I Am Ready

The three day weekend provided ample time for riding and I took advantage of it. After Friday's 35.5 mile ride left me feeling completely drained I have to admit that some doubts about my physical readiness and ability began to creep in. I decided to take it easy (easier, really) on Saturday and only rode 26.5 miles. I felt much better and my confidence returned. I still needed a much longer ride to convince myself that I really was ready for doing 100 miles in one day. Today was that ride. I left the house early because the afternoon temperatures have been getting up into the high 80's/low 90's and I wanted to avoid the affects of sun and heat exposure. I left around 8:30 with three energy bars and two large water bottles. I wanted to do 60 miles and figured I would have to stop somewhere along the route to restock my supplies, at least the water.

I rode down McKean Rd. to Willow Springs Rd. Both of these are on the LIVESTRONG Challenge route, though the route inserts quite a few miles in between where I turned to go onto Willow Springs Rd, but I still had plenty of miles ahead of me. Willow Springs Road is one of those lazy, south San Jose roads that I just can't get enough of. It's quiet, secluded, shaded and has plenty of wildlife flitting about. I could ride that road all day and never tire of it.

I then turned north on Hale to Bailey to head back to do Metcalf again. I wanted to do it one more time before the Challenge to make sure I could handle it. I felt really good today and got a kick out of meeting another rider who is planning to do the Challenge next weekend on the way up to the top. After Metcalf it was down the back side and a left turn on San Felipe Rd, another part of the Challenge course. San Felipe is right up there with Willow Springs for enjoyment factor. It's not quite as secluded but still I rode nearly 10 miles with only 1 car passing me. Sheer bliss.

As I was approaching home it was clear I wasn't going to log a full 60 miles, but I knew it would be over 50. I pulled up to the house with my odometer reading just over 54 miles. That will do, I thought. My legs felt great and I could have ridden for many more miles. Forty-six more? Well, I will have more and better rest stops during the Challenge ride, so yeah ... I'll be able to do all 100 next weekend. Bring it on!


Mileage so far: 510.5
Projected mileage: 596
Days left: 6