Rode My Age Today

Turned 51 today, and when I got off work, I "celebrated" by going for a nice long ride. I hadn't ridden that long in a while, due to the Godawful August heat and humidity. But the weather was relatively cool, and there wasn't much wind, so I decided to go for it.

Started out at the 41st St. trailhead of the Riverpark East Trail. Went north on the trail to the 21st bridge. Crossed the bridge and continued west to Avery Drive. I was averaging about 17 mph when I reached Avery Drive.

Avery Drive is one of my very favorite stretches of pavement. It's a 2-lane, tree-lined, road with nice shoulders that winds around the side of a large hill. The grade is a series of rollers that give you a decent workout on the climbs and a fair bit of fun on the descents. I pushed the pace a bit on this stretch, and was averaging 17.7 mph when I reached the junction with SH-51.

SH-51 is almost dead flat for the next 4 miles, but I've only done about 10 miles at this point, and I keep it at about 19 mph. When I make the turn back, I'm averaging about 18 mph. The 4 miles back to the junction are uneventful, and I manage to pull my average speed up to about 18.2 mph.

Avery Drive tends upward going east, and I push hard enough to hold an 18.1 mph average at the top. 21st St. is almost dead flat for the next few miles. I manage to get my average speed back up to 18.2 mph, but there are a couple of overpasses with stop lights at the bottom, and by the time I cross the 21st St. bridge and turn south onto the Riverpark East Trail, my average is back down to 18 mph.

I'm starting to fade a bit, and I can't manage to keep up the 18 mph. But I hang in as best I can. I take the trail to the turn-around loop at 71st St and back to the 41st St. trailhead, where I stopped and refilled my water bottles. I've done about 34 miles at this point, and my average speed has dropped to 17.7 mph.

I continue north on the trail to the turn-around loop at 11th St. and turn back south. I have a little over 40 miles in when I pass the 41st St. trailhead. I do the math, and I need to go out another 5.2 miles and come back to make my 51 miles. I'm down to about 17.5 mph average speed, and it's tie a knot in the end of my rope and hang on time. My feet are starting to hurt, my right knee is complaining, and the sun is getting closer to the horizon. But I keep going. Past the 71st St. turn-around, past the Creek Nation Casino at 81st St., to the magic 45.8 mile point where I can turn around and head for home.

Those who believe the dead do not return to life have never seen me on the last five miles of a ride. The trail was almost dead flat, there wasn't enough wind to disperse a good fart, but it was like a reserve battery just switched into the circuit. Before the turn, I was working to hold 17 mph. After the turn, I was cruising at 18 to 19 mph, and even hit 20 mph on short stretches.

Of course, it's hard to change your average speed much when you've already done 46 miles, and I finished up with an average speed of 17.5 mph. Max speed was 32.8 mph. Average heart rate was 147 (78% of max). Maximum heart rate was 164 (87% of max).