown and headed there as quickly as I could.  I got to the place where my family normally watches parade and called my husband.  Turned out they were walking IN the parade.  And at that moment, they were actually right in front of me!  So I asked if I could meet them at the truck after the parade and was told they brought the CAR!  Doh!

By this time, it was 90 degrees and the sun was so bright!  So there was nothing to do but head back home.  It was only another 4-5 miles, but with two pretty good climbs and after about 30 miles, I wasn't looking all that forward to it.  I spun up in my easiest gear and before long, I was home - though I shot past it to the first side street and back because I was just under 35 miles and wanted that extra little bit (and I actually finished with exactly 36).  I grabbed some Gatorade and tried to cool off while I posted on FB.  Then I took a shower and ate a little lunch.  I took it pretty easy the rest of the day, but felt pretty decent overall.

The hard stadium benches at the football game (high school) last night didn't feel good on my backside and the bruise on my arm had gotten very colorful.  Today, I slept in a little, went to mass, chilled out and finished a book, and took a short nap.  Nice to have a relaxing weekend.  Back at it tomorrow. 

Swimming = 10.25 mi
Biking = 1107.1 miles
Running = 166.9 miles