Metric Century riding

Sunday was a day for riding.  We normally long ride on Saturday, but the weather forecast was iffy (turns out it would have been fine… go figure).  So, we decided to put in a lot of miles on Sunday.  We almost always bike to breakfast, but we also wanted to ride to Saratoga and then figured we would just do both 😀

We left the house around 7:40 a.m. or so to go to breakfast.  Nice and sunny.

You can also see the sorry state of our driveway as well.  We are just going to have it torn up and repaved instead of doing it ourselves.

We arrived at Coffee Planet and had a bagel with 2 cups of coffee and read the papers.

A nice relaxing breakfast.  We were putting in a lot of miles today, so there was a lot of relaxing going on.  We do things at our own pace.

John and I decided to pack a lunch and head down to Saratoga.  We had 11 miles of riding down at this point.

It was sunny, sunny, sunny today!  I slathered on the sunscreen.  Even with lots of sunscreen, I still get a little color, but it actually is light tan and not sunburn.  Not to mention a million and 1 freckles, which are supposed to be cute, but I am 44.

Here was mile 13 of the second leg (mile 24 overall).  Quick stop in the shade for a snack.  This is a dried banana.

Kind of looks like something you would see smooshed in the road, doesn’t it? It’s like fruit leather, only just banana with no added anything.  Talk about intense banana flavor!  I kind of liked this.  I do love dried fruit on rides because it doesn’t take up room in the tummy, but you get the fast carb hit.  I can’t stomach gels, so dried fruit works really well for me.

This part of the ride is farm land.  Really stinky today as well.  The farmers laid manure and had dragged it all over the road.  Whenever a car passed us, there was lots of manure dust.  Ever try to hold your breath while riding?  Doesn’t work very well.   😀

Lunch time in Saratoga at mile 34 on the day.  We stopped in Congress Park at the little stone tables.

My lunch, which was a cheesy quinoa (pintrest recipe!), plus a pear and coconut water.  (That’s a working carousel in the background).

My dining companion.

We also had other companions come by.

Too many people have been feeding these ducks (and heaven knows what they are feeding them).  They came right up to our feet.

Plus some babies!  So cute.

It felt good to rest and sit in the shade.  I was the sweat queen today.

After eating, we walked around town.  Thankful for this:

Downtown Saratoga is very beautiful.  Old buildings mixed in with new.  It is quite bustling now.

I saw these dresses in a window and loved them (the blue one the best).

I stopped in to see how much it was.  $378 for this dress – and it’s cotton!

It was time to use our Groupon for froyo!

Okay, I’ll take that off John’s leg and give you a closer look.

With 60 miles on the day, I got a lot of toppings 😳 I had 3 flavors of yogurt in there:  Cake batter, cookies and cream, red velvet cake.  My favorite topping was the cookie dough bites!

After sitting a spell, we headed on home.  I had put more sunscreen on because it was so bright and sunny.  I went through 3 bottles of water today on this trip and I ran out before we got home.  John gave me some of his as well.

This was around mile 42 ish?

Our usual stop point on the way home for some dried pineapple (and shade!!)  I think it was here that we decided to round up the miles from a 50 odd mile day to get up to 60 on the day.  We were both feeling strong.  No wind, which makes a *huge* difference in the ride.

The hills were much easier without the wind:

These calves were enjoying the sun as well.

We finished out the ride strong.

We ended up a little over due to the route we took.  Then John said we did a metric century today!  Woo Hoo!

Total Day Ride stats:

Total miles:  62.7

Riding time:  4 hours 44 minutes (total bike time)

Top speed:  31.7 – yay!!

Average speed:  13.2 mph

Calories burned:  1900 !!

Celebratory recovery drinks:

While I made these, John put on “We are the Champions” by Queen, which make me laugh out loud.  We are champs  :mrgreen:

Loaded up for dinner.  Burgers and lots of fruit.

I still need to consume a couple hundred more calories tonight. Such a problem to have.

Want to see what a day of riding 62 miles looks like?

That’s how you burn 1900 calories LOL!

Stop by for Monday night’s post.  It’s an anniversary post.

18 thoughts on “Metric Century riding

  1. debby

    What a lovely ride! When I think about how far I have to drive to get 60 miles down, I mostly can’t even conceive of how that must feel to ride!

    1. Lori Post author

      It’s really all in the approach. If we tried to grind out 60 miles all at once, it would be miserable. Stopping for lunch, window shopping and yogurt makes it a lot of fun and not so noticeable as the miles tally up. I am a bit tired now, though 😀

  2. Shelley B

    Looks like the perfect day for you and John – what fun! Although I can’t believe you didn’t come home with that dress. 😉

  3. Alice

    What brand of bike helmet do you wear? What do you like about it? any dislikes? I can’t decide on one.

    1. Lori Post author

      It’s a Bell. I think I got it at Target. I actually am not that fond of this helmet. I prefer the Giro brand of helmets, but I bought this one under duress and in a hurry as a replacement. Just find the one that is most comfortable for you at the price you want. It depends some on the type of riding you do, but generally just a basic helmet will do.

  4. Diane, fit to the finish

    Aw – I’m so bummed I didn’t get to meet you when I was in New York! What a beautiful countryside you have to ride through. And your yogurt cups are a reasonable size-unlike those that I saw on my vacation!

  5. Jody - Fit at 54

    Love that you take us on your rides with you! You & John are so cute!!! Absolutely beautiful pics Lori! You amaze me – I could not get i mile on a bike! 🙂

  6. Ali @ Peaches and Football

    No wind definitely does make a difference. It’s been crazy windy here and it doesn’t help when I’m out jogging. I’m still gunshy to get on the bike – not really sure why either – but I keep waiting for a day when the wind doesn’t look like it will tip my right over. Soon…

  7. Helen

    I so enjoy your long ride recaps – what a lovely way to spend a day. Sort of makes me want to ride. Sort of. 😉

  8. Cammy@TippyToeDiet

    I am SO glad you clarified that that was John’s leg and not yours. 🙂

    Looks like a lovely ride. I don’t do super long rides, but my longer rides are usually made up of 3 or 4 shorter rides. (Calories are burned, muscles are worked, it’s all good.)

  9. Sara Workman

    Did you make the dried banana yourself? Or buy it somewhere? I’m a runner and also not fond of GU/gels, etc, but love dried fruit. I’m in the process of starting to train for a marathon and this would be a great mid-run snack!

    1. Lori Post author

      No – the banana was from Trader Joe’s. It’s called “Just Bananas” No added sugar or oils or anything like that.

  10. Roz@weightingfor50

    You ARE the champions!!! (John is so fun!!) I know I’ve said it before, but its worth repeating, you really do live in a BEAUTIFUL part of the world!!!!! Love the long bike ride recaps Lori. Have a great Monday.

Comments are closed.