40 miles! - Ben

I reached two milestones today. The main one being that I beat my own distance record and went a full 40 miles! It was fun and I was feeling pretty good for most of the ride.

The last 5 miles were tough. The worst part was that I was probably about half a mile from home and I realized that I still needed to ride for 2 miles to meet my goal. It did cross my mind to call it a day and say that I almost made it to 40.. but it would have been a shame to make it that far only to fall short of my goal. So I went around the neighborhood a few times.

THE SECOND MILESTONE is that I had my first significant wipe out. It was around mile 10, on a section of the greenway that isn't well maintained. The path was a little damp from the storm we had yesterday and I hit a patch of mud, or moss or something and my wheels just fell out from underneath me... I wasn't even on a turn. The path was completely straight at this point.

I was going over 15 mph, so I slid a good 10 feet or more on the pavement. To prove how slippery it was, my shirt and shorts didnt rip at all.. slid 10 feet and no rips? crazy.

I got up and this guy who saw the whole thing came up and offered some help. My handlebars were out of line, but I was able to fix them. Other than a few brush burns, I was fine.. a little shaken, though.

Stats:
Time Moving: 3:09:46
Distance: 40.31
Average Speed: 12.7 mph
Max Speed: 31.2

Break Over! - Ben

For various reasons I haven't been on my bike in close to a month. Getting back on after an absence like that isn't easy.

This week I went on two very different rides. The first one was an off-road ride with Nate and Nick. They invited me to Lake Crabtree Mountain Bike Park for an after work ride. I hadn't been on a trail ride in at least 2 years, and I'd never been on one with two other cyclists who were WAY more comfortable with the trail than I was. We ended up doing a very intense 8 miles in a little over an hour(Nate, correct me if I'm wrong). All in all, I think I handled it okay... I'll prob ride a little harder next time now that I know that my body (and my bike) can handle it.

The second ride I went on was a 20 mile road ride. It was over 90deg out and it felt even hotter.. the air was suffocating. I wandered around downtown for a little while (I tend to mix riding with house hunting lately), then headed up to Umstead park and back via the art museum trail. Here are my (not so good) stats:

Time: 1:44:30
Distance: 21.28 miles
Average Speed: 12.2 mph
Max Speed: 29.4