Peach Pedal 48-Mile Ride

Yesterday Stacy and I rode the 48-mile route at the Peach Pedal in Weatherford.  I did this bike rally back in 2006 when I was training for Ironman Wisconsin and I enjoyed it.  My previous long ride this summer was 28 or 29 miles, so this was a bit of an increase for me.  However, I'm a little nuts and for a brief period of time I thought I could do the 70-miler.  Stacy and I started at 7:30 with the 70-mile folks and waited for most of the crowd to go through the start line since it was pretty nuts.  We kept a consistent pace (minus all of the dodging/passing involved).  We passed the first aid station and waited to stop at the second one (24 miles).  At that point we had an 18 mph average, which was great for me.  The second half hurt a lot more.  There seemed to be a lot more uphills, and it started getting toasty outside.  We stopped again at the rest stop at the 39 mile mark.  The rest stops were pretty good.  I enjoyed some slices of peaches, pickles, and bananas and a PB&J triangle and downed quite a bit of ice water.  My total time was 2:56 for 47.86 miles (16.3 mph).  After the ride we enjoyed some Bloody Marys and some grub at the Chili's down the road.  I was definitely tuckered out, and I enjoyed a little afternoon nap after I got home and showered.  I am really enjoying being back in the saddle (although my girl parts had different thoughts) and I'm looking forward to the next bike rally!

At the start line: