Sometimes I do things by half measures.

Century rides, for example. Last time I rode 100 miles in one day was July 2013; a long time ago. Something in me seems to think that it\’s high time I did it again.

So today, I decided to shoot for a half-century. Most Sundays I\’ve been riding up to 30 miles or so; and if I can do that, I figured I could manage 50 miles. If I have any notions of doing a century before this year is out, I have to start working up to the mileage right now!

I\’m on vacation this week, and had thought of doing this ride about Tuesday or Wednesday; but the long-range forecast given last Friday night made me change my mind. Today was predicted to be clear; and not much wind. By the middle of the week, things were likely to turn stormy once more.

The Ride

Well, the wind was stronger than the 5-7 mph forecast of last night; I could tell that as soon as I went outdoors! But I reminded myself that today\’s ride wasn\’t about speed, or even about endurance-building; it was just about doing 50 miles. As a matter of fact, I seemed to do fairly well riding into that wind. Better than I could do a few years ago, anyhow.

I tested a new ride food, the Met-Rx Super Cookie Crunch; and also took along an old favorite, the FitCrunch Birthday Cake bar. That particular item is becoming rather a problem, now that the weather is warmer. The coating gets half melted, and is very messy! And if I think it\’s bad now, just wait until the days when the temperature is already 80 degrees at 5:00 am! Next time, eat the FitCrunch first. A Quest S\’mores; a couple of GU-Gels; and Zym completed my ride menu.

Today I didn\’t bother much with riding on the big ring; that probably would have tired me too much, too soon. I used it when the wind got behind me; and the rest of the time I rode on the small ring. I did, however, maintain a pretty high cadence: average 81 rpm for the entire ride.

I didn\’t see much of special interest: no bluebird sightings; no alligators; and of course the moon wasn\’t out! I rode out as far as the spillway; and after a brief rest stop headed for home.

Naturally that\’s when I got the headwind! I reminded myself again that I didn\’t have to hurry; and worked to keep a brisk cadence in an easy gear. A wind such as that used to push me back to 8 mph; or even a miserably slow 6 mph. Today, my overall average was 11.33 mph; so it looks like I\’ve gotten a little bit stronger!😊

So there\’s my first half-century in quite a while. That\’s certainly doing things by half measures!

!