I've been trying to ride my bike a bit, so I'm slightly sore in the legs, not enough to make it hard to sleep, but enough to be aware that I've been working.
I have a goal to ride my age in miles or a metric century (100 kilometers, which is about 62 miles) by the end of the month. I rode 41 miles last week, and felt good, so I think this is do-able.
It's a matter of time on task, mostly, that being willing to ride for four or five hours at a time (because I go a whole lot slower than the pros), and building up over the couple of weeks.
I also have had a problem with my left foot falling asleep. It used to be both feet, but moving the cleats on my shoes helped, and doing some stretchy stuff and reverse pedaling (pulling up instead of pushing down) has definitely helped. And, weirdly, I'm finding that wearing thinner socks helps somehow. But still, if my foot starts to go numb at 20 miles, facing another 42 is really unpleasant. And I'm not paid to bike, so I don't want to do it if it's unpleasant.
My longer term goal, which I'm almost afraid to name, is to go 100 miles by the end of September. Time on task is hard for that one. It would be a huge mental accomplishment for me at any rate. (The furthest I've ever ridden was 75 miles.)
***
Things just got busier with school. The busyness is very good and encouraging and wonderful, but also daunting.
I have a problem with my feet getting numb on the bike after 10-20 miles or so. I found that loosening my shoelaces, particularly in the front part of the shoe, makes a huge difference. The thicker my socks, the looser the shoes have to be, so I'm not surprised that you find thin socks to be more comfortable. Good luck with the metric century! I have a hilly 115K coming up in a month and am rather daunted by the prospect.
ReplyDelete