Week 49

Date
December 5, 2016

Distance
100 miles

Strava Link
Week 49

Route Map/Profile

Weather

Ride Report 
I did back-to-back centuries on the 4th and 5th because I'll be out of town next weekend. This is the same route I did two weeks ago, but I'm new to the area, so I'm not bored with it yet. There was more snow to look at this time.

The weather was good again. It was a little colder and windier than yesterday, but it was still good weather for December. I haven't done back-to-back long rides in a while, but my legs felt fine. Both rides were relatively flat, so that helps. I just feel like ever since I completed Petoji I've been able to to back-to-back rides without much of a problem. Can the physical effects really last more than a year? Probably not. I think it's more of a mental thing. Speaking of Petoji, I may have something shorter but similar happening in 2017. More on that in a few weeks.

I followed these two rides up with a mountain bike ride on Tuesday. That's right, I got a new mountain bike and I'm planning on riding it about once a week. There are a lot of potential MTB routes within a decent distance of where I live now. It's going to be a big learning experience for me. I haven't done any real mountain biking in the past. I did a century in Alaska on a MTB, but a lot of it was on pavement and the gravel portions were on a smooth gravel road. "Gravel bikes" didn't really exist back then, but would have been perfect for that ride. 

My first ride was short and involved a lot of walking. I was in over my head quite a bit. I'm hoping to do some easier roads over the next few weeks to get my skills up a little bit. The problem is that I don't know the conditions of any of the roads because I'm new to the area. That's not ideal for slowly building up my skills, but it is a lot of fun and I'm eager to explore. I just need to have realistic expectations. I'm not a good bike handler. I'm going to suck for a while. The biggest thing will be not getting frustrated with myself. It was a weird feeling on Tuesday. Physically I was capable of pushing my legs and my lungs a lot harder, but skill-wise I couldn't keep the bike moving. I did get frustrated at first and I was wondering why I bought the stupid MTB in the first place. But even over the course of that ride I could feel myself getting a little (and I do mean little) bit better. I'm hoping I can just keep it fun. I take myself a little too seriously out on the road.