No Fingers, but Someone Did Offer Me Beer...

I went to the Susquehanna River today in Millersburg, and when I got there, all I could think was, Dude!  Where's my car!?  It was at home... in Tower City... 25 miles away.  I had just ridden my bike 25 miles and the only way back home, save from calling my wife to come a pick me up, was to ride it back.  A total ride of 50 miles, my longest ride ever.

Somewhere around 20 miles at the top of a hill, some guy shouts, "You look like you could use a beer!"  I put my hand out, but he couldn't get to me with the beer fast enough.  That's probably a good thing, because I'm not sure that chugging a beer would help me go the other 30 miles that I was planning to go today... who knows?

I have a new respect for the longer distances on bicycles.  In previous posts I've tried to quantify the differences in running and biking.  I've said that to get the same workout from riding that you do from running you need to ride four times as long and the work out time is at least twice.  I based that on calorie burning calculators, but today I've changed my tune a little bit.

I've been trying to find that wall on the bike, that moment of exhaustion that you have to work through mentally and physically to attain your goal.  My longest previous distance was 40 miles and that was a lot of work, but today I can attest to a sort of riders wall(?)  That was around 40 miles.  The total time it took was 3 hours and 42 minutes with my average speed 14 mph.

The reason why my previous effort "formula" comparing running to riding would mean that today's ride was equivalent to a 12-13 mile run and a 1h 51m workout.  While that is a good workout, it is not one that I have really hit a wall quite like this one.  While my legs are recovering nicely, only time will tell how I will feel tomorrow.  It's hard to equivocate the two workouts because you really are using different muscle groups at different intensities.

On a caloric level, you burn more calories faster while running versus biking, but the a comparison of the effort levels is not as simple as I once thought.  This has enhanced my new plan of attack.  To simultaneously train for long bike rides and marathons might just help me become a better, more balanced athletic type... and save me from burn out.

My upcoming races are as follows, just in case you were wondering.

August 19- Livestrong Philly Challenge (bike)- click to support (first riding event)
September 9- Harrisburg Half Marathon (Half #4)
September 22- Movie Madness Half Marathon (pacing my wife in her first half!) (Half #5)
November 11- Harrisburg Marathon (Marathon #5)

I'm still looking for a 10K to try and I would love to try for a century on a bicycle.  In addition, I'm starting to look at a 50K (31 miles running) in the future.

Please consider supporting me in my fundraising goal with the Livestrong Philly Challenge.  At the very least, please pray for me and the rest of Team Fish, but most of all, please pray for those who are fighting cancer and their families and for the families of those who lost their fight.

Thanks!