Half Century Bike Ride!

Today was my longest bike ride ever! It was a beautiful day out, not too humid or hot, sunny, with a slight breeze but nothing that would impact biking. I knew I had to get some more bike practice going, so I decided to try for the half century aka 50 miles. I found a route that's a double loop out of Concord for a total of 41.4 miles. I added my favorite part of the bike path, the dirt part from Bedford which is 4 miles each way for a total of 8 miles, and then figured out a little bit that was .3 miles that I could go down and back. Since it was a double loop, I could bail after the first loop if I needed to (first loop was longer and harder, 23 miles with more elevation gain. The second was 18 miles, still some elevation gain.)

For once I got off at a reasonable time. I got to the bike path at a little after 1 and stared biking around 1:20. There were so many people out, it was the most busy I'd seen the dirt path. Lots of people in spandex on my left. Some of them are so fast! I actually passed a woman in spandex at one point, I was so excited! And then she passed me later. Meh. Well, she had all that spandex. And a rode bike. The loop went on a lot of roads I've done before an like, it was definitely a good one. There were enough hills to make me work, and give me practice for the trip. It went through some conservation area that I've been through before, the park with ice cream. Once again I didn't stop, though I could have on my new not-diet plan (decided to wait for Concord, though).

One bad thing did happen, Part of the trip was on a bike path and I turned the wrong way on it! I went over 2.5 miles before I realized what I had done, so I had to turn and go back. So, that added about 5 miles to my trip. I had my phone with me so I could see where I went wrong on google maps, but I couldn't tell exactly how far I had gone out of my way. I thought it was between 5 and 6 miles, but it was hard to say. I went the correct way, and on with the rest of the route, and then to Concord and ice cream. Yum!

Because of the wrong turn I had to reassess. Loop 2 was 18 miles. I didn't really want to do an extra 5 miles. But I did really want to do a half century. Loop 2 also went past Walden Pond, and I don't think the shoulders on the roads over there are really that good, and with the weather I figured it would be crazy there. I decided that rather than doing loop 2 I would go back on the dirt path, do the 3 mile rail trail out and back, and then do 4 miles on the paved bike path out and back. There's a map at the end of the path, and that was to Lexington center and back. That seemed like a reasonable amount of riding, not too hilly, and like it would get me my half c. By the end of the ride, my butt was killing me! I have a gel seat, I gotta try it out. Tomorrow sitting's going to hurt. But, I did it! I came home, fed the cats, and took a bath that was as cold as the water gets. And then a warmer shower because I really smelled.

I wasn't totally convinced I did it until I mapped it out on map my run. But, according to that it was 50.3 miles, 1474 feet elevation gain. It took me forever, I don't have the time on that. And, I believe I will sleep well tonight!