My longest ride!

Tuesday morning was up early for a ride out to Waikaloa. I have never ridden this long before and was a bit nervous about it, but Graeme told me I would be fine and I really had no choices other than believe him or not go and have wasted money on the bike rentals. We made a good breakfast at home then headed out shortly after 7am. It was mostly sunny, but luckily for my very pale skin the clouds were here and there, which along with the 50 SPF sunscreen kept me from going pink.

I practiced trying to stay in Graeme's draft. I have never ridden in a group before but we have joined the local tri club and so there will be group riding in my future and I both needed the practice and needed to conserve some energy to be sure that I made it home. The way out was really not that bad though I worried pretty much the whole time that coming back would be hard. The last 15 miles or so in to Waikaloa seemed like they were all downhill. In Waikaloa we stopped and refilled our bottles, had iced lattes (my favourite time to have them is mid/post ride!) and reapplied sunscreen. The short break made the ride back seem way less daunting. I wanted to take some pictures on the way back which would also serve as a quick breaks.

From the scenic view point


For whatever reason, on the way back it seemed like there was a lot more up and down while the way out had seemed all downhill. I was certainly not going to complain about that!

We had been told by some tourists to watch out for the lava tunnel, which we somehow had missed completely on our way out. When we came upon it on the way back, we also ran into 3 cyclists. They asked immediately if we were Canadian, which I attribute to our "lack of American accents" (and probably the fact that I am so white) and we discovered that the daughter of the couple had graduated from the same high school as me. And it's not a big school - my grad class has 132 students! Small world!

So, total for the ride was 55mi/88km in 3:20. And I really felt like I could have ridden another few hours.

We relaxed, played around in the waves and then ran. And the run was NOT pretty for me. The combination of the heat and dead legs made it tough. But I slogged it out. Even with the a combination of running and walking (at the end) I ended up at a 9:33 pace for the 30 min run.

Wednesday was a lighter day with a 30 min run, which felt way better than the day before, and a 36 min ride to the bike store and back to get the tires pumped up. And of course more playing in the waves!