a day a week, day three
Big ol' bike ride today - 65 miles! The most I've done by about 15 miles. I learned a few things, definitely should have picked up a few more snacks or stopped for a Snickers. Some of the things that would have limited me in the past were not an issue. Switching to Pedaling Innovation platforms has been great, I could feel myself getting more use out of my whole leg muscles and making one big push downwards. I also had a great pair of shorts and plenty of chamois butt'r so no chafing or saddle soreness. Using my Oveja Negra frame bag to hold water and snacks means less stopping, of course my Nalgene is still on board for mixing electrolytes. I had a few mechanical issues, mostly related to the rear wheel - derailleur adjustments and the Straggler's infamously difficult rear dropout - but nothing that needed tools or was hard to handle.
There was also a little bit of dealing with the unexpected! The S Platte trail had a detour and I read it wrong, taking it all the way over to Broadway, past the Alameda station, through more construction, and back across at Mississippi rather than the obvious and usual route down Jason. Whoopsie-doodle.
Hachikuji in Long Range configuration.
Once I made it downtown, I popped over to Ohana Island Kitchen for poke and spam musubi - with a Mexican coke! It was rejuvenating and I decided to try the last 20 miles home. Other than the little detour routing problem it wasn't so bad but I was definitely starting to bonk out. I could feel a bit of a headache and my body was not so happy, though my leg muscles were doing mostly alright.
Some lessons learned for next time but it might be a while before I do 65 miles again.