- morning solo ride = 28.55 miles; time = 2:12:01; average speed @ 13mph
- walked dogs = 2.7 miles total
Running:
Total Weekly Mileage: 14.02
Total Monthly Mileage: 54.11
Total Yearly Mileage: 676.44
Total Shoe Mileage: 177.62
Cycling:
Total Weekly Mileage: 91.27
Total Monthly Mileage: 351.76
Total Yearly Mileage: 2674.33
Total Bike Mileage: 2036.43
This is going to be very long. Thanks for reading to the end if you were able to. Sorry for making this so long if you didn't have the attention span.
In 2018, I did the "Finish The Ride" 35-mile route which was in May of that year. It was a small event as there weren't that many people for all the combined rides (there was a 12-mile ride for families, 20-mile ride, and 50-mile ride that year as well as a 5k, 10k and half marathon for the people who preferred to run/walk). The route markers for each distance were confusing and I didn't have the course map on paper to follow. Since there weren't that many people for all the combined rides and everyone was spread out, it was hard to follow anyone from the same distance. I ended up doing 20 miles even though I paid for the 35-mile ride.
I signed up for the "Finish The Ride" 35-mile route at the end of last October. At that time, I was asking myself why I signed up for the Firecracker 40-mile ride (which was in February this year) and I was questioning my riding ability on anything longer than 35 miles. I ended up doing a 60-mile ride with the Pyscho-Lists group in November and then again in January. I had a ton of fun doing the Firecracker 40-mile ride that I sent an email to the Finish The Ride event people, requesting to "upgrade" my ride from 35 miles (2,300 feet in total elevation) to 50 miles (3,400 feet in total elevation) to which they gladly allowed me to. The event was supposed to have been in April, but the pandemic hit and Covid had other plans. The event was rescheduled to 20.September, but that was canceled. I think they are still working on a new date for the Spring as I haven't heard anything about it yet.
Most people don't know this about me, but I wear prescription eyeglasses when I drive. I only really wear it when I'm going somewhere new because I can't read street signs very well without glasses. When I'm not driving, I don't/can't wear them because they hurt my eyes and give me headaches (I can only wear prescription eyeglasses when I'm driving). So in general, I'm not very adventurous when I'm riding solo because I'm always afraid of missing a left turn and getting lost. Usually, when I ride with a group, I just follow the group and don't bother learning the route. However, I'm getting bored of doing rides closer to home and needed a change of scenery, so I have to get over this fear of getting lost. On the other hand, I wanted to get myself familiar with the course/route, so I would have an idea where I was going by event day. So I attempted the ride today. The ride went through Griffith Park and Elysian Park. I had the course sent to my Garmin device so it could help me along, but it was a little confusing...it told me to make a left turn and ride across the grass (my bike isn't made to ride on grass)? There was a few times where I was questioning Garmin's direction. I didn't get lost per se, but I did miss a few left turns (but no big deal) even though I had the route/map/directions on paper because I think I was supposed to have done an extra ten miles just through Griffith Park. I think I had a hard time reading the paper because it was awkwardly placed on my bike. Then I took the Los Angeles River bike path to Elysian Park. The bike path was open to bikes and pedestrians, but only for a short time. I never made it to Elysian Park because the bike path was closed for "road work" and was completely blocked off. There was access to the streets from the bike path, but I didn't know the area at all to take the streets to Elysian Park. So I just turned around and went back to my car. From the looks of it, the bike path may be closed to bikes and pedestrians for awhile. Maybe I will try this ride again in January??
