I biked 61 miles on Tuesday…yep.

I left at 9:20am and took 75N to 1696W until I hit Bedias some 28.5 miles later. I stopped at a church parking lot to eat lunch at 11:40am. I forgot one of my friends lived out there and she just happened to text me..so she picked me up and I hung out at her place for about an hour and a half. This probably saved me from passing out later on…

I started the return trip at 1:20pm riding south down 2620. I hit 30 and took it west until I made it back into Huntsville. The 20 miles I spent on 30 were hell..I was pretty hydrated but the heat was ripping me apart. With about 7 miles left I had to stop on the side of the road and lay down in the shade for a few minutes. I seriously considered hitching a ride back into town..but I already felt like shit and I knew I was going to feel like shit regardless so I just pushed through it.

I made it into town at 4pm and walked my bike about a half mile to the Sonic. I had a large apple juice slush and a large powerade slush…yummy. I had most of the symptoms of heat exhaustion and I was pretty confident I was going to black out. About 20 minutes later I managed to start on the 2 miles back to my apartment. It took me most of the next hour to make it there.

Lesson learned – don’t push yourself in this kind of heat. I’ve lived in Texas all my life so I’m no stranger to the heat, but biking 61 miles in it is something else. Regardless, good experience. I’ll start earlier next time!

Oh and as far as nutrition…I had a big breakfast in me before the ride. I took a GU after an hour of riding and ate lunch an hour and a half later. I had two snacks before I started the return ride. I downed another GU an hour and a half into the return ride. I had 20oz of electrolyte mix spread out over the entire ride and just under 4L of water. I’d say I did pretty good in this aspect.