Finally getting around to posting about my long bike ride yesterday. I did a 3 hour ride out the White Pine Trail past Rockford and back with a few laps around Reeds Lake to add on some distance. I got a late start to the morning; the prospect of being able to sleep in until 10:00 got the best of me, so I didn’t head out on my ride until around noon. When I started the ride it was cool and overcast, but the sun came out about a half hour into ride, reminding me that I forgot to put on sunscreen. I did get a little red on my shoulders, but it isn’t too bad.
This way my first ride with my new water bottle holder. I bought a Profile Design saddle mount water bottle holder the other week in preparation for Steelhead. I usually go through a water bottle per hour, so I figured I would need at least 3 bottles for the bike portion. This would give me an extra two water bottles – or so I thought. With the way it mounts, my saddle bag (which hold my spare tube, tools, CO2 cartridge, etc.) no longer fits under the seat. So, in order to carry the essentials, I stuffed everything into an old water bottle and put it in the mount. I still get the one extra water bottle, which is all I really need, so I am happy. Other than the issue with the saddle bag, the water bottle holder works great. Each holder has a rubber band around it which holds the bottles securely so that they don’t rattle around. The bottles are in there pretty tight and I didn’t attempt to try and pull one out while I was riding, but may have to try that this week.
My ride on the White Pine Trail was much busier than it was last time; probably because it was later in the day. I was very surprised at the number of people riding without helmets. And they were more than just casual riders. I saw riders on triathlon bikes in aero with no helmets. I know it’s relatively safer on the trail rather than the road, but still, there are quite a few cross streets (that no one stops at) and lots of other traffic on the trail itself. My biggest concern was the kids on bikes (or more to the point – their parents) who weren’t paying attention to others on the trail and would drift from side to side without a care in the world.
It was busiest the closer I got to Rockford, but was quite peaceful at other portions of the trail that were further from the trail heads.
One of the quieter sections of the trail.
In the end, it was a 50.14 mi ride in 2:52:37 averaging 17.4 mph. I felt pretty good at the end which is a good sign for next weekend. If I could keep the same pace for the bike portion, that would get me in under 3:15 under the bike. I’d like to get a bit closer to an even 3 hours for the bike, so I may try and push my average closer to 18mph. It may be fairly easy to meet that goal because I won’t have any of the traffic stops during the race, but I’ll just have to see how I feel.
The full course
Post-ride with Green Lightning and the Red Bullet in the background
