Success; But Exhausted

So yesterday my plan was to ride from my house to a destination I had mapped out and then back home again for a grand total of 100+ miles on the bike!

I am so friggin' happy to report that I ACCOMPLISHED MY GOAL and even went over just a little. I am not going to lie to you and say that it was a cake walk because it was nothing of the sort. It was actually one of the hardest rides that I have done to date. I mean I have done some that we harder in other ways because of more climbing or it being crazy hot out or raining. As far as the longest distance with a nasty headwind no matter what direction I was riding, this ride takes the cake.

I also completed my challenge for the month on Strava. The challenge was to ride 130km in a single ride. That works our to around 80 miles. Finishing that means I have the opportunity to purchase a special jersey to show off my accomplishment, although mostly to myself since I ride for me and not to earn "street cred" with my fellow bikers. Although it is cool to have them congratulate you when you pull off something like this.

Many of them will do 200+ mile rides and I don't know how the hell that they do it but they do. Maybe if you have a support group to change flats for you or give you food and water refills it makes it more manageable. For me the stopping and getting refueled takes a lot out of me as well. But it's a necessary thing to do otherwise I would end up on the side of the road, thirsty and conked out.

Anyway in the end I had the following stats from my ride. I honestly could not have done a mile more and was happy I completed it but was even happier that it was behind me! Hopefully this will make my 20 and 30 mile rides much easier and I can continue to work on developing more constant speed when I ride as well as my climbing strength.

• 101.8 miles
• 2,678 feet of elevation climbed
• 7,600+ Calories burned
• 6 hours, 50 minutes and 38 seconds
• ....most importantly - NO FLATS!

Breakfast With My Girls :D

So today is a new day and I have not decided if a ride is in the cards or not. If so it will have to be a relatively "short" one, maybe 15 to 30 miles at the most. If no ride then that is OK as well - it can be a rest day, my body probably needs it and I know deserves it.

Anyway, to start the day off right I am going to a local place that Cicely likes called Squeeze-In. Well I think it's actually a franchise of some sort but it's local to us and our area and she likes it so that is what matters most. One day we will have to let Zoey try it too. She is with us today, just snoozin' today while we eat. Such a good girl out and about.

So it will be the consumption of good food for an hour then we have a couple errands to run and back home after I think. Today is also the last day of our nice 5 days off and that is a bummer.

At least this week we have a BBQ and picnic at work which means that we will probably get cut loose a little early if we don't want to hang out as long. Then I think Monday is a holiday so we will get 3 days off. That will be awesome, not 5 days awesome but awesome no matter.

I have school starting again in a few weeks so I want to enjoy the days off as much as I can with my girls. Maybe we can give Zoey a swim day in her pool if the weather is nice. We also need to take some time and spend with Oggy. Either a nice long walk at home or else a walk around the marina if the weather is not too hot out. With him being black he overheats even easier. We will see how it goes and take it from there.

Cereal Day

This morning Zoey had cereal again for breakfast. She did awesome but not quite as good as before. I think that it's mostly due to the fact that she got up a little late and was probably extra hungry. The bottle is much faster in these cases and that is what she wanted - a full belly and as fast as possible. A spoon does not lend itself to that as well.

She did awesome though and I am really proud of her for trying to eat like a big girl again today. We will keep working on it and she will be a pro in no time. Most likely tonight we will try again at her 4:00 meal and see how she does with that.

Photo: Cicely decided to have a mimosa with her breakfast this morning and I can't blame her one bit! She works her ass off all week for us, that is the least that she deserves! We love you and hope that you had a great breakfast!