In a kind of preparation for my 6-6-6 Ride, now delayed at least one year due to . . . well . . . money, actually, which is, in part, affected by my teeth and the expense incurred by fixing them . . . better, I suppose, to have my teeth break/ rot / fall apart while here with "my" dentist close to hand than to have it all happen on the road far removed from the comforts of home but it's still a disappointment to have it happen in such propinquity to my decision to ride . .. ah well . . . where was I?
Oh yes, in a kind of preparation for my 6-6-6 Ride, I've been trying to ride a minimum of 20 to 30 miles a day, back to back, regardless of the weather and how I might feel at any particular moment. Of course, I'm not entirely successful in that endeavor as there are days when I'm hard put to do 10 miles, much less 30. Still, I carry on.
Taking part in the People For Bicycles' National Challenge, running from May through the end of September, is helping keep me on that track. I'm discovering I do actually have a competitive bone in my body.
So, with roughly 650 miles in May and 700+ miles in June, I'm feeling pretty good. My joints are holding up. My feet tell me I'm using them but not too much. My legs are doing very well and even showing signs of muscle growth. As always, it's my head that needs work.
I've developed a couple of roughly 15-mile routes for my morning commute to work. It would be better if there were a shower at the end but I need at least 30 minutes for my body to stop cranking the heat, making a shower - even if it were available- a longer, time-consuming, process to be effective. As it is, I barely get to work on time or within an acceptable degree of lateness and I'm just not willing to get up and out by 5.30 AM, largely because I'm not willing to go to bed by 8.30 PM.
Along with all this added mileage lately my average speed has also increased. I'm fairly consistently averaging high-12 to low-13 MPH in town on those 15-mile routes. That's on Georges, my day-to-day bike, with one or two panniers mounted and loaded, my 260 pound self, and a nearly-upright stance. I feel pretty good about that.
But . . .
What's this got to do with rain? Or anything else, for that matter?
Well . . . to get the mileage in the way I want to do it means I have to ride every day, regardless of the weather. Most of the time, given that this in summer, that means hot and humid days and warm and humid nights. I've been playing with creating home hydration drinks, largely a matter of adding sugar and salt to my water bottles. It has proven remarkably effective and I'm going to find some of that salt substitute so I can add a little potassium to the mix. I don't think I can find magnesium in a palatable form to add to the drink but may try Epsom salts, cautiously, least I find myself covered in my our feces. Not something I want to experience in any setting.
On my way to see a movie this afternoon I found myself sweating like a horse as usual. I had one bottle of hydration mix and one of plain water but forgot which was which and put the plain water in the front bottle cage. My first swig told me what I'd done but I figured it would be a good way to tell whether or not my homemade electrolyte was effective. Putting aside the placebo effect, it sure seemed that I was thirstier with the plain water than with the mix. I'll have to do more study (on myself) but I'm pretty sure the sugar / salt mix is doing the trick.
Enough for now . . . next time . . . Rain Changes Everything
