didn't know I had it in me...

So I wrote Sunday early morning that I was thinking about riding 50+ miles that day.

I rode 92.




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Didn't know I had that in me after riding singletrack only 4 times all year and only having 0 rides over 30 miles all year...and after breaking my leg in half last halloween.

My nutrition was great, the weather was great, trails were great, bike was great.  Everything was perfect.

I've been needing a good soul cleansing ride and this was the one.  I rode from my house down Paseo to behind the Bannister federal complex.  Rode around that to the Indian Creek trail and took that all the way to 127th in Olathe.  Took 127th west to the Mill Creek Trail, which I took north into Shawnee Mission Park (except for about .5 miles of rail road gravel I took to avoid the nasty ass metal tunnels underneath the railway).  Between my house and SMP along this route it is amazing how much "other" off-road opportunities: from rogue single track, to worn in dirt shortcuts, to grassy parks, whatever.  Plus hauling ass down a paved trail really does help the dirt handling skills when you are laying in at 55 PSI :)

At SMP I rode promptly to the parking lot and marina to sit down for a SAG.  I hadn't really stopped other than slowing down a couple times for passer-byes since I had left my house and was sitting over 30 miles already.

I stated my nutrition was great.  Well actually it was perfect.  Here's the rundown:

4 sandwiches comprised of cinnamon raisin bread, peanut butter, honey, and protein powder...2 curry basil chicken breasts...2 flowers of broccoli...15 baby carrots...1 can Campbell's chicken and stars soup at hand....1 can campbell's chunky chicken noodle soup, 1 can original beenie weenies...1 12 ounce bag of mixed cliff electrolite with Trader Joe's protein powder...1 gel flask full of espresso flavor.  1 24 oz bottle of water on bike.  1 20 oz bottle water mixed with 3-5 oz Cliff/TJ powder.

I had made 4 PB/Honey/.25 scoop Protein powder sandwiches on cinnamon raisin bread.  Talk about good.  And talk about nutrient and calorie dense.  I ate two on my ride to SMP and two on my ride between SMP and WYCO.  With Ben Bolin's advice, I wrapped them up in waxed paper, and 2 at a time in my feed box along with a flask of Hammer Espresso gel.  The waxed paper is THE way to go for packaging homemade goodies.  Easy to unwrap or tear into, plus if you drop it (they are easy to wad up and shove in the jersey for a minute though) wax paper will actually biodegrade pretty quickly.  Tin foil don't play that shit.

I had cut my 2 chicken breasts into 5 strips while letting them simmer down in the curry, basil, and a FUCK ton of salt.  From past experiences I know my body needs tons of salt and protein for long rides, muscle fatigue (cramping) usually always does me in.  Well no more.  I ate one of these with the can of campbell's chunky soup, ate some carrots and broccoli, hit some gel and felt like I had just stepped out of a car in the vast parking lot of SMP.  I was staying plenty hydrated too.  Plus the Cliff/TJ powder mix I was rocking was keeping my electrolyte and protein levels at a constant intake, and it tasted fucking amazing.  Perfect creamy lemony taste, kind of like frozen lemonade (the cliff was lemon-lime, TJ protein was vanilla).  I knew it was a good sign cause I was still pissing normally with no weird coloration.  *I know talking about piss color is pretty out there, but it is important, especially on long rides.  "Normal" piss is good piss.

So at SMP I rode Orange to Violet to red to Orange, filled up my bottles, then headed the reverse direction until I hit marker X on the trails, then hopped that outlet to the fire road and paved trail north to the kansas river.  Hit some more single track a la Pirate style then kept on for the 435 sprint of death.

At the Kansas River I stopped and ate some more carrots and broccoli, another strip of chicken and the can of beenie weenies.  By this time the temps were around 80 and I wasn't hot necessarily, but I was sweating my ass off.  Especially on the road section in WYCO from the river to the lake trails.  Talk about fucking hills after a flat ride, goddamn.  And no shade anywhere on the road.  I stopped about halfway in between the river and lake at Stoney Point Park.  Fitting name.  Nice shade too...no water though.  

After getting lost in the nasty burbage of KCK a couple times and backtracking, I finally found something that looked familiar and got into the park.  Watered up, hit some gel and started the bridle trails north to the ripping MTB trails closer to the lake.

Rode Smores to Boy Scout to the small fisherman's loop back around to Mason's first then Shelter 9 trail back to the bridle trail.  I was going to ride more, and still felt good, but something was telling me to just be happy with and go rip Roanoke on the way home.

Made the trounce through KCK and somehow ended up on the 70 on-ramp instead of the Turner Diagonal...that was almost sketchy for a minute.  KS Avenue is flat a a pancake so I hit the Argentine levee for a gravel mix-up, then some other railroad gravel in the Bottoms before hitting the 31st hill.

So I said I had felt great, and I knew I was over 75 miles, but still wanted to hit some more dirty.  Thank god for Roanoke.  While short right now (not counting the sneaky you can see on my map) it will be a few miles to play on very soon.  Gillham Park also offers some urban single track that is always fun to haul ass on.  Felt so good I even hit the steep ass Troost hill at mile 91 right before cutting through Rockhurst, hitting our stair drop and curb kickers, then sprinting down the street towards home.

Ya buddy.  Now that was a fucking epic ride.  Had no idea it was this long until I pulled up the map later.

Join me next time.  I could use a draft for that headwind :)

Peace and riding!!!