Road Ride Report My First Road Ride

Discussion in 'The Roadie Hangout' started by fiestanuclear, Sep 3, 2009.

  1. fiestanuclear

    fiestanuclear Regrets username choice

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    My first road ride came about during a conversation with one of my friends. We talked about our dreams; things that we would like to do someday, but that we would probably never really do. So, I said that I want to bike up PCH to Point Reyes (original, huh?). He asked me how far I’d been before and I quietly responded 25 miles; granted 25 miles of mountain biking, but still only 25 miles. I said that I hadn’t been farther because I can’t afford a road bike. I have a Specialized Hardrock (hardtail) w/ platform pedals; the front fork does pretty much nothing [no need to lock out] so it’s like a heavy road bike. He then said that I’m just making excuses and that if I really wanted to train for a 1000 mile trip I could. It was obvious to me that he really didn’t understand the difference between a road and a mountain bike, but I still decided that I would do a road ride before the end of summer. In retrospect, “before the end of summer” was not a good idea, but at the time I was too pumped up for the trip to bother.

    Back when I used to run, I’d run Aliso Creek and remembered it as being a good biking trail as well. But unfortunately that only added up to ~30 miles from my house and back. So, another friend’s brother suggested that I add on Santiago Canyon Road to the trip. This brought the total up to 60 miles. I was a little bit concerned that I was doing a trip 2.5 times longer than anything I’d done before, but I figured that the worst that could happen is that I’d collapse in the middle of the ride and then find a ride somehow (bus or friends).

    Yesterday morning I woke up at 730 and wondered if I was really ready for such a long ride. I decided to do it, because I didn’t want to let the fear of failure ruin my chance to do something that I could be proud of. So I left my house and nervously crossed over a couple of lanes to get into the left hand turn lane of Aliso Creek. I really enjoyed the Aliso Creek trail and quickly set a goal to keep my average speed above 12 miles an hour. There weren’t any difficult parts to the trail so I soon found a rhythm; it was very relaxing. The scenery on the trail is good; it consists of plants, various parks, and the occasional small animal. I stopped by Cook’s Corner around 9; they were closed, which was really bad for me because I was at mile 15 without having had anything to eat for the day. So I rode on and figured that I’d find something later. Santiago Canyon Road was really scenic at parts and the bike lane was surprisingly wide. I even got a great glimpse of a blue bird with a white/beige crown that I couldn’t identify. One thing that I really enjoyed about road riding is that there’s generally no need to use the brakes on downhills. I got 32.1 mph as my max speed on Santiago Canyon Road and overall had a great time with the hills (up and down). After a very fun ride I got to Orange. I decided to get some doughnuts (one of many bad decisions of the day). So I found a place called DK’s Donuts which I picked solely for the name. The Dead Kennedys, one of my favorite bands, were a 1980s hardcore punk band. A reviewer on Yelp said the egg croissant sandwich things are good, so I got one of those and a donut and refilled both of my water bottles. At the time donuts and croissants seemed like a good idea, they really did. (Miles 0 – 33)

    I proceeded to take Chapman back to Santiago Canyon Road and noticed myself going a little bit slower, so I took a break and pushed on. Around mile 35 I really felt like I wasn’t going to make it. Of course, I always had the option of turning around and taking a bus back, but I figured that I’d be fine. What followed were probably the 13 or so most painful miles of my life. I ran out of water around mile 42 and Cook’s Corner was still 6+ miles away. At first, I laid out a schedule of biking for 2 miles then taking a break, but as I got more and more dehydrated this didn’t happen. At one point I biked 0.3 miles and just got off my bike because I couldn’t take it anymore. Around mile 46, I really had no idea how I was going to find the strength to make it to Cook’s Corner. After resting for a really long time, maybe twenty minutes, I got up and forced myself to keep going. It was around this time that I thought maybe it would have been a good idea to not go when the temperature is around 90[FONT=&quot]°[/FONT]. Eventually I hit a downhill and it felt like the greatest thing in the world. So I got to Cook’s Corner and refilled my water bottles and then spent the best $2 of my life. I got a cup and refilled it 6 times; granted, I didn’t fill it up completely every time, because I was trying different drinks, but I still had 60 – 80 oz of liquid. I was still full from the stuff I got at the donut shop, so I didn’t get anything to eat, but I will next time I’m there (preferably when it’s not as hot). Coming back down Aliso Creek I felt so great. I kept up 15mph an hour pretty consistently and, probably best of all, I had enough water to drink.

    Riding on Santiago Canyon Road (and some other roads in Orange) really made me feel more confident about road riding. I used to cross at an intersection before my house and then take the sidewalk home. But today I took a left turn that didn’t have a stoplight. It felt really great to get over my fear. The next time I go though I probably will make fewer of the numerous mistakes that I made including, but not limited to: going alone, going in the summer, not getting enough water, using a mountain bike, and not eating properly. This was a great introductory ride and I really look forward to more road biking.

    Stats:
    Distance: 63.37 miles
    Average Speed: 12.2 miles
    Time (Total): 8 hours 22 minutes
    Time (Ridden): 5 hours 11 minutes

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    A picture taken while staring at my unfortunately empty water bottles.

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    At this point in time I could barely push my bike. Things went downhill from here (literally and figuratively).

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    A nice shot of Santiago Canyon Road for those who have never been before.



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    When people see a sign that says "Bike Lane" do they automatically interpret that as "Please park here!"? I will concede that they are legally allowed to park there with a permit and there was a little sliver of a lane left for bikes, but this still irks me.

    And now some scenery shots.

    [​IMG][​IMG][​IMG][​IMG][​IMG]
     
  2. Draheim18

    Draheim18 Tow Master

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    Nice ride report and pictures.

    You may have only done 60 miles, but I believe I read it in one of the biking magazines that if you ride mountain tires on the road, it is equivalent of riding 1.5x farther because of the tire width. So basically if you do that conversion, you were pretty damn close to 100 miles.
     
  3. MeAndMyBigWheel

    MeAndMyBigWheel New Member

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    Great job. Feels great, doesn't it?

    I use to ride my HT on the road (same bike as yours, actually). I eventually put some Maxxis 1.5 slicks to make life a bit easier. I rode like a nut and in places I never thought I would ride. I was crazy enough to do a century (solo) on my HT. My B-Day was coming up, so I had to do something that I would always remember. Years later, I remember it like it was last week. :)

    If you can do a metric (especially multiples within a week), you can do a century.

    You stated you where "still full" at one point. How much had you eaten? And what did you eat aside from donuts? Different people can deal with different amounts of food intake on long rides, but try not to overeat as it can may make riding uncomfortable. Personally, I can't really eat much at all on long rides. Nothing more than mixed nuts, carb/protein bar and Sport Beans (just because they taste so good) aside from liquids.

    Your time for your metric was pretty good for a first road ride. It some cajones to do that.

    So what's next? A century or a road bike?
     
  4. Salter77

    Salter77 OMGWAFJ...

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    Spend the $20 bucks on Nashbar and buy some 1.5" road tires. Thats a pretty crazy ride on dirt tires. I have a friend who rode his 20" street BMX bike from Riverside to Huntington beach.... he took the bus home LOL. Mad props to you! How'd you feel the next day?
     
  5. foofighter

    foofighter Ride More Talk Less

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    NICE and that's a huge feat!
     
  6. BoingBoing

    BoingBoing Team Sisyphus

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    Wow! That's a lot of miles for that bike. 5 hrs of riding is 5 hrs. That is damn near a century.

    Do you know your max speed?
     

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