60 miles

Sunday 8/30/2009

Today I decided to attempt to ride 60 miles on my bike. Since it was the weekend I was a little more rested and had more time on my hands. So I figured, why not? It would be the most I have ridden so far this season, and I was looking for a new challenge.

A lot of people might think that 30 or 40 miles on a bicycle sounds like a lot, but with anything else in life, you get used to it; your body adapts. Usually by the time I hit the 40 mile mark I'm hurting a bit, but the last few times I had gone that far I hadn't had much trouble so I had my hopes up for today.

Normally before a long ride like this I have to suit up with the usual biking shorts and jersey boasting the extinct Fassa Bortolo Italian cycling team logo, two bottles of water, and several enegry bars. Then I adjusted my clip shoes and fastened my helmet strap before leaving my driveway and descending down the big hill nxt to my house that led to Highway 60. Long story short, after about 50 miles, I had circled around west Daviess County back to my neck of the woods. By now my back had been aching for 7-8 miles and it was starting to annoy me a little. Since this was the farthest I had ridden before, I thought that surely while still ten miles from home I would wear out and suffer from glucose exhaustion, affectionately called the "bonk" by professional cyclists. Somehow though, I managed a second wind and was able to power home over the final hilly terrain the goes to my house.

It's very hard to describe the euphoria one gets after completing a long trek such as this. It certainly is difficult, but those who have done it before can attest to the strong sense of accomplishment that one feels after riding a bike for that long.