Long Solo Day in the Saddle

For the third year in a row, I decided to ride to our church’s Assembly in Ocean City rather than drive.  Two years ago, Jeff and I rode together.  Last year, I rode the fixie in the rain.  This year was different than either.

My lovely spouse was willing to drive me across the Bay Bridge for a 6:30 am start in Stevensville.  She was anxious about my going off alone on the bike again, but knows how important riding has been for me these past 3 years and simply takes a deep breath and steels herself for the day.

It was a lovely morning for a bike ride.  The skies were mostly clear.  The sun was tinged pink from the humidity in the air.  A breeze was blowing from the SSW.  That breeze would build all day and really made the last part of my ride quite challenging.

I had loaded the route from OC-15 into my Garmin and turned on Virtual Partner so that I could compare my ride to what we did as a group ride in October 2012 as we rode into the teeth of Superstorm Sandy.

I made pretty short work of the first leg into Ridgely.  I was 6 minutes ahead of last October’s ride … and that was with no drafting!  Occasional tailwinds are a nice thing.  I would get comfortable at a particular speed, then increase the gearing by one or two and push harder to pick up more speed.  This seemed to work pretty well all day.  I stopped at the Subway in Ridgely (Dave’s Place only opens for our OC rides).  It was a short stop of only about 20-30 minutes, long enough for a cup of coffee, a small sandwich, bathroom break, and refilling of the water bottles.  I was intensely focused on hydration since the forecast high for the day was about 90 degrees F.

Rolling along after Ridgely, I started to really zone out.  At one point I looked down and was surprised to see a German Shepherd 6 inches from my right calf.  He had been silent.  I yelled in surprise and the owner also called out at the same time so it distracted the dog and I spun away without even so much as saliva on my leg.  That was a close call!

It was starting to get pretty warm, and occasionally I’d stop in the shade to blow off some of the heat I was generating.  I had the most fun heading into Milton with the best of the tailwind of the whole day.  I considered bypassing Milton itself, but I was down to only a partial bottle of water at that point and knew that I would be turning from a downwind run into a quartering headwind.  I stopped in a coffee shop just as a group of about 10 riders were leaving.  They were on a 40 mile ride.  I had already logged 77 and was looking at another 40 or so to go.

I had half a tuna salad sandwich and a strawberry smoothie.  I think it took until the brain freeze from the smoothie to stop sweating.  Water bottles were filled and the camelback got loaded with ice and water.  I absolutely loved putting that on my back as I pushed off.

True to the predictions, as I left Milton I encountered strong quartering headwinds … sometimes just headwinds.  I had previously calculated the wind speed at about 15-18 mph by riding downwind and noting my speed when I started to feel wind in my face.  Temperatures climbed and I stopped having fun.  In Millsboro I stopped, had an ice cream sandwich and poured refrigerated water over my head to cool down.  The Garmin was reading 96, although the bank thermometers were reading about 88.  I would push on for 8-10 miles, then stop in some shade for a little while to cool off and catch my breath.

When I turned south along the beach, the wind kicked up another notch.  I tried drafting the busses for a while.  They stopped too often, even though their speed was about right. When I passed the Comfort Inn where we end the Ocean City Rides in the spring and fall, I was 3:16 ahead of last year’s pace.  Of course, I did not have a one hour stop at Dave’s place, a one hour stop at Irish Eyes in Milton, and did not visit Dogfish Head Brewery in Milton which are all formal stops on those rides.  Even so, I was pleased with the speed.

By the time I got to my hotel at 21st Street, I was ready to be done.  I averaged 17.1 mph on the day solo.  That’s respectable, especially with the headwinds the last 40+ miles.  I sat outside to cool down for a while.  When I went in to register, my room was not yet ready.  I had to cool my heels at the bar drinking the darkest stuff they had … Yuengling.

The shower felt great.  I wandered the boardwalk until I found a place serving all you can eat ribs and sat down and polished off a rack and a half.  I could have had more, but that was enough.

Despite application of sunscreen, my arms really darkened and I have nice sharp tan lines.  My knees fared much better.

You can click here to see my route and stats.

This Ride: 117.6 miles
Month: 570 miles
2013: 2515.3 miles
Total since 1/1/2010: 22,288.2 miles