The 'meter said 201 km...

Early Sunday afternoon I set out for a training ride of 160 km (my
personal record for one day has been 140 km so far). From
Helsinki I rode to Porvoo, then North to Pukkila and West to
Mäntsälä and then I decided to visit Hyvinkää before going back
because it looked like it would be a bit short ride... so that
did it...

The early middle part I was riding accross idyllic countryside in
good sunlight. There was rain for 5 km so I was pretty wet - no
raingear and also no warm clothes on this ride - but I dried up
very well. Mosquitos attacked whenever I stopped and ran to the
woods.

I saw at least two dead frogs on the edge of the road. In the
evening, two live ones. The early night seems to be very popular
with insects here as well. I agree with the bugs, some of the best
riding can be when the sun is setting down. The air is not hot any
more, the traffic is almost gone, it is very peaceful and great to
concentrate.

Darkness finally fell at 1 am when I hit home. Funnily enough it
was a very strong ride, my legs felt just fine at the end though
some other parts of my body didn't take that as well. In the early
part my back and groin were problems (yes it's an upright not a
recumbent) and now I have still a numb and sore groin and my left
pinky is numb...

Think I have to start consuming sports drinks and
gels and bars for real, relying on sugar-based foods is not that
efficient. Though a combination of dried fruits, peanuts and
cheese sandwitches with orange juice seemed to serve quite well.
The total time was 10:40 hours but weirdly enough, I think I
consumed only about 5 liters of drinks.

It's another tribute to the benefits of systematic training: a
month ago I did 77 km, and every week I added more, before that
I've been doing different kinds of training for several months.

--
Risto Varanka | http://www.helsinki.fi/~rvaranka/hpv/hpv.html
varis at no spam please iki fi