Joy and Pain

Friday was a great biking day in Traverse City, did a peaceful 27 miles to the east side of Traverse City. It was a simple trip and was able to take on a couple of hills. Over all this entire weekend was great for biking, sun was shining the entire time, cannot complain there. Saturday had a slight chill in the air but it made for a perfect day of relaxing and hard cider sampling.

Then there are those slight mistakes that you make that you wish you would have thought twice about. Sunday was a prime example of this. Decided to do an adventurous trip to Suttons Bay, a good 36 mile trip. The sun was shining and it reached near 70 degrees, el perfecto. Getting there was awesome, it zoomed by and picked up some great speed. When we hit the two tracks filled with some sand here and mud there, it couldn't stop us and added to the adventure. We were a mess but in a fun speeding way. Then we hit Suttons Bay.

We should have stuck with our original plan and headed back, but James and I thought it would be a good idea to go further north to Northport, mistake. We turned back with three miles to go, but already it was too late as we ended up adding another 18 miles to our trip, mistake number two. On the way back to Suttons Bay we really started to feel drained, but we pushed on. Once we hit the trail again we knew it would be painful and the final 18 miles would be hell. As we went on we realized we really didn't eat much before leaving, that slice of cherry pie at 9am was at this point drained from my body five-ish hours later, mistake number three.

Somehow we kept going on, I've done 50 miles before but never in one long stretch, always stopped at the mall or to do something to have an extended break. This was the largest challenge of endurance I've ever experienced. We walked three miles sporadically throughout that last 18 miles, but damn we pushed our bodies about as far as we could. Those sandy spots and mud pits were no longer fun and adventurous. Oh and did I mention the wind. Yeah the last 25 miles we extremely windy, slowing us down even further.

As for the fourth and final mistake, SUNSCREEN! Last year I biked hundreds of miles, even in the heat of the summer, but never once did I get burnt. This time I forgot the number one rule, where sunscreen, six hours outside is no way to treat the body without protection. Let's just say my arms are beat red and last night wasn't too calm, especially when I roll when I sleep.

I know this post seems like complaining and self-pity, but it is more as a lesson to myself to know my bodies limits when it hasn't been fed or when extra energy isn't brought on the trip. On the bright side, the TART trail is amazing and I cannot wait to try it again! The only real complaint that James and I had were the 50 tracker crossing signs we saw. Seriously if you cannot see a massive 5 mph vehicle in a field that will be crossing the path in 500 feet, then stay off the trails to begin with. Also to note, for April I passed 100 miles on the bike, about 14 miles past November. May has just started and I already have gotten 53 miles in, this should be interesting!