Glowing Embers: Enough With The Whining Already!

I was supposed to do my benchmark ride last weekend. But I wasn't too thrilled about trying to find 50+ miles of pavement to ride in Anchorage, and there was no way I was going to try and put almost 5 hours in on my trainer inside.

So what's a girl to do?

Ride somewhere else of course.

So I packed up my bike in a brand new too-expensive-why-do-I-keep-spending-money-on-my-bike bicycle case and flew to Kodiak for a weekend with Kevin.

And I was blessed with beautiful weather. No wind, no rain, and the sun was shining. Perfect conditions for heading out on a 62 mile bike ride. And I needed something to do while Kevin was working anyways.

It was hard, it was fun, it was painful, it was liberating, my neck hurt, my back hurt it was the hardest physical test of my body that I have done since those last 6 miles of my last marathon. And it was wonderful. When I finish one of these things I can't describe how amazing I feel.

My first metric century. 100 kilometers. 4 hours and 40 minutes. Which brings me to an average pace of 13.3 mph. Nothing to write home about but not too bad for me. And I was still pushing 15 mph on the flats as I came back in to town at mile 55. I had a low cadence, not sure what it was but it felt comfortable and my heart rate felt good. I'm trying to come to terms with being a grinder.

The elevation profile isn't quite as challenging as Wildflower. Basically I need to double the elevation gain, but stretch it out over more miles. But I think it was a pretty good test for what I'll be facing in 3 weeks.

And my new cassette seemed to be ok. I had some challenges with it when It was first installed, made some weird vibrations but it's running smoothly, except for in one gear, but whatever. I can deal with it and it's not hurting my bike in any way and having the bigger range for going up those hills was absolutely critical. At times it was still really really hard to keep pedaling but it was much better than how it used to be. Definitely very happy about that.

And my ass is feeling pretty good. Hooray for expensive saddles.

My only mistake was leaving behind some of my fuel! I think I could have had a much better time if I'd been properly fueled! I didn't bonk, but I could feel myself dragging. I did at least get a whole lot more liquid than I normally do, thanks to my aero bottle. Another yay!

So. Really. Overall I have to say it was a great ride.

And I was well overdue for a post that was almost whine free. About damn time for some positive.

It's two days later and I'm still riding the high of having accomplished this challenge.