To date the longest bike ride I’ve ever done was just about 30 miles. At the end of this, I remember quite clearly, I was exhausted do a disturbing degree. So, feeling that 30 or so miles is pretty lame as a personal best, I wanted to push on into something more like 40.

The plan was to run the Rillito River bike path back and forth until I was ready to keel over. This way I would never be more than 6 miles from my apartment and there would be no giant hills seperating me from home. If able to make it from my place to each end twice, the total would greater than 40 miles, in fact closer to 50.

The ride went fairly well! I went to the West end, past my place to the East end, past my place to the West end again, and back to my place for a total of 38.2 miles. It wasn’t very hard and I wasn’t too beat up physically at the end, but I’d definitely underestimated the mental strain of the ride. Perhaps it was the fact that I was riding the same short and generally uninteresting path back and forth… whatever it was, my brain was in bad shape. Probably should choose something more interesting for next time…

Distance: 38.2 miles
Time: 2:37:23
Avg. Speed: 14.5 mph