After deciding that I'm fed up with my general lack of fitness I made a commitment this weekend to ride in the annual Ride Across Indiana this year. The 160 mile ride takes place on July 15th and runs from Terre Haute all the way to Richmond.*
I'd like to say this is a huge test and act like it's a generally big deal, but almost 1000 people finished it in the allotted 16 hours last year, so I really have no excuse not to finish. And even though the route runs right behind my beautiful south-side subdivision (and along my daily commute route), I'll really have no excuse to quit at that point. Thought it'll probably be about mile 80, and my current long ride is 86.
In any case, it's going to require a little bit of training, and my weekend rides will slowly ramp up to the suggested 75% ride the week before. In case you're wondering what that schedule looks like:
5/27 - 50 miles
6/3 - 55 miles
6/10 - 60 miles
6/17 - 70 miles
6/24 - 80 miles
7/1 - 100 miles
7/8 - 120 miles
There are a few problems with the schedule, one being F1 weekend (perhaps the only weekend I'm glad I chose Indianapolis over anywhere else*), the other being that it seems like a lot more commitment than I'm used to. BUT...
We'll see how it goes. I suspect that I may actually ride a little ahead of schedule, because 50 miles doesn't seem like that much anymore, especially since I'm getting at least 25 in most days. The best part about the whole thing is that I'll be doing it with a couple of guys from work, and that makes the whole thing amazingly easier and better.
* * * * *
If you've never rode a bike around downtown on a busy weekend, you should try it some time. I suggest riding wherever you want in traffic. I just wish I could explain how sort of freeing it is....
Footnotes Section
*Which is where you'll find the pieces of my broken body afterwards.
*No offense meant to those happy Indianapolis residents.
Log
5/20 - 40.5 miles
5/21 - 23.5 miles
5/22 - 11.5 miles so far...
2 comments:
I have a friend doing this same ride, and he's pretty excited about it.
Also, I didn't know you were a Formula 1 fan. I am obsessed with that crap. I have two friends from collge coming out for the whole weekend, including the pit row walkabout.
Actually, I went to the F1 race in Japan last year.
But I haven't been following it at all this year (other than to see who's leading in points), for reasons I can't quite explain. I think I finally figured out that it's generally sort of boring to watch.
Having said that, it's the coolest thing ever live. I would have four or five high school friends coming out for it this year, but since they got burnt on it last year (their first time at a race!) they're not coming back.
Well not all of them, anyway. Two of them are.
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