Always better with a friend!

For today's ride, I was joined by my friend John. He's riding in the Ride to the Rescue! ride with me next weekend, so we figured it'd be a good time to get some distance biking in. (He's training for an Olympic distance triathlon in April.) I mapped out a 19.5mi route, meeting John's requested criteria of "18-20 miles."

The day itself was beautiful; sun was shining, and cool enough that we weren't dying while riding. The ride started out amazing; I was certain that it was a "calm" day, with not a lot of wind, because we were cruisin' around 20mph. When we made our first turn onto South Shore Blvd, we both knew it was going to be a HORRIBLE ride home...the wind was just killer! But we didn't even fully know how bad it was until we got onto 646 and were pedalling into the wind... We were thankful that our next turn, at 1266, was not very far at all.

Our joy, however, was short lived as when we turned onto 1266 we were greeted by one of the roughest roads in existance. The entire ~1 mile we were on that road, our entire bikes were shaking. We were thankful when we got back onto smooth pavement...and I think that made up for the hell of going back west and into the wind. But perhaps the worst wind was coming back north on Hwy 3; or maybe it was simply that we were at ~10 miles by that point and it just FELT like the worst.

We took a quick break at a gas station, hydrating and stretching. I also, luckily, remembered some energy this time, so I downed the gel. We headed back west on 646 and came to the overpass over 45; oh what fun. Uphill into the wind. My quads were unhappy with me! I remembered this time, though, to stay on the road on 646, even though it was frustrating some of the cars behind us (since it's only a 2 lane road, and technically no passing).

RIGHT around the same place I ran into the mud the last time I was on 646, suddenly I couldn't pedal. We pulled over, and my chain had not "caught" right. We fixed it quickly and easily, I did a quick ride in the parking lot, and we headed out again. But not long after we decided to change our route slightly, cutting off about 1.5 miles (so we thought) and heading back home. Although my legs were not quite as bad as the last time I rode that road, it still sucked because of the wind! Nonetheless, we made it back safe and sound, and then went out to enjoy some lunch. =)

Until next time!