Bonk

I thought it might be nice to ride to the park and read a book. So, I loaded up my handlebar bag with my Kindle and a snack, and rode the 8 miles over to Adam Ricci Park. I found myself a nice bench, had a snack, and read some Sophocles (I’m still working my way through the Harvard Classics.)

This translation sucks. Do youself a favor and get Fagles’

I finished reading Oedipus and was feeling good, so I decided to ride on down to City Island before diving into Euripides. A bike ride is a nice way to clear your head between Greek Tragedies.

I got to City Island, but the whole park was full of noisy people, because there was a baseball game underway.

I can’t read the classics while the drooling masses are whooping it up, so I decided to cross the river and find a quiet park bench. Riverfront park was crowded, too, so I decided to just keep on going to Fort Hunter, and make a nice long day of it.

I didn’t bring along much of anything for lunch, so I stopped at a gas station, and scrounged up what I could.

A Well Balanced Meal – Banana, Fritos, and Iced Tea

I ate my strange lunch, and sat there looking across the river. My Garmin said I had come about 23 miles already. My all time longest ride is just shy of 50. I was still feeling pretty good at this point, so I decided to go for a few more miles and try to break my record.

I pointed the bike East, and rode up to Boyd’s Big Tree Conservation Area.

About half way up the climb (and, coincidentally, at mile 25), was the nastiest, most overgrown cemetery I have ever seen.

Trees growing out of graves and everything

The whole place gave me the heebie-jeebies, but I was exhausted, hot, and sweaty, so I sat down to rest – just outside the cemetery gate where the ghosts couldn’t get me.

Cross-Check as Cerberus

I sat there for a while, but didn’t really feel any less exhausted, so I decided to get on with it. I had the 25 miles I needed, so I pointed the bike towards home.

Everything was ok until around the 40-mile mark where the road climbs up from the river. This is when things got miserable. I pushed down on the pedals, but the bike didn’t want to go. It was like pedaling through molasses. I had the presence of mind to realize that I was bonking, but my brain was getting muddled enough that I didn’t think to stop at a gas station to buy more food.

I geared down and spun; that worked for a while. Then I got off and pushed. That worked, too.

I eventually made it home, got some food and water in me, and sat down with my spiritual adviser to think about what went wrong.

Feet up, Cat in lap. Life is good.

My Garmin tells me I burned 5,000 calories on this ride. I’m guessing I ate maybe 1,000. So, I bonked.

I need to remember to eat and drink more next time, I guess. I’m going to have to figure this food business out if I want to go on rides much longer than 50 miles.

Suggestions are welcome.

On the plus side, I made it home under my own steam, and set a PR for longest ride in a day and one for most miles in a month.

Necronneuring (Metric Century Training – Week 3)

I tried to follow my metric century training plan last week.

Here’s how I made out:

	Mon	Tues	Wed	Thurs	Fri	Sat	Sun	Total
What I should have done	8	14	17	off	14	42	14	108 Miles
What I did	off	14	off	18	14	off	43	76 Miles

I came up a little short on the weekly total, but I got the long ride in, so I’m calling it a successful week.

This week’s long ride was another Necronneuring™ adventure. I found another old cemetery in the Google maps satellite view that wasn’t on the map, so I rode out to investigate. Sloth came along on this one.

It was a dark and gloomy day. Perfect for a spooky bike ride.

Sloth knew a shortcut through the woods to avoid a particularly shitty intersection.

After a great deal of dick-monkeying around, we got to the entrance to the cemetery. Unfortunately, the road was gated, and posted with “No Trespassing” signs.

A caretaker showed up out of nowhere and opened the gate for us. It was kind of strange. This gate is in the woods, out of sight from anywhere. I’m assuming he was real, and this isn’t some Scooby-Doo ghost story thing, because Sloth saw him too.

Anyways, we made our way up to the grave yard and looked around.

After a few minutes of walking around in wet grass, and breathing in the unwholesome vapours of the graveyard, we rode back down the mountain. Sloth brewed up some coffee to keep our spirits up.

After coffee time, we rode back across the river to the land of the living.

I had some minor mechanical malfunctions on this ride. I lost a fender mount, and seem to have picked up a few ticks, squeeks, and moans in the Cross Check. I have about 1600 miles on her since her last tune-up, so I guess it’s time to get the wrenches out and give her the once-over.

These rides are getting longer, and I really don’t want to have a total breakdown 30 miles from home.

[osm_map lat=”40.298″ long=”-76.896″ zoom=”12″ width=”600″ height=”450″ type=”Ext” gpx_file=”http://blasphemous.bike/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/activity_315282914.gpx” extmap_address=”http://a.tile.thunderforest.com/outdoors/${z}/${x}/${y}.png” extmap_init=”numZoomLevels: 17, transitionEffect: ‘resize’, sphericalMercator: true” extmap_type=”OSM” extmap_name=”Outdoor”]

#30daysofbiking – day 24 – Dutch Cemetery

A week or so ago, I was looking at maps, trying to plan out possible adventures to the West of my house, since my standard loop is getting a little stale.

I found a tiny little road that dead-ended in a farmer’s field. The road is called Dutch Cemetery Road.

I flipped over to satellite view, and wouldn’t you know it, it looks like it dead-ends in some ancient cemetery.

So, Sloth and I decided to ride out there to what there was to see.

We rode up the hills, and down the hills,

And up and down more hills.
We rode down scenic country lanes with evil, evil steep hills on them.

And, we found the old Dutch Cemetery. It was very spooky. All the tombstones were sinking into the ground in random directions.

A Veeeerryyy sppoooooooookyy Photosphere!

[sphere 4777 autostart]

After we took some pictures and ate some snacks, we rode back to my house. A hilly 21 miles all together. My legs are sore, but it was a fun ride

There are more photos in the Gallery, but be warned; they are all very spooky!

Ride Stats:

Adam's Blatherings

A never-ending brouhaha of nonsense and crap

Necronneuring

Bonk

Necronneuring (Metric Century Training – Week 3)

#30daysofbiking – day 24 – Dutch Cemetery