Dead-er Tired.

Remember how I talked about how tired I was Thursday because I bike 32 miles? Well, last night I talked to the Ping brothers at a family concert in the park. Two fella's who have been riding for years. I had been trying to get in contact with Ryan to go on a ride with them and last time I had talked to them they had done a 45 miler. I figured that was a a nice step up from my 32 miler. It would at least be a distance that I could handle especially with the help from guys who know the area and what loops are good and which aren't.

Unfortunately they were going to go for a 70 mile bike ride and unfortunately I said I'd be there. I committed to the ride and the whole drive home I was regretfully thinking about how ridiculous it was for me to go along on something like this. The first 26 miles were great and during that part I thought that I might survive. Garret and Ryan were both very gracious and drafted for me and gave me tips on how to group ride. I have to admit it makes me nervous keeping my front tire within 1-2 feet behind someone else's. After about 30 miles I had some burning pain in my right knee and I think it was actually a blessing because when I had the energy to pump harder I didn't because I was nervous about the knee. It got worse as the ride went along but plateaued and I really didn't have any choice but to work through it. The last 20 miles I was pretty much in survival mode. I could tell that they could have easily gone faster over the last 30 miles but help back because of me.

The hill going up the bridge was a bear for me but I managed. The way I felt during the last 20 had that same ache of running the last part of a longer race i.e. marathon. I only know that feeling because I ran a twenty mile race once when I was like 18. My assumption was that I'd be walking like Quasimodo for a week, but I feel a lot better than I thought I would and my knees don't hurt right now. We'll see how they feel the next time I go out.

Words of advice. Never make that large of a jump in mileage at once and if you decide to do some longer ride do it with a group of folks more experienced than yourself.

I'm still glad I did it though. I can now say that my longest ride was 67.5 miles long.

I haven't proof-read this (yes! I actually do proof-read sometimes!) but I've gotta help Cherity and I don't like saving drafts so here ya go.