Skip to content

1,499 miles to go – 60 more beers? 100 lbs less?

2010 September 19
by Eric R.

Yesterday I rode 70 miles on the ” Beautiful Back Roads” 10th anniversary ride that started / ended from the Budweiser brewery at Cartersville, GA.

It definitely was beautiful, but painless? no!  This was my first ride since June 19th due to technical glitches and I definitely felt it. At about mile 40 I started to get the first indications of upcoming leg cramps. At about mile 50 I started my new mantra.  I discovered that when singing a mantra, your mind gets distracted from the pain and the miles start rolling by. By mile 68 I had frozen legs – until I saw the brewery and got the strength to finish the ride.

How did the bike behaved? Other than I noticed that I need to check the derailleur alignment or replace the chain (a maintenance part) – it was flawless! I noticed that the software revision I received during Opti’s visit to her maker made the fast vs eco speeds noticeable faster.  I was able to achieve 20 mph using eco in flatlands (plus a few mph added by my pedal pushing) and 27 mph using fast mode. I even managed to go over 30 mph without the gift of gravity. It was exhilarating telling skinny, fast riders that they were doing 29 mph while I passed them on a heavy laden mountain bike with panniers with my double wide body wearing lycra – or was that polyester? Anyway – not a pretty sight for their egos….

The results of the ride: 5 lbs to the ether even after having 3 beers, 1 hot dog, tasteless chicken at the Budweiser brewery and on my way home, a meat pie and a chick fillet sandwich to top it off. So based on the ride I can extrapolate that I have 20 x 75 mile rides left to accomplish my goal – and at 5 lbs of weight loss and 3 beers per ride I can reasonably extrapolate that my 1,499 miles to go would represent 60 more beers and 100 lbs less on my body.

There you go Jared!

Comments are closed.