So, early last week a friend got me to commit to a charity bike ride for July 24th. I've been doing 50 mile rides almost every week and a couple of metric centuries as well, so I said "What the heck, sign me up for the Traditional."

I only had a few days to raise the minimum amount for the ride, I did pull it off, no real problems, but if you would still like to contribute you can do so on my personal donation page. Every little bit helps and, besides, if I get to $500 I think they give me a hoodie. (or was it a "wedgie"? I should find out. Could be important.)

Question for long-distance cycling infidels: how do you handle energy needs during the ride?
I already knew I can ride 50 miles on nothing but some gator-ade and a candy bar at the half way mark. But when I rode a metric century with my sister (without SAG or free food) I was pretty-well bonked at the end. So, I did all that stuff I'd heard you're supposed to do before doing these rides - I ate a double helping of lasagna the night before, drank a "5 hour" energy shot at the start and I stuffed myself with power bars and bananas at every rest stop. The result was that I wasn't fatigued when I got to the 50 mile mark, but I was mildly nauseous and using the portapotties at every rest stop - and when I got to the 75 mile mark, I bonked anyway. Apparently pretty obviously, too, because 4 different SAG people came over and asked me if I wanted a ride. !$%!#@ As if I'd ride in the van for the last 7 miles!

I dunno - I was hoping to do an imperial century this year but between bonking @ 75 and just not riding fast enough (they closed the century turn off before I got there) I'm obviously not ready.

Still, I'm really happy with how things went. Despite 99 degree heat (with the humidity it "felt like" 107) and the rolling hills, I finished in good form. For the first 60 miles or so of the ride, I was even finishing ahead most of my team. Here's the final google map of the ride.

Unfortunately, my final average speed was only 13.1 MPH, mostly due to hills. So, my goal for the rest of the year is to try to bring my commute speeds up to an average of 16 mph. This sounds pretty arbitrary, but for my commute it means tackling the hills faster, so it's good training for future long rides.

So, what else?

Lamb's broken leg is healing well enough, and she's still chugging along as best she can without a complaint. I've been buying her manga to help the time go by.

Also, I just found out I'm going to be the MC for this year's Chesmont Astronomical Society Star Fest, in addition to being the "talent" portion of the children's program as I do every year. Should be fun. I'm working on my "I'm on a horse" voice.