Peggy, Steve, and I left Sonora Park in Kennedale at 8:00 am this morning, to ride my 86 mile Kennedale – Briaroaks route. It was cool, with a howling north wind, but turned into a beautiful (if still windy) day. There were more chasing dogs than I enjoy seeing on a ride (Steve would stir them up, then Peggy and I, behind him, would suffer the consequences), but traffic was light, the route is very scenic, and I was with great company, so you had to call it a great ride.

I’ve been ramping up my miles the last few weeks, trying to recover from my health issues and down time. Last Sunday, I rode 61 miles on the flat roads near home, and felt great, so I figured I was ready for an 86 mile ride with lots of rolling hills. I was mistaken.

After 27 miles of rolling hills, I noticed that pedaling up even the smallest incline already had me feeling wiped out, and in spite of the fact that almost all of our miles, up to that point, had been ridden with a tail wind, my average speed was just over 14 mph. My inhaler wasn’t controlling my asthma well, either, which also didn’t help. I came to the realization that I might not be able to complete 86 miles, and even if I was able to, it would involve lots of stops and slow climbing, and keep Steve and Peggy out on the ride way more hours than they deserved.

I made the decision at that point to cut off the route. We did a route that was in between the 86 and 53 mile routes, and modified the route a bit at the end to ride fewer hills. I was slow and wheezing and hacking, but finished the ride fine. We ended up with 55.8 miles, 2332 feet of climbing, and a 13.8 mph on-the-bike average. Considering my limitations today, I have decided to do the 100k route at the Cross Timbers Classic next week, rather than the 100 mile route I had planned to do.