Rode 56 miles today…

…and it was a gorgeous day! Clear blue skies, warm but not hot, perfect to be bicycling out across the Golden Gate Bridge into Marin for a nice day’s ride.

Five hours in the saddle in all (I’m a very slow rider), nice long day. I’m hoping my speed picks up–historically I’ve been much faster, I’m not sure why I’m slower this year. Two or three years ago I was averaging 13-14 miles per hour–this year it’s more like 11. Maybe I’m just getting old…

Anyway, we went from Sports Basement in SF (in the Presidio) up across the Golden Gate Bridge, where the views are terrific but the traffic and winds are a bit scary. (Bicyclists have their own “lane”, but traffic goes both ways and it can get pretty crowded.) We rode down a steep hill into Sausalito, leisurely made our way through Sausalito and then took a break at B.’s Bikes. From there we got on a bike path (egret soaring overhead), made our way through San Anselmo to Fairfax to Lagunitas and back. We had a big, long climb at White’s Hill, and some wonderful smoothies in Fairfax. It was a gorgeous day.

The only downside: my butt hurts. The muscles are sore from pedaling uphill, and my sit-bones are sore from bumping around on the saddle. I’m thinking it’s time for me to be replacing the saddle…I’ve put in probably about 5000 miles on it, and I can’t think why else my butt would be hurting. At this stage of training things should have toughened up enough to be able to do a 50-odd mile ride without that much pain. So I’ve put in a bid on eBay for a replacement saddle.

I’m continuing to divest myself of stuff. I posted the black leather sofa (the one that wouldn’t fit through the door) back onto Craigslist, and am giving away a 60- and 20-gallon terrarium. Posted them on Craigslist as giveaways at 7pm and had five responses in two hours! It’s amazing how people react to that word, “free”. Let’s just hope I can find someone who will pay $200 for the sofa. (What I paid for it.)