Man, I wish I lived in a metric system country (which would be every other
country). Then I could have rode 40 km instead of 40 miles.

I have vowed to stay out of backwards shape too, but I'll forego the leg
shaving bit.

Three years no riding? I went about two years, my bike was stolen and then I
went on a year's vacation to Mesopotamia and didn't get a new bike till
after I had been back for a bit. It must have been tough to get back on.
That's why I've gone to doing some distance road biking. It builds up a bit,
and takes the edge of the lactic acid on the trails.

40 is just really a psychological milestone. Mind over matter. If you don't
mind, it doesn't matter.

BH


"Dave E" wrote in message
...
"BH" wrote in message news:57B8f.3775$UF4.28@fed1read02...
Today is my 40th birthday, so I rode 40 miles. (Actually, 40.7 by my GPS)

I must confess though that it was on a road bike on the pavement. I just
managed to get my self out of shape for mountain biking, and it's a big
struggle to get back there now that I'm an old fart. Next year, I'll do
41 miles on trails at altitude. Maybe I'll skip the altitude part.


Hey - go easy on the 'old fart' references. I'm 37 and miles from being
an 'old fart'. Don't let the bald bit, the false teeth and the small gut
(where once sat proudly a wonderful 8-pack) fool you - I'm a beast!

Today I got back on the mountain bike for the first time in 3 years.
Lactic acid is again my enemy and at times thoughts turned to that big
nasty motorbike sitting in the garage - the whole reason I dropped 7 slots
down to the one-pack.

However, it was great to have done 3 hard hours of technical stuff,
despite the pain and I've vowed never to go backwards in shape again.
Onwards to strive for the right to once more shave my legs as I used to
when 300+ kms of riding per week was the norm.

So your 40.7 miles is a great start and I congratulate you. Keep it up
and in 12 months when I'm a step closer to old fartiness, we can compare
notes about the thousands of kilometers of smiles we've pedalled ourselves
through!

Cheers,
Dave E (Sydney)
PS. Happy Birthday!