OK it is relative. I am 68 years old. My body gives what it gives, it is past able to match you youngsters. My addled memory stored something like if the ride wasn’t 30 miles long I would not even take my bike off the van. 9 years later making the memory recall just that. I ride what I am willing to push my body. Mileage and ride times are becoming shorter. The newer norm is 2 hours long with distance determined by the trail.
Having started off this blog with a qualification to defend my 30 mile pedal ride today. I started with frisky tempered my age wisdom that this would be a long ride and there had better be enough stuffing to make it back to that chilled beer. I camped just off the highway at Horse Thief XG road down a short distance on a pipe line road. On a crowded weekend out here I spied a white camper parked here. I chose it as it is almost right at Chisholm trail parking lot where it crosses said road. Maybe 16′ dia welded above ground pipe line, empty of contents. It heats up during the day then contracts at night making scary sounds.
The ride would be a lollipop or cherry stem or out and back on Chisholm trail connecting to the Navajo Rocks system. I really like Chisholm as it jukes and jibes washes with lots of stepups. Keeps attention focused. 5.8 miles to connect with Big Lonely turning east to cross the highway and become Coney Island which mostly goes downhill on great distances of sand. I pedaled up it several times previously which was not fun till I learned about using Middle earth trail to make a figure 8 loop. Down on the sand, cross middle earth, mostly descend on Ramblin crossing the highway now on Rockytop which has several features that I am not able to make mostly because I run out of gas at the move. Turn right on Middle earth for connection back to Big Mesa climb which becomes Big Lonely again. A bit more of it to the Chisholm trail to climb back home. As the distance grew my strength declined, what I was able to ride on previous short loops became walk ups. Day started chilly at 10:30 with a long underwear top and heavier jersey, knee socks and knickers and the wind shirt. Going slightly downhill. Body heat eliminated need for wind shirt. Somewhere later I removed the underwear top. The day heated up making what I wore too warm. Patience as I pedaled thru the heat of the day, on Chisholm towards 3PM the heat of the day turned chilly. I stayed the chills by riding and not insulating myself. I did alter my senses with the indica at the Chisholm junction heading home. I stacked the deck so to speak to put effort into pedaling home and none into just poking along. 30.2 miles pedaling 4 hrs 12 mins and climbing 2463′. back at the van at 3:45, sundown is just before 5. Enjoyed solar warmth of van.
I use a garmin edge 520 and wear the heart rate strap, algorims inside compute data, after the ride it determined i needed 26 hours of recuperation before next feat.
I have been riding 510 freerider pros for less than a year. The nubs on the soles were wearing down such that my feet were slipping off the pedals. Chile Pepper warrantied a new pair. Last 2 rides I am back to feet stuck to the pedals sometimes uncomfortably so as making slight foot placement adjustments harder as I need to lift my foot clear of the pedal. Taking some getting used to.
Shorter daylight hours to power the solar panel putting volts into my camper batteries seemed that what was saved didn’t last as long. I visited an Interstate battery store and asked to check the camper battery under the passenger seat. While in the van the meter errored indicating the battery was toast. I removed it and took it inside where the tech tested again. This time a value was registered along with message replace soon. less that 30 months old gave me a new battery.
The furnace blower sucks volts and the output cools as outside temp drops. I have been using the catalytic heater during the night. One night on lowest setting I woke up to noxious odor as it burns cleanly on low. I ran it on medium the rest of the night. Last night while burning on medium it shut off some time during the night. I learned that as I woke up chilly. Plugged orifice? Checked later today with performance success.
Hardly anybody at XG or dispersed camping let alone number of riders on the trails. Yesterday I counted 11, today I didn’t count but there were fewer than 20.
Forecast now predicts possible showers later this week. Still in 60s high.