What I Learned About Long Bike Rides and Long Runs This Weekend

Namely: life goes better if you do the long run first. But sometimes you just have to do these puppies in the order they come up.

Saturday: Big Success -- 63 miles bicycling at 16.6 average mph. Got up at 5:00 am to drive the 100 miles to Pittsburg, KS for the Gorilla Century bike ride. This ride was the polar opposite of last weekend's Summer Breeze -- very flat with almost no hills, but with good opportunities for getting in pace lines. Those hills that appeared tended to be half mile affairs you could downshift and spin up. The day was forecast warm with 80 temps at the 8 am start. Rode the first 28 miles to rest stops #1 and #2 mostly by myself except for 10 miles in which I traded turns riding in front of a small group of 3 of us. Average 15.6 mph. Wind was building, but the good news is that by the time it built, we had most of riding into headwinds behind us. Third leg of 10 miles averaged 17.8 mph with a decent tailwind mostly by myself except for the last 4 miles where I drafted with 2 guys whom I recognized from Summer Breeze. After rest stop #3, the fourth leg was one for the memory books -- 12 miles at 21.8 mph most of it in a pace line I jumped in when they passed me. We were cranking along with a great tailwind and these 2 gals breaking wind who were very strong. Really, really fun! Last leg was 16.8 mph which impressed me since I was tired and we had one, last 4 mile leg into the wind just to remind us who was boss. Overall, great ride that I pushed and enjoyed a lot. No meal at the end, but they did have the HS locker room open where we met so I got showered and clean clothes on for the ride home.

Sunday: Biking Legs are Hard to Run On. Ran an easy 11 today (scheduled 10-12). First 6 were fairly strong, steady 10:15's, but my thighs are really tired and I'm out of gas after yesterday. So the back 5 were strictly finish the run miles. I'm looking forward to a day off tomorrow! -- Bill