Perfect Day for a Long Ride

I never managed to get a workout in yesterday, so I will call it another “rest day”.

Today I rode the 4.75 miles from my house to the Rec Center to meet Tracy and Gary for a long ride. We started out on the Normandy loop. When we turned off the highway Tracy and I got startled by a very large snake crossing the road. We screamed like girls! Just as we got past the snake, Gary said “I have an idea for a different route”. His idea involved a 180 and passing the snake again. Lucky for us the snake had chosen to move so we didn’t see it again.
I am not really sure where we went but it was beautiful. There were lots of rolling hills and the weather was PERFECT. We stopped at a store somewhere along the way to buy more water and a candy bar. I had a payday. Both Gary and Tracy warned me we had a monster hill coming up and then we would get back to the normal loop with the big hill at Fire Lake. They were right, the hill was killer. At one point I was in the easiest gear on my bike and could go no faster the 5.5 mph. I sure was wishing for that third chain ring and was glad to make it to the top. We finally got back to where I knew where I was. Today’s max speed going down Fire Lake hill was 42 mph. Weeeeeeeeeeee!!! We looped back through town and Tracy and Gary split off to go home and I continued down the highway to Wayside to go home. All in all I rode 46 miles with a ride time of 3:00:12. I stopped my computer at the Rec Center while waiting for Gary and Tracy and at the store for fueling.

I think my bike shoes are too small. I need to find a conversion chart to figure out what size I should be wearing. My left foot fell asleep and really started hurting at the end of the ride.

I am still a little nervous riding beside people and put my brakes on going down some hills that I usually would not. But I am getting my confidence back quickly.

I hope Lana posts soon. She gave herself a great 30th birthday present. I am so happy for her!!