Saturday, July 26, 2008

Fireroad 51

Total distance: 28.2
Average Speed: 9.3
Total Time: 3:39:18
Average Temperature: 101°


In an effort to save a little gas and not have to drive up the canyon twice today, I threw my bike on the back of the van and prepped for a long ride before we headed out for the Ward Campout breakfast. (We're not camping with a newborn.)

This was my first long-ish ride and I learned a lot of things.

  • I can drink a lot of water when it's hovering around 100°. I went through close to 5 liters of it.
  • Warm water is nasty to drink and takes longer to be absorbed into the lining of the stomach than cold water does. (That last bit I learned from a book, not from my ride today.)
  • A PB&J sure makes things seem better. I felt stronger after downing a half of a smashed sandwich.
  • Even better than a PB&J is a bunch of Fig Newtons.
  • I need to figure out how to carry more water. I kept myself properly hydrated (I weighed almost the exact same before an after my ride.)
  • Fireroad are boring!
  • Fireroad decents are dangerously fast and include oncoming vehicles. Yuck.
  • Riding up to a single track is a lame. It's hard to be excited to ride the fun part when you know you still have 20 miles of tarmac to push after you're done. (My Dad always suggested we ride the 30-ish miles to the mountains rather than him drive us up. Bad idea then, bad idea now.)
  • Ibuprophen.
  • Sunscreen.
  • Ergon grips.
  • New gloves.
  • Always have something to filter water. Iodine flavored H2O is much better than giardia. (I turned around for my downhill run right as I got close to running out of water. But, I thought how bad it must be to run out of water when you're in the middle of nowhere and there's a clean looking stream just feet away.)
  • I have a lot of crappy music on my Shuffle.
  • Riding up a mountain isn't all legs and lungs. There's a big mental game involved too.
  • If at all possible, I'm going to get up super early next week to ride. 100° heat isn't any fun.


There you have it. I imagine there's a lot more for me to learn when I begin biking in the snow, rain, or just cold weather. I'll cross those bridges when I come to them. In the mean time, this was an educational, albeit somewhat mundane ride.

Though I didn't end up riding the trail I'd set out to ride (another 30 minutes and I would have reached the trail head), it was rather satisifying to hit the summit. There's a great feeling of accomplishment when you reach the top of a pass and know that it was your legs, lungs, and mind that got you there.

3 comments:

Sailor said...

You might get some good information on hydration and nutrition from the WaterTribe people. They organize a 300 mile open water paddle/sail race every year and it is pretty grueling.

Hydrate or Die:
http://www.watertribe.com/Magazine/
Y2002/M12/
SteveIsaacHydrateOrDie.aspx

Fueling the Fire:
http://www.watertribe.com/Magazine/
Y2002/M12/
SteveIsaacFuelingTheFire.aspx

I hope those links come out alright in the comment. They also have some information on making a hypothermia kit. Mostly on a bike you are working hard enough to generate a lot of heat, but if you were rained on for most of the day and then tried to camp.....

Annieofbluegables said...

amazing.
Dan's got a camel back, you might want to try borrowing it before you commit to buying one.
you're amazing, son
~mom

Andrew Hahn said...

@Annie - I've got a Camelbak, but I went through it almost twice plus two water bottles. I'm sure that's not normal if the weather is cooler, but at 100° you sweat a LOT.