I set off at 6:30 this morning, fully intending to do 3 consecutive round trips to Marsh Park, which would have been my longest ride to date (at 25.5 miles). But I am finding that, for me, the mental aspect of long rides is the most difficult part. (Just as it was in marathon running—I did 2, in 1984 and 1991, at a slow time of just over 3 and a half hours for each, and the thought of running 26.2 miles at one time was more of a challenge than actually doing it physically.)
As I was coming into the home stretch of the second one today, light raindrops made me equivocate; and then, I got to thinking that if my goal is to do five consecutive round trips (41.5 miles) by the end of the summer, then in pacing myself out, I should do four (33.5) by the end of July, and since I just bumped up to two yesterday for the first time, it would make more sense to wait and do three on the last day of June.
In the middle of the ride, I passed a woman, running with her dog, who knew me, and said hi and complemented me on the cycle. Like when I passed Andy Zimmer a few days ago, my vision made me less than certain of her identity. But I thought it was Andy's wife, Erin.
I was going to ride in a t-shirt, but at the last minute I decided to throw on a light pullover, and I'm glad I did, as it was still below 60°. I'm sure there will be some early morning rides in July and August when I'll have all the heat I want, though!
One other notable thing about today's ride—though my mileage is still quite modest, it's steadily building, and now, since getting the trike on May 2, I passed 500 miles today.
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