Pushing it to the Limit

I think I broke a few members of the posse with my Saturday ride. It has been unusually hot and humid this summer making it hard to do some of the longer and hillier rides I normally do. Last weekend was the exception as it was just cool enough to do a 60 mile ride. This weekend the heat humidity and possibility of rain came back. I could have done a short flat ride but I'm tired of giving into the weather and felt good enough to push myself. It probably wasn't the best idea to do a moderately hilly ride in extreme humidity and almost 90 degree temperatures but I got most of the insane posse to join me because well, they're insane.

We did this route which is not the hardest route I do and under normal conditions it might have been a pleasant ride. As long as we were moving I felt okay but when we stopped for a moment you could feel how hot and humid it really was. My main concern when the ride started was whether we would get back before the predicted rain. However the expected clouds did not appear and it was actually mostly sunny so that made if feel even hotter. 

As we made it up and over the Sourlands I could feel the heat and hills wearing on me but was able to push through it. We stopped at Luminary in Lambertville for a welcome break. After that we have to climb up out of New Hope. Even though garmin didn't think going 300+ feet in a few miles was a climb I can tell you my legs felt it. There were a couple of more hills garmin didn't think were there on the way back. And the increasing temperature made it hard to breath but luckily we were headed downhill and finished the ride along the river. Some of the posse took off once we got to the flats but I slowed it down as I didn't feel the need to push it. 

Even through some of us are getting old and have some issues we all made it back which should be celebrated because this is not a ride most people could do. Of course none of us felt great at the end of the ride. Some felt worst than others and wished they had passed on the ride but again they are the insane posse so we do things that are hard then complain about it. I was amazed that I did not cramp in this heat with all the hills we did. I definitely didn't have anything left at the end of the ride but was happy I was able to do it. Now that we are in August I hope the weather will soon turn a little cooler and less humid so each ride I do doesn't feel like a death march into hell.