The Bike Tour is two weeks away! I was anxious last week about whether or not I would be able to do the 100 miles on September 8th. While I had riden over 360 miles thus far the summer, I hadn't ridden longer then 30 miles on any one ride. So, yesterday was the 50-miler. If I could complete that ride, then I would have more optimism about 100 after another week of training.
It was hot on Saturday, although I did get an early start (before 8 am). I didn't break any speed recods (average pace 15.39 miles), but I was able to keep up a good pace most of the morning. I ended up doing 60 miles and was quite pleased.
I saw lots of farm country east of Greenville. I rode through Grimesland, Chocowinity, and Black Jack. I saw mimimal road kill and managed to avoid becoming the same. I was saddened to see what looked like an adolescent fox that had been hit by a car. Near campus I saw a woozy young raccoon that was obviously ill. It had some sort of film on one of its eyes and was moving very slowly and seemed obsessed with sniffing the ground. I approached it to try to get it to go back into the woods and move away from the road. It moved some but wouldn't go back into the woods.
I was very thankful for my Ipod. I was able to finish a BYU devotional, listen to a segment of American Public Radio's Marketplace, and listen to lots of energetic music that kept me going as the morning wore on.
As the ride progressed I also got to experience the pains from long rides that mimic some MS symptoms (twitchy muscles, tingling hands, and fatigue). Carmel and I have talked about these rides provide cyclists an opportunity to empathize with persons with MS.
When I got off the bike yesterday, I considered if I was up to getting back on and doing another 40. No. Will I be able to do so in two weeks? I'm planning on it! I'll ride hard again this coming week and then take it easy the next week and coast into the ride. I'm not near as sore today as I thought I would be. All in all, I'm excited for the ride.
Sunday, August 26, 2007
Saturday, August 4, 2007
Training Log
| Week | Rides | Miles | Duration | Average mph | Max mph |
| 5/21/07 | one | 6.0 | 23.75 | 15.16 | 22.0 |
| 5/28/07 | two | 25.0 | 97.0 | 15.48 | 27.0 |
| 6/4/07 | one | 7.0 | 30.5 | 13.66 | 22.0 |
| 6/11/07 | one | 11.0 | 41.75 | 15.83 | 28.0 |
| 6/18/07 | two | 15.0 | 59.25 | 15.32 | 22.0 |
| 6/25/07 | three | 47.0 | 113.40 | 14.87 | 23.0 |
| 7/2/07 | two | 24.0 | 97.80 | 14.75 | 24.0 |
| 7/9/07 | three | 48.0 | 181.08 | 15.95 | 29.0 |
| 7/16/07 | one | 10.0 | 38.90 | 15.45 | 24.0 |
| 7/23/07 | three | 56.0 | 215.60 | 15.56 | 26.0 |
| 7/30/07 | three | 53.0 | 201.00 | 15.87 | 28.33 |
| 8/6/07 | two | 27.0 | 106.08 | 15.30 | 26.50 |
| 8/13/07 | three | 36.0 | 140.60 | 15.36 | 25.33 |
| 8/20/07 | three | 86.0 | 333.0 | 15.64 | 29.0 |
| 8/27/07 | three | 83.0 | 308.0 | 16.30 | 26.67 |
| 9/3/07 | one | 11.0 | 38.4 | 17.22 | 23.0 |
| The Tour | one | 102.04 | 403.6 | 15.16 | 25.0 |
Inaugural Post
I meant to start this blog last year, but just didn't get to it. However, better late than never. I'm excited to be able to ride in the MS Bike Tour this year. With the move last year, I didn't get sufficient training rides in and wasn't ready for the 2006 ride. I hated to miss it, since it would have been my 7th in a row, but hopefully I can begin a new streak.
I have been training, but I need to increase the length of my training rides. I'm finding some good roads around here to train on. It's pretty flat too, which is nice. What I find interesting is that eastern North Carolina is flatter than central Kansas. So, I dealt with more hills in KS than I do here. In Kansas I generally rode by corn, milo, and cows. Around here, it's soybeans, corn, and tobacco. I have only seen a few cows on my rides thus far.
My research at East Carolina University is generally focused on couples and multiple sclerosis. It hasn't evolved as quickly as I would like, but I am making progress on a couple of projects. I'm looking forward to more progress this next year. I was excited to see the announcement this week of the progress in identifying genetic components of MS. The genetic component remains a relatively small piece of the puzzle of who gets this illness, but obviously it is an important one. Hopefully it will lead to more effective treatments for MS.
Well that's enough for the initial post. More to come...
I have been training, but I need to increase the length of my training rides. I'm finding some good roads around here to train on. It's pretty flat too, which is nice. What I find interesting is that eastern North Carolina is flatter than central Kansas. So, I dealt with more hills in KS than I do here. In Kansas I generally rode by corn, milo, and cows. Around here, it's soybeans, corn, and tobacco. I have only seen a few cows on my rides thus far.
My research at East Carolina University is generally focused on couples and multiple sclerosis. It hasn't evolved as quickly as I would like, but I am making progress on a couple of projects. I'm looking forward to more progress this next year. I was excited to see the announcement this week of the progress in identifying genetic components of MS. The genetic component remains a relatively small piece of the puzzle of who gets this illness, but obviously it is an important one. Hopefully it will lead to more effective treatments for MS.
Well that's enough for the initial post. More to come...
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