Sixth Century

I did a 112 mile bike ride yesterday. For reasons I am still trying to figure out, it was the most physically difficult bike ride I have ever done.

As I was getting close to 100 miles, my legs started to cramp up. I tried to ride through it and got maybe a half mile before I felt like I had to stop. It was quite painful, and it was the first time I can remember ever in my life getting muscle cramps like this. After I stopped and walked around, the cramps went away but my legs were in pretty bad shape -- very tired, very sore, and if I didn't have to ride another 17 miles or so to get home I would have been laid out on the couch. To be honest, while I was resting when I stopped it was really tempting to lay down on the bench; I figured it would be a bad idea to stop and let my legs cool down too much when I still had quite a bit of biking left to do.

I didn't set any new personal records because of having to stop and a couple other reasons, but I learned a valuable lesson. I have to start taking nutrition and hydration (specifically replenishing electrolytes) much more seriously on these long rides. I have done some reading and have a good idea of things I can do to prevent the cramping to happen again.