54 miles yesterday

You'd think I'd be so tired I would be snoozing away, I am still a bit wired from the ride so at almost 4am I am unable to sleep and felt compelled enough to update the blog........I was a bit motivated by Simmons' blog entry about riding up to GF from Fargo, putting in 84 miles, so I thought, I should do 85miles and one-up him by doing on the fixie....nice thought, and now know it was an overly ambitious thought......LOL........I was only 31 miles short!, but, when you think about it, it was 95 degrees today, I rode gravel and minimum maintenance roads, some pavement, and single track on 29inch, 2.3 wide tires....he was on a road bike, on pavement, the whole time......soooooo, I feel it all equals out! The first 36miles I was kept an average speed of just over 14 mph, as anyone that rides in ND can attest, you always seem to be heading into the wind.....the next 18 miles I averaged in the 11mph area, doesn't sound like much of a difference, but you really notice it!

I left GF at approx. 12:30pm Sunday, rode to Manvel ND via the Lama Loop, and as soon as possible getting on the min. maintenance roads, took those into town, got some water, and a KING size Snickers..YUM.. and then down the road to the Mekinock turnoff, a gravel road for several miles, road to the Dairy Queen by the base and hung out a bit in the air conditioned goodness, was getting the chills and feeling a bit nauseous by this time, might have been the heat, not sure ;o).....rested for about 1/2 an hour, then headed into Emerado, onto freshly graded gravel roads again until I hit Arvilla, then onto Turtle River; at this point I had 45 miles showing on the computer and I was starting to cramp. I needed some quick energy so I bought a Coke, shook it up until it was flat, no fizz, added some E'mergen C and started to come back to life.

I relaxed a bit until Greg A. and Simmons showed up figuring I'd force myself to "try" and keep up with them while riding around TR, I wasn't cramping to bad, but I did feel it trying to stay on their tails, but then again I thought, you're doing good because they have 'fresh' legs, and you have 45 miles on yours, so I'm happy with my attempt.....It was fun(?) trying to keep them insight as they are much better riders than myself; permit me to pat myself on my back ok?...oh yeah, and they were riding "geared" bikes, even self proclaimed fixie addict Greg A.....I don't know G, knee problem or not, I'm wondering about your dedication to the fixie life. After a hard 3/4's of a lap....you can laugh now...I decided I better save my strength since "Maah Daah Hey Trail Kim" was coming out, I couldn't be shown up by her, which she could easily do, so I rested a bit and re-energized...good thing I did!

It was fun seeing Greg "Maverick, or is it Goose" A. again, and Simmons, even though he's only been gone a couple of weeks, and of course Randy L, and Steve S. were there also. The post ride pasta, and whatever other food I could eat was fantabulous, I think that's just because I was soooooooo hungry anything would would have tasted great. A little post ride massage was certainly needed and enjoyed. Well, 24 hours of 9 mile is coming up soon, hopefully I'll be ready to hit it hard, getting excited, giddy even, like a little school girl!