The Zone?

First, how cool is it that I can plug my routes into the blog via MotionBased.com? It is totally cool!!

I rode the Evanston Bicycle Club North Shore Century yesterday. As the map shows the route took us down the shore of Lake Michigan from Evanston, IL to Kenosha, WI, and Back. The BFNIC had a strong showing with 8 riders geared up and ready to go by 7:15 am. Six of us were gunning for the 100 mile route with the other two opting for the 50 miler.

This is a BIG ride with years of history and lots of participants. I think this was the 22nd running of the North Shore and some 13oo plus riders were expected.

Just based on the dynamics of the route area we encoutered numerous stop lights, stop signs, and turns. When we did hit a rural open road the road was crap. These were some of the roughest roads I have traveled this year (my first year of roadie life).

There were six rest stops, which I thought was two to many. The food was below par from the other rides I have done this year. I prefer more of the fresh or natural foods. However, they did have plenty of Snicker Energy Bars, Cliff Shots, and Power Gels for the taking. Some of us loaded up on these freebies and ended the ride with more food then we started with.

Now for the ride. I felt great. Physically and Mentally this was my best ride of the year. My ride time doesn't really reflect this fact, but it is true. The time issue was a result of us starting a bit slower then usual as we were all giddy with converstation. I never once suffered on this ride and hammered out (for me) the last 30 miles. The legs felt good and I thouht; "Hey, I better take advantage of this!" I did some drafting, but most of my day was spent pulling. It felt really good. It was like my summer worth of healthy eating, weight loss, and training all came together yesterday.

I should point out I did have a little mishap around mile 103. I came up on a T intersection way too fast with traffic to my left and right. I stopped, but only got one foot unclipped and down I went. Yes, I fell over. No real damage to the bike or me, well except for my pride. I was lucky enough to have 4 or 5 witness to the event :) One nice fellow ride did mention that it happens to all of us roadies one time or the other.

The Stats


Later.