Did a road ride in Ohio today. Sticking to bike paths for now. 28 miles of mostly this
With some of this
And a few of these
So, not as dramatic as say, marin. But it was a nice day and very green and I stayed in my big ring the whole ride.
With some of this
And a few of these
So, not as dramatic as say, marin. But it was a nice day and very green and I stayed in my big ring the whole ride.
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Stay rad Tarck dads \m/
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looks like it was raining anon anon
Set out at 7 am this morning from the house to ride back to the house I grew up in for father’s day. As luck would have it Bicycle Route 1 (Maine to Florida) practically runs door to door.
I did a very similar variation on this same route back in 2018 with a few friends as part of a plan to ride all the way to Washington DC. It was March, quite a bit colder, and we were riding into a headwind all day. It was pretty miserable and when the route got within striking distance of my parent’s house, I called in the evac, and turned east to drop in on mom and dad while I awaited my entirely too kind spouse to drive up and return my defeated carcass back to Richmond.
That day was 7:56 moving time and 9:54 elapsed time (largely due to a long lunch break for soup and warming up). A long and cold day. In retrospect, I knew I was doomed from the start.
But today was different. The first 20 miles I had a bit of company, but they turned back to go do father’s day stuff and I continued on alone.
The weather couldn’t have been much better. Started at 60 and topped out in the upper 70s. Clear skies. There was just one problem. The wind was conspiring at all times to slow me down. A mostly due-north route meant riding into a fairly stiff headwind with little relief.
In spite of this, I had a really good day. While I was originally shooting for closer to 6 hours of moving time, I adjusted my goals by hour 3 to be a bit more realistic and updated sup wife with a new ETA as she was driving up with the badass kids.
The first 70 so miles couldn’t have been better. Rolling hills, empty back roads, and even a couple funky shortcuts. A dirt cut into one of the battlefield parks and the shockingly decent bike infrastructure of Fredericksburg.
As soon as I left Fredericksburg things became a bit less fun. Started with a 7-mile-long climb from the Rappahannock river followed by a mess of short and punchy climbs over the following 10 miles finished off with a few that hit double digits in grade at the end. The traffic coming out of Fredericksburg was just bad enough to be stressful and seemingly 50% suburban rednecks in trucks that were dead set on giving as little room as possible. But I didn’t die. So that’s cool.
I crossed the point where the wheels had completely fallen off the wagon on my prior attempt and was feeling pretty solid for someone who is never really riding enough to just jump into a (mostly) solo century with 24 hours notice. But the miles were ticking down and soon I could “smell the barn” (as Richmond’s own 60+ Unbound Winner who then completed a 1200k the following weekend would say).
When I turned onto the roads that I first rode a bike on as a teenager things were really looking up. Up and down a few more rollers and I made the last turn into the driveway to discover that the wife and kids had just arrived 5 minutes prior. Perfect.
All in 105.6 miles, 7:02 moving time, and just 7:18 elapsed time.
One rural pee break.
Zero store stops.
Two short pauses on the side of the road to inhale Skratch bars.
4 said bars.
2 26oz bottles with Gu Roctane
1 hydration pack of plain water
I regret not taking more photos.
But here are a few.
View from the protected bike lane on the bridge that crosses the Rappahannock connecting old down Fredericksburg to a really nice park and greenway.
Snack break. Not pictured: the dead snapping turtle I saw right after I started riding again.
Lots of this kind of stuff.
Bike Route 1 shred portal is a welcome change of pace.
This short cut saved me 2 miles off the previous ride.
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73 mi and 6000 ft of climbing today, probably my biggest ride ever. I’m still a baby when in comes to riding more than four hours or so. It’s hard!
If you told yourself it was march it was a really nice day. Battled some major flatting but made it home on the last tube.
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There is no way I could do that with out a stop to reup bottles/fluids
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hell yeah that looks kickass good job
That looks awesome, nice work 
i gotta pee like 6 times minimum. and drink like 4x that much or die of dehydration headache.
i’m built different
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I used to be like that. I looked it up. If you pee often, sometimes you pee before your bladder is full. And your bladder can shrink. Which makes you feel like you have to pee even more often.
windiest ride of my life but hit the VT hat trick +1. 55 miles with 5900’. dirt road (gravel gravel gravel), class 4, single track, and pavement. Took all day and needed to refill bottles twice. There is so much magic in a can of coke when you’ve got one or two more climbs left and are debating calling for a bail out. Wish I had more/better photos but the wind was setting a chaotic tone to the ride and I just had to keep going.
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hard ride today. hadn’t kept up with fitness after the big dumb bike ride. did 40ish miles solo then strapped the trailer on for pickup duty and added another 10. 7 of those with kid and with 5-600’
feeling surprisingly good through it but certainly not fast
oh and then tennis. and my kid yelling that she needs someone to hold her while she does just fine. she’s got the hand brakes figured out nicely now. no training wheels, no coaster brakes. push bikes work.
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post can’t be empty
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sure it can.
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