210 miles???!

My longest bike ride before this weekend was the 56 miles I biked during the Wildflower Triathlon.

My longest bike ride now? 105 miles, 2 days in a row. Yep, that's right...I biked 210 miles over the weekend. I did an organized tour of about 3000 riders from Columbus-Portsmouth...we camped out over night, and then rode back the next day. It's called the Tour of the Scioto River Valley, and is a relatively well-known ride around these parts. I even met someone who had come from Tampa, Florida to do the ride...

My legs hurt now. But, they didn't really hurt during the ride. Getting through the ride was really much more of a mental game. It was a really freaking long time to be on the saddle, and quite honestly...I got bored. I just wanted to be there, be done already. I found some people to ride with in either direction, and that helped...but after a certain point, I don't care if I'm riding with Lance Armstrong...it's just plain boring.

On the way out, the headwinds were ridiculous. Someone said we were fighting 40 mph winds...I don't know if I necessarily believe that (that's insanely strong, right?), but I can definitely attest to the fact that they were stronger than anything I've ridden against before. 105 miles, against the wind. The ride was relatively flat (just about 25 miles of little hills), so that helped, but damn...riding against the wind can be worse than riding up the steepest hill out there.

So, you'd think that the ride back would be a piece of cake, right? Of course the wind changed direction over night. I won't exaggerate and say that we had a headwind on the way back, but it definitely wasn't much of a tail wind. It was more of a cross wind that was just more annoying than anything else...it was raining on the way back too, which didn't help anything. I don't really mind the rain in general, but when you start getting cold, it's just trouble. Not being able to feel your hands and shaking uncontrollably while you're on the bike is stupid.

Oh, and the butt pains...ARGH...I was borrowing a friend's bike (thanks, Amie!) since mine hadn't gotten in from California yet (both Bryce's and Kurt's did though...grrr...). I was glad to be out there and able to do it, but geez...getting used to a new saddle, and then putting in 210 miles while you're getting used to it...well, let's just say I wouldn't recommend it. It's painful. Beyond painful...it ranks up there with kneeling on rice, I would guess. (I'm guessing because I've never actually had to kneel on rice...)

But, despite my misery, I got in the miles, and I finished in a semi-respectable amount of time...I had fun being out there at times; I had a lot of fun camping with my friends...

And most importantly, I have a new-found confidence about this IronMan...definitely worth the 2 days of pain, and even worth the risidual pain this morning...