Snot-pocalypse

First, a note.  There is a benefit ride coming up in the Sacramento area: Ride4Matt. 
Check it out, participate if you can.

Ride #68
Thursday, May 5th

57 miles along most of the American River bike path

I think this is the longest I've ever ridden in one day in my life. I'm not dead so it is obviously survivable.

My triking pal and I left Folsom on a fine, bright Spring day. We returned later - much later - that day. And on my part at least, hot, tired, slightly sunburned, and ever-so-mildly crabby.

This was, I suppose, a little taste of touring in some ways:  it was a fair distance, it was a bit stressful, and I'm sitting here a day later composing this post in a coffee shop.
On my phone.

My left foot is bruised, my leg muscles are tired, and my allergies are in full swing. It is a good thing the coffee shop has lots of paper napkins. I'm thinking about what kind of small pump I want to buy, and trying recall the correct sequence for removing and replacing a rear tire. And thinking about the next loooooong ride!

Hey, I just noticed that my phone's keyboard has a voice recognition function. Here goes: I have no idea if this is good to work or not I have removed myself to the car so I don't sit in peets coffee house talking to my phone which would sound very very very strange.
Hey. I can 'speatype' a run-on sentence! Ok. Back to work.

When using clipless pedals (pedals-that-attach-to-your-shoe-with clips. Don't ask me, I didn't name them) on a recumbent, it is useful to push the foot away as well as pulling back on the return. Apparently, I cannot do that effectively for more than about 35 miles. I started loosing the "oomph" in my legs at that point and I suppose my left foot was repeatedly slamming into the bottom of my shoe: hence the bruise. I'm considering more cushy forefoot inserts for my shoes.

We took plenty of breaks on the way out and even more on the way back! I stopped and stretched about 3/4 of the way through the ride. I drank 24 x 6 ozs of water: still not enough, since I came home with a raging headache. Two packets of electrolyte replacement powder and several glasses of water put me to rights.
I've added some packets to my bike bag.

I ate two oranges and a handful of trail mix along the way. And some jerky. I was pretty hungry at the end of the ride, so I think more trail mix is in order.

About 4 miles from the end of our ride, my steering started getting squirrelly. My rear tire was losing air! So we stopped and pumped it up to see if I could get back without hassling with a tube change. It held enough air to do so, I did no damage to my rim, and I put a new tube in the next day. And here's the "tattoo" to prove it. Saturday's ride will tell if I did a good job.

Have you hugged your bike today?

My pump sucks. Yes, air pumps are supposed to blow (which in this case is a good thing), so we used my pal's pump. I LIKE that pump! It's a Topeak road morph. Very nice, especially the built in pressure gauge.

I experimented a little bit with tipping my seat all the way back. I seemed to have more power with less effort, and it uses slightly different muscles than my usual, more upright, posture. I've set up the seat and the mirrors for the new laid back position and I'll give it a try on Saturday's ride.

TTFN