One of the huge benefits of doing longer-distance bicycling events
is that I get to see some amazing places. In the past month, I’ve ridden in and around
Death Valley and then in Solvang and the Central Coast – both of which are just beautiful. I
suppose that’s one reason I prefer biking to both swimming and running. The only scenery you get in swimming is either
the black line at the bottom of the pool or the random dolphin swimming by you
in the open water. As for running, I love
trail running and running on the beach, but ultimately, you don’t get to see
the vast scenery in a single day that you can while riding a bike.
What to say of my 2nd double century in Solvang
this past weekend? Well, for starters,
having done the distance once before, I knew, at least partly, what it would
take to do the distance. So I chose to approach this less as a matter of
getting thru the distance than of trying to ride hard and steady for ~200
miles. And that’s a weird thing for me,
to feel like I am pushing for 11 hours.
It’s also one of the hard things about an Ironman – the first
time, you’re usually thinking about doing everything right so you finish, but
since it is such a physically demanding event, it’s hard to do another too
soon. But riding, while tiring, doesn’t
place the same sort of strain on your body that a triathlon does – in particular,
the run after the ride is usually what really beats me up.
But it was cool to be able to try my hand at the same
distance 3 weeks after my first venture into the ultra-distance world.
Another thing I realized was that compared to many others
out there, I am significantly more comfortable riding in the rain. After the ride, the one big thing I heard from
people was comments about the rain. As
for myself, I suppose I’ve gotten so used to riding in the rain that I have
come to enjoy it. And during the ride,
while I didn’t get to thoroughly enjoy the scenery around me, I was able to
ride hard and efficiently throughout. With
my rain slicker on, I stayed generally dry and just rode. I guess the fact that I was aero a ton of the
time when it was raining is an indication for me that I am comfortable in the rain.
Speaking of the scenery, I also realized that if I’m riding
hard, then it’s more about what I’m doing than being able to take in the
scenery. So while I did take my mental
breaks every once in a while, I must admit that there are certain stretches
that I have very little recollection about – either b/c I was trying to stay
safe in the rain or just being focus on my riding.
One of the final points to make was that while I experienced
my first bonk in several years (I’m usually really good about nutrition), I’ve found
that on these longer rides, I seem to almost get stronger after the 7th,
8th, 9th hour. Kinda
weird to talk about it that way, but it feels that way. And that’s a pretty cool thing.
Next up is the Desert Tri, where I’ll hopefully be able to
see how fast I can go in almost Olympic distance race. And since it’s a dead-flat course, should be really
fun, albeit 2+ hours of constant pain…
Then I think I’ll be gearing up for the LA Grand Tour, where
I’m considering the triple century. Good
times….