Endurance Test #2

My original plan for today was to do 50 miles on the mountain bike to judge the changes made from the previous test ride and to gauge my overall fitness level more accurately. However, threatening skies and a disagreeable stomach in the morning convinced me to ride the sofa rather then the bike. The stomach discomfort, I assume, came from mall food I was forced to ingest when the family wanted to go shopping after my niece's recital yesterday. I'm not a mall person, but in the interest of family unity, I tagged along like a good little soldier. I digress. The mall is a topic for another day.

After a short nap and lounging for a few hours, I could literally feel myself becoming slower and slower. This motivated me to "suck it up" and go ride my bike since the worst that could happen is I soil myself in a torrential downpour, however unlikely and unpleasant such an experience could be.

Rather than the original 50 miles, I went out with plans to do about 25 miles along the same Forest Service roads I rode last weekend, only this time I would swing South on 277 and ride back to town on the shoulder of Hwy. 6 to get in some climbing. I maintained a brisk pace (15 to 18 mph) on the gravel roads in the national forest, but did notice a strange phenomenon when riding on pavement. Perhaps it is just my imagination, but it seemed as if I could go faster on a hard-pack dirt surface than I could on pavement. I have to investigate this further to be sure. It could have been that mall food working on me.

County road 277 (which I've never been on before) is half pea gravel and half pavement. It is also much longer than it appears on the map and mostly up hill. I really didn't mind the climbing and rather enjoyed the new scenery. The shoulder of Highway 6, however, totally sucks! I thought it would be similar to the forest service roads, but I was sadly mistaken. The gravel is much deeper and rougher than it appears at first glance. There is also all manner of refuse to avoid. The road shoulder is more like really bad single-track than a gravel road. My quick pace soon became a slow grind (8 to 15 mph) as I plodded up one hill after another for roughly 8 miles to town.


The Numbers
Distance: 30.53 miles
Time: 2:19:59
Average Speed: 13.08 mph
Max Speed: 25.15 mph
Max Heart Rate: 179 bpm
Total Elevation: a lot