WhyFi

If you rode 50+ miles in those cargo shorts? Kudos. I hereby dub thee Tegaderm Taint.

mango18

Haha actually no I have biking shorts underneath -just not visible. Not ready yet for the err... full monty :-)

Bah Humbug

The forum resizes them, unlike the old days when a large pic would cause horizontal scrolling. All good. Pics are awesome, beautiful bike and congrats on the ride!

Bah Humbug

Bah. One of these day's I'll do a sprint tri in a Speedo. No one's looking at you.

WhyFi

sfrider 

Ooh, just you wait.

Just you wait.

The corruption has only begun.

SethAZ 

Awesome! Really well done! You said you wanted to do it, and you did it!

Hikebikerun

Nice job!

I also recently started cycling and am shooting for a 50mi ride soon. I did a 40mi ride last weekend from Carmichael to Folsom Lake and struggled the last 3 miles, but I did that ride fasted so I am thinking I will be fine going 50mi if I eat breakfast and bring a snack.

I was fighting the winds yesterday on the same trail too!

Can’t wait until some of the breweries open back up so I can ride out to Bike Dog or some place out in Folsom for a pit stop!

mango18

Nice job!! Fasting and Beer go together somehow I am convinced. I want to do that ride soon for the elevation at the end. And the 18% grade coming back out of the lake Natoma dam.

aaronmcd

Now you get to start exploring the hills. It gets even more fun when you're able to go longer distances and explore more remote areas!

Dunno if it was mentioned, but ideally you bring ~300 calories per hour for longer rides. My rule of thumb anyway. So for 4 hours I may bring between 3 and 4 hours worth of calories (900-1200). Also they don't do much good if you forget about them.

Greiselman

Great stuff mango18 !

I saw a few references to hand numbness further up the thread. If it's still a problem, try to make sure you keep a slight bend in your elbows and avoid locking them out. I've found that when I lock my arms straight I tend to grip the bars too hard and the spot on my hand where (I think) the ulnar artery/nerve is takes all the impact from the road.

justonwo

I think setting a goal like that is a good way to get injured. You should be proud of your 25 miler. That's great! But it's important to progress slowly so that your body has time to adjust and recover. The time you spend off the bike is just as valuable as the time you spend on the bike. If you try to go too fast, you'll end up with a lot of pain in a lot of places - or rather you are much more likely to. I would give yourself a few months and focus on doing short rides with relative ease. It's much better to do a few 15-25 mile rides a week than to try to busy out a 50 mile ride. Focus on getting strong and comfortable. Then when you end up doing your 50 mile ride, you'll feel strong and energized rather than wiped out and sick.

mango18

Thank you. The shift to the Trek from the Trinx made a lot of the problems go away due to bike ergonomics (58 instead of 56) and a quick height adjustment at the LBS. The seat on the Trek is also better. Still need to go back for fine tuning to get that distance and angle between the body/arms and the bike handles dialed in. Hand numbness seems manageable for now but elbow pain and numbness is an issue. Perhaps to to be expected because I am not doing any weights or upper body exercises at this time. And those arms are taking a lot of the pounding at this time. Although the carbon fiber frame does help.

mango18

50 miler done and dusted (see above). I worked on a steady schedule across the last few weeks trying to increase my mileage every week. TLDR went from 13 miles to 43 miles over time before attempting my goal ride. Yes I suffered and pushed myself at the end but mentally I was already there because my ramp was similar to what I have had to do on my hiking trips to Half Dome and Mt Whitney. Those were multi day efforts peaking at 14000 ft so the physical and mental effort was known to me although physically I was far fitter/younger/slimmer then than now.
Glad though like you point out that I did not injure myself and lived to fight another day. Now I am resetting my goal. Will take a ride or two before I can decide which way to go. Now want to get the fitness part in since I am still 20 pounds short of my goal weight. Maybe a 100 K or maybe rides further away from home along with some new friends etc . Not decided yet.

mango18

^^^ This appeals to me. The freedom of open country roads in the pics posted by members is very cool. But I seem to be wired differently slightly - I have to balance that against my family ties - I have angst driving further away from home/family and spending even more time on the bike. These days its not too bad since we are all at home but that will change in the days ahead.