Rollin to the River Ride

Last Saturday morning, my husband, one of his buddies and I rode the 55 mile Rollin to the River Ride. This ride benefited the Blair Bike Club and MS.

We met up at Brad's around 6 am. I had wanted to ride my TT bike but knew that since it was a group ride with lots of drafting and pace lines I had better stick to the road bike. It was pretty cool outside and I wondered if I should bring my new arm warmers but decided against it. It was bound to warm up once the sun was up. Or not. We took off out of the parking lot in Blair, NE about 7:30 am. There were a bunch of routes, 20, 35, 55, 68, 88 & 100 miles. We did the 55 mile ride as I said above. It was freezing. I had gigantic goosebumps on my arms for at least the first 10 miles. As we rode through Tekamah,NE the temp read 59ºF. Brrr. It was basically flat with little to no wind riding north. I am guessing our average was about 22 mph on the way out. We fell into a pace line with some gentleman that were riding slightly faster than I normally would have but it worked out. I spiked my heart rate trying to get up into the back of that group and I paid for it on the way back. We hit the turn around for our ride at a tiny little country church. They let us use their bathrooms and there was a great gal manning the aid station. She had been up all night baking cinnamon rolls and they were FANTASTIC! I joked with her about trying to tape them onto my top tube for the HIM I was thinking about doing. I really hadn't eaten or drank anything for the first half of the ride. I was working and breathing so hard to keep up with Brad and Mr. KT that I couldn't do it. I realized this may be a problem and tried to get some calories down for the ride home. I ate a cinnamon roll and a package of fruit snacks and started in on the bottle of Gatorade I had brought.

We turned around and headed back to the parking lot. The wind had picked up and was coming from the South, which was the direction we were headed. My heart rate was higher than it should have been and I was having trouble keeping up with the big boys (welcome to my world). I was really, really wishing for my tri bike with my aero bars. I told them to go on ahead but my husband was hesitant to leave me alone on the highway, which I appreciated. They rode slightly ahead of me, very easily, while I labored behind them. We ended up doing 55 miles in 2:59:04 which was an average of 18.43 mph. Just in time to drive home, have lunch, and sleep through the second half of the Nebraska game.

Average HR: 147, Max HR: 180. My training log calculated the burned calories to be over 2000. Interesting when you compare that to the intake. Looks like I have some work to do. I think I need a plan.