A Ride and a Wedding

A wedding this weekend prevented me from going on Laura's ride as I had to be cleaned up and in Brooklyn by 5pm. I didn't want to do another ride on my own so I rode over to Cranbury for the 8:30 am ride. It was really crowded with close to 30 people for two different rides. I went out with John on the C+ ride to have a relaxing ride and catch up with a few people I hadn't seen in a while. It was a basic ride to Roy's and back. Herb and I split off at Roy's to add a few miles. I came in with just over 46 miles and was happy I was able to get that many miles in. Although it was hot it wasn't nearly as hot as last weekend so for once in the past couple of weeks I didn't feel dehydrated at the end of the ride.

Driving to Brooklyn is always a fun drive that can take somewhere between an hour and a half and 2 days. Luckily besides an accident on the Verrazano bridge that caused a small delay it was reasonable 2 hour drive. The wedding and reception was in an old club in the park slope section of Brooklyn. As with a lot of old buildings in New York the woodwork and architecture of the interior are of a quality you don't see a lot in new buildings. The rooms were filled with intricate wood paneling with a lot of custom carvings topped off with the classic tin ceilings with more carved moldings. Of course like most old building in New York air conditioning is an add on and usually doesn't work that well. It was over 85 degrees in the rooms we were in and that was before the people were there. The window unit air conditioners just weren't able to cut through the heat. 

It was hot uncomfortable but we still had a good time. We just resigned ourselves to the fact that we were going to be sweaty so lets ignore that and help my wife's niece celebrate her wedding. 

They had a simple ceremony that dispensed with a lot of the tradition rituals and focused more on celebrating the couples commitment to each other.There were some of the usually speeches by the best man and matron of honor but for the most part it was just a party. 

By 10 pm it was over and we could finally get back to the air condition car for the ride home. Its going to be a few days before my core temperature cools down. I am looking forward to my trip to Alaska next week where the highs won't be much over 60 degrees. I'm looking forward to actually feeling cold.

Excessive Heat

Hot an humid doesn't even begin to describe the weather today. There was an excessive heat warning in effect today. Somethings these warnings are over used but today it was real. About three quarters though the ride sweat was continuously running down my face at a rate that made it hard to take a breath through my mouth or noise without sucking my sweat back in.  I got out early today to beat the heat but at 7:30 it was already 80 degrees and at least 90% humidity so there was no beating the heat.

I did a 40 ish mile New Egypt run and included Hill Rd along the way. I felt good for most of the ride but definitely felt the affects of the hot weather the last few miles. I have been watching a lot of the summer olympics games this past week and one of the things they talk about was how good athletes must learn to push through the pain. 

I have never been a competitive athlete but I do understand that pain and suffering are part of the sports we enjoy.

100 Mile Funk

I don't like to do centuries. 60 to 70 miles are the longest rides I like to do. Anything longer can be painful. However every couple of years I do a century just to prove to myself that I can do it. Today was the PFW Event and since I didn't volunteer this year I was able to ride the event. My plan was to do the 65 or century depending on the weather and how I felt. Laura put a group together so I planned to join her somewhere on route as I left from my house instead of the college. It was a cloudy and humid day so my main concern was cramping.

I left my house just after 7am and did this route. I meet Laura, Bob, and a couple of others at the first rest stop 18 miles in. I went through a little rain just before the rest stop but it cleared up quickly. It just meant that I got dirty early in the ride.

We cruised through mostly familiar roads as we made our way in the general direction of New Egypt. The route kept us on some busy main roads which was unusual for the event where they usually keep riders on less traveled roads for safety.

We pulled into New Egypt with 45 miles and here was my decision point 65 or century. I felt good and had been steadily drinking Gatorade so I knew I had more miles in me I just didn't know how many. It was cloudy and humid with a chance of rain so the longer I road the better chance I had of cramping or getting rained on. However for some reason I just wanted to do the century so off I rode with the group come what may.

Laura keep the group at a good pace. On a flat ride like this it is easy to go faster than you should and use energy you are going to need later to get you the last 10 or 20 miles. As I told Bob, who was doing his first century, the ride really begins at mile 80 when you body and mind just don't want to petal anymore.

The distance between New Egypt and the next rest stop was over 30 miles. The route took us around Fort Dix and through Pemberton on some more busy main roads that I normally won't want to ride on. Bob had a flat about 7 miles out from the rest stop which gave us a mini break we all kind of needed. He flatted again a few miles later as we were going up Arney's mount. It seemed he had a bad tube. Luckily the sag wagon pull up and made a quick work of the tire change.

We pulled into the Island rest stop with 75 miles complete. I was tired but still felt OK. We took a little longer at this stop before heading out. The route back to the start was different this year than the standard route. It took us through Columbus and Bordentown and had us cross RT 206 and RT 130 twice in the space of about 6 miles. I'm think I'm going to volunteer to design the routes for next years events because I know I could come up with a nicer and safer routes.

At mile 90 a few miles before the last rest stop I hit the wall. I was feeling the dehydration and my muscles were feeling fatigued. I was not cramping but I had to slow down. Jim and Don were at the rest stop so as I was trying to rest and build energy for the push how I caught up with them. The good news was that it looked like it won't rain anytime soon. The bad news was the sun was peaking out from the clouds when made it feel really hot. I probably spent a half hour at the rest stop before heading out.

The last few miles back home were a little slow because of the accumulated miles and dehydrated state. When I feel this way at the end of long rides I get into a mental funk that lets me push through the fatigue and get through the last few miles. You mind just gets to a point where you concentrate enough to get you home but you have no energy for any other extraneous thoughts. Kind of like the picture I took at the beginning of the ride of a church sign. Century Bad, Finishing Good

At the end I had 103 miles in (The RideWithGPS shows 101.7 because I didn't record the very beginning or end of the ride to hide the address of my house). I'm glad I was able to do the century especially in the humid conditions. Doing a century is more about eating and drinking right than anything else so I'm happy I was able to do it with out cramping. It also about mental toughness. I may not do a century for another couple of years but as painful as it can be it still feels good to be able to do one.