I joined Gary and Charlie this morning, and rode the Venus to Elm Mott 200k. My mileage is down and my weight up, and the climbing on this route isn’t bad, so I figured it would be an easy route to get myself back into 200k riding form.

But things are never that easy, are they? The wind howled, Gary set a fast pace that caused me to burn too many matches early in the ride, and by the end, I was completely out of gas, just turning the pedals and trying to keep moving.

I ended up with 127.8 miles and finished in 8:40, a very good 200k time for me. I’m just glad it wasn’t a hilly route. I would have been in real trouble at the end. I need to start doing more rando rides, since I seem to be having trouble getting as many miles as I want now that I’m not commuting to work on my bike. All the chipseal on this route didn’t agree with my bad shoulder very well, but I survived, and know I can still do a 200k while I’m waiting to get it fixed.

Elm Mott Trot route.