To make up for my absence on this computer diary of life, let’s play a game called: What’s Fit Fun Mom Been Up To? Has she:
(A) Been kayaking, hiking, horseback riding, trail running, doing yoga, standup paddle boarding, biking, and running,
(B) Narrowly avoided being bitten by a dog on a bike ride (I mean, Fit Fun Mom on a bike ride, not the dog on a bike ride — now that would really be something to write about),
(C) gotten lost on a 70-mile bike ride (gee, maybe the title of this post is a hint?),
(D) panicked about the fact that the Santa Rosa Marathon is less than seven weeks away, or
(E) all of the above.
If you picked E, you are a winner!
While I would eventually like to talk about A, B, and D, let’s start with C because dude, 70 miles on the bike! A new personal distance record! And it was awesome. By which I mean that at mile 20 all the Legos were dancing in my head and singing “Everything is awesome!” and I worried that by mile 60 I would be dragging. But at mile 40 the Legos were still dancing and singing, and at mile 60 they were still dancing and singing. Even when I realized that yep, I had indeed missed the turnoff for the correct trail and there was no way I was going to make it home in a total of 63 miles as planned, and I needed to call my husband to tell him I’d be a little longer, and could he maybe finish making the kids breakfast and come pick me up somewhere between where I was and where I wanted to be (our house), depending on how far I made it in the next half hour? K thanks bye.
I had carefully plotted out a 63-mile loop from my house to the Santa Ana River Trail, along the Huntington Beach Path and Pacific Coast Highway to Seal Beach, up the San Gabriel River Trail to the Coyote Creek Trail and back to my house.
My bike, Bullet, next to the Santa Ana Water Bottle Filling Station. How cool is that?
I had mainly been concerned about riding on the roads, because I simply do not trust cars not to squish me, so I’d paid particular attention to how to get to the dedicated bike paths on side roads or roads with bike lanes. That meant I didn’t pay much attention to how the Coyote Creek Trail breaks off from the San Gabriel River Trail almost immediately after the trailhead in Seal Beach, so the singing Legos and I happily followed the San Gabriel River Trail for miles and miles, wondering where the turnoff would show up and suspecting I’d missed it but who cares because Everything Is Awesome! The funny thing is that my husband and I had ridden the Coyote Creek Trail to the San Gabriel River Trail and back before, just to go to Seal Beach for Thai food (isn’t that why everyone bikes 35 miles?) So I thought I knew where I was going. Except the path was in pretty poor condition when we rode it, and it passed through some ugly industrial areas, and yet on this ride the path was newly paved and mainly followed a pretty garden nursery, the San Gabriel River, and horse properties. I kept celebrating how they’d repaved the path and done such a good job beautifying the trail, and I kept waiting for the industrial section to appear. But of course that was never going to happen because the “newly paved trail” was actually a section of the San Gabriel River Trail I’d never ridden before.
Eventually, about 18-19 miles up the San Gabriel River Trail, after I was pretty darn sure I wasn’t going the right way because I should have reached the other trail by then, and I kept getting closer and closer to the mountains and knew I’d have to turn right sometime, I came to a trail exit on a road I recognized and I knew how to ride the roads until I got to the Whittier Greenway Trail and get home. Mike ended up meeting me at mile 70.09 (4 hours and 21 minutes into the ride) and driving me the remaining three miles home. At that point you might think, “What’s another three miles?” but when I was only supposed to ride 60 for my plan, and 63 was pushing it, and I’d actually ridden 70, it was, I think, smart to stop there and not ride another mile or three.
And that’s how I inadvertently rode 70 miles last Sunday. I texted my friend Seth who has ridden a century (a 100-mile bike ride) before and he confirmed that a 70-miler is indeed enough to train and taper for a century. It’s one of my goals to complete a century someday, and there are two Bike MS century events in Southern California coming up in October. I’m tempted!
Are you an avid bike rider? I ride two to three times a week, either in spin class or on the roads/trails. Each ride is at least 20 miles.
Do you ride as part of your running training? Yes, for a long time I have followed training plans from Run Less, Run Faster or Smart Marathon Training, both of which call for three runs plus at least two cross-training workouts (biking and/or swimming).
Have you ever ridden a century? Nope, but Everything Is Awesome and I totally believe I could do it.
Fit Fun Mom 