Today we did Tour du Port in Baltimore. Mr. Lady Roadie has done this ride for 4 or 5 years straight now, and last year I did the 30 mile route with him, on the old hybrid - I think it was my longest ride to date.
This time we did the 63 mile ride (64 due to briefly getting lost), which is a new record for me. I've been pretty apprehensive about this ride. I knew I would finish but I was worried how miserable it would be. Luckily, it was AWESOME. I'm way overdue for a good ride, and this was definitely it. The weather was perfect, probably starting in the low 60s and hitting the high 70s by the time we rolled in. Knowing how far we had to go, I saved some in the tank for most of the ride and ate a lot at both rest stops, which set me up to finish strong. Around mile 58 or so, the group we were with started getting a bit competitive, or at least Mr. Lady Roadie and I did. I couldn't believe how much energy I still had left, and my legs were doing pretty good -- it is a reasonably flat route, with some small hills at the end as you reenter the city. I was dealing with some lower back pain for the second half of the ride, but it was manageable. The last 5 miles or so I basically laid it all out there on the road, and it was a lot of fun. Without the competitiveness at the end, I could've gone another 10 miles, easy.
No bonking, no mechanical issues, and a gorgeous day. I think the biggest lesson to take away from today is that I need to eat more on rides. It was so much more fun when I kept up my energy levels over the whole distance. Today was basically what I was working toward all season, but now I'm wondering if I can't fit in one or two even longer rides...
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