I biked to New Hampshire today. No, not in New Hampshire. To New Hampshire. From Massachusetts. I know.
I biked a total of 25 miles. This is my farthest bike ride to date. My previous ride had been 14 miles. I’m tired.
I did the Nashua River Rail Trail with a cycling group. I’ve done a few rides with this group, but people usually break off into smaller groups and ride at their own pace. Normally I bike in the 8-10 mph group. Today? The 15mph group. WHAT! I most definitely pushed myself to keep up with them and it was good. I felt strong and it wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be. In fact, the desire I had to keep up and not fall back (i.e.: failure) kept me pushing to make sure I was with the group the whole time. Granted there was a slight decline on the way out to Nashua that made a 15mph pace not bad at all, but wouldn’t you know it, on the way back that slight decline became a slight incline. If people can walk to school in the snow-barefoot-uphill-both ways, why can’t I bike downhill both ways??
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| Maureen, Karen and Barry |
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| Me. Obviously. Trying to pretend this shot isn't set up |
We lost Sue (not pictured) a few miles in due to a knee injury and then Maureen about 10 miles in due to a flat tire. Which reminds me, I really need to take a class and learn how to change a tire. I also need to get a tire kit, because if I had gotten a flat today, I would have been screwed. I have nothing with me to fix a flat. My tire pump is an old school pump that is too big to carry along on a ride. I don’t have a replacement tube in case it actually gets punctured and doesn’t just lose air. Going on these long bike rides without supplies to fix flats is just plain dumb. You can bet your Aunt Jemima I’d have been livid if I had to walk my bike back to my car 10+ miles! Luckily Maureen was able to fix her flat with the extra tube she had and was able to make it back to her car!
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| Welcome to New Hampshire! |
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| Proof. |
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| Clever little pit stop in someones back yard along the trail |
After we reached Nashua, Karen and Barry let me lead and set the pace. I actually did pretty well. I kept us at about 14mph for the first few miles. As we got closer back to our starting point, the incline was more obvious and I was fatigued from riding that far so we dropped to about 10-11 mph, which is still pretty good. With about 3 miles left to go, we did our own thing and went at our own pace. Karen took off and left us in the dust. She was very hungry and kept talking about her peanut butter crackers that she had in the car. I think she just wanted to get to them faster! I managed to hold onto her for at least a mile at around 14 mph, then I dropped back down to around 12 mph. I had a sweet mantra going on in my head “The faster you go, the sooner you’ll be done”. I was seriously hurting by this point. I won’t go into detail like I did the last time, but I need to invest in some bike shorts, WITH PADDING. Or a women’s bike seat. Either one. Or both. Shorter rides haven’t bothered me, but for these long rides, more padding is a must.
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| DONE. |
