Saturday Long Slow Ride

Myles and I took our bikes out on a long ride, preparing as we are for the Redman in 4 weeks. We headed out of Alameda on the bike trail, turned north up the Paseo trail, then road next to the North Diversion Channel, across UNM, down Casar Chavez to the main Bosque trail, exiting onto Rio Bravo, where we made our first stop for water (me) and peanuts (Myles).

We were experimenting with nutrition today, taking a serving of Cliff shot blocks on the hour and an Enduralyte on the half hour. I was also munching on about 1/3 of a package of vegan jerky, to have a bit of protein in me (I think it helps stablize blood sugar levels for me without itt I get sugar spikes and crashes). This combination turned out to work pretty well for me, particularly after eating a boca burger for breakfast (I've found that some protein, eaten at least an hour before cycling and at least 2 hours before running, really keeps my stomach calm.)

The chamisa is in bloom, which means the ride smelled really sweet and flowery, but it's also probably what is tuning my sinuses into a pressure cooker. The weather started out cool, and promised to stay that way. So much for promises.

We then headed south down to Rio Bravo, and took that west up some hill that made me want to thow up--a really long a grade 7 hill. We then headed out and then north again, to Paseo de Vulvan. I had to stop once on the hill at Rio Bravo and let my heart rate drop because, as I've posted previously, I have some kind of head thing going on. Lots of congestion and ickiness. It wasn't raining in Albuqueque yesterday; that was me blowing my nose. Yeah, I know, "Ewwwwww"

We did a brief out and back down Historic Route 66 toward the Route 66 Casino, where we made pitstop at a Gas Station to get some gatorade. At this point the temp was up to 93 degrees. We then headed back up another lllloooooonnnnnnggggg grade 7 hill back to Paseo de Vulcan, heading north past the volcanoes west of Albuquerque, then past Double Eagle airport, before coming back east into town.

I got pretty cranky coming up that last hill, owing to the fact that Myles added that route 66 out-and-back leg at the last moment, so that we'd have enough miles in, and so I wasn't aware that it was going to be part of the ride. When I get surprised like that, I have some dark and ugly thoughts about bonfires on which I throw variously types of equipment. Seriously. It was backpacking equipment I used to fantasize about burnin when when I'd be following Myles toward the top of Mt. Taylor, or Wheeler Peak, or whever it happened that we were going, after having been told, "Well, it's a bit of a climb, but I don't think it will be too bad,"

After complaining bitterly about the last long hill, Myles said kindly, "well, but you made it!" Still feeling self-pitying, I said, "if you set someone on fire and then manage to stumble into a barrel of water and put themselves out, you don't get to then say, 'but you made it!' " Myles thought I was being a BIT dramatic. Maybe he's right. After coming up that last hill, everything else felt pretty easy. I guess that's the point of a workout.

I also have to add that, while I was struggling up each hill, Myles zoomed up ahead of me, then came flying back down, then climbed the same hill AGAIN while I was still on my way up, essentially climbing each hill TWICE in the time it took me to climb it ONCE. B$&@#$D.

By the numbers (me)
Total miles traveled: 65.4 (My longest, EVAR)
Flats: 0 (Thank you, oh, God or Goddess of Cycling)
Water drunk: 60 ounces
Gatorade consumed: 32
Time it took: a little over 5 hours.
Packages of Shot Blocks consumed: 2 Enduralytes taken: 5
Packages of Vegan Jerky consumed: 1
Calories consumed at El Patio that evening: about 1,000,000 (Holy hell, I was hungry)

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