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First Century - complete
Posted: Tue Jun 05, 2007 7:05 pm
by ElTaco
A few months back I told you all about the challange I had decided to undertake and I was fairly surprised and impressed when most of the responses were supportive. Well, I have managed to go from a couch potato as of Feb to completing a full 100 mile bike ride in 4 months and lost about 25lbs. This Sunday, the Americas Most Beautiful Bike Ride (AMMBR) took place around Lake Tahoe (CA & NV) and I managed to finish it. Lots of you had mentioned that Lake Tahoe is beautiful and I found this to be absolutely true. The scenery was breath taking, as was the elevation. About 70 miles into the ride my asthma kicked in and since I was stupid enough to leave my inhaler in VA, I had to just tough it out and ride through it.
Of course other benefits came from the whole ride. TNT as a whole managed to raise 8.5 million dollars between 2k riders that will go to supporting Blood cancer research, patients and families.
Here is the GPS information from my bike computer. The elevation information is a bit off, as is the time because its set to EST, but you can see the path we took.
http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/epis ... ue=2934600
My next big challange is August for the Livestrong foundation as part of the Sallie Mae team! Anyone from Philly?
Posted: Tue Jun 05, 2007 7:07 pm
by PSUFAN
I'm kind of glad to see you post. I thought Cho might have gotten you.
Posted: Tue Jun 05, 2007 7:54 pm
by smackaholic
good for you, taco. I been riding my bike as well. No centuries yet, just the 24 miles to work and back a few days a week. I am hoping to get a century in before the fall though.
Posted: Tue Jun 05, 2007 7:57 pm
by smackaholic
that gps chart is kinda cool. what type of gps is it? is it made specifically for a bike?
Posted: Tue Jun 05, 2007 8:03 pm
by Bucmonkey
Grats Taco, 100 mile bike ride is no small feat......
Posted: Tue Jun 05, 2007 8:11 pm
by MuchoBulls
Good job El
Posted: Tue Jun 05, 2007 8:16 pm
by Mikey
I thought this was going to be a birthday shout-out to wolfman.
Oh well...props anyway El.
Posted: Tue Jun 05, 2007 8:25 pm
by Fat Bones
Rack you very much.
"About 70 miles into the ride my asthma kicked in and since I was stupid enough to leave my inhaler in VA, I had to just tough it out and ride through it."
Darwin licked the back of your neck, but decided not to chew it off.
Rack "toughing out" asthma as well...
Posted: Tue Jun 05, 2007 8:40 pm
by Headhunter
PSUFAN wrote:I'm kind of glad to see you post. I thought Cho might have gotten you.
Margaret Cho eats bike riders? Whoah!
Posted: Tue Jun 05, 2007 9:06 pm
by ElTaco
I got the Garmin EDGE 205 off of Ebay for about $110. If you don't have anything, you should look at the Edge 305 which does everything for a little over $200 on ebay. The 205 does the basic stuff (GPS, distance, speed, elevation), but the 305 also includes a Heart rate monitor and cadence counter which is fairly useful for training. Your other option if you want to do more cross training is to get some of the running GPS units such as the Garmin Forerunner.
Posted: Tue Jun 05, 2007 9:47 pm
by MgoBlue-LightSpecial
You guys riding your bikes to work? I'll ride my bike to work.
-Annie on a Huffy in NM
Posted: Wed Jun 06, 2007 12:34 am
by Wolfman
thanks Mikey---
it's nice to know that someone cares-- but you missed
my birthday greeting last year from Willard Scott
( Smuckers ®--- with a name like Smuckers® it has to be good)
rack ElTaco for losing 25 lbs. !!
Posted: Wed Jun 06, 2007 2:32 am
by Tiny
Congrats on the milestone...pardon the pun. You should be proud. While most of us (myself included) sit back and spout the " I should start.....", I need to start _____ to get in shape", "I need to put the sammich down..." etc.; you accomplished your goal.
I hope that you continue with this, and you'll keep seeing the positive results. And all that jack for research & support is kinda NICE too.
Job well done.
Posted: Wed Jun 06, 2007 4:33 am
by Mister Bushice
MgoBlue-LightSpecial wrote:You guys riding your bikes to work? I'll ride my bike to work.
-Annie on a Huffy in NM
Huh. Who knew a Huffy came in a wide body model with 4 wheel drive, extra suspension, and spinners?
Re: First Century - complete
Posted: Wed Jun 06, 2007 4:55 am
by BBMarley
Way to go Taco.. That is great man. What's the next ride about? I'm just outside of Philly
hmmmm
Posted: Wed Jun 06, 2007 1:22 pm
by 1smoothG
I hope you get cancer and die.
Posted: Wed Jun 06, 2007 1:59 pm
by OCmike
I did a 50 mile bike ride once with my Old Man when I was 14 or 15 and my taint hurt for a week. Can't imagine how it would feel after 100 miles. Yikes!
Posted: Wed Jun 06, 2007 2:50 pm
by RumpleForeskin
I only ride 12 miles every Saturday morning. If H-Town could mix in a hill or 2, then I would be more intrigued to ride more, but the scenery kinda sux around here.
Posted: Wed Jun 06, 2007 3:56 pm
by Dinsdale
RumpleForeskin wrote:the scenery kinda sux around here
Werd.
Sin,
![Image](http://img178.imageshack.us/img178/3461/jenanddanyaleet4.jpg)
Posted: Wed Jun 06, 2007 9:28 pm
by ElTaco
Thanks all. Actually I forgot to start the timer at the start and so missed about 2 miles on the gps. The ride started and ended in the same spot so don't worry, I made the 100 miles.
The philly ride is the Livestrong Challange, one of big rides for the Livestrong foundation. The ride will take place on August 26th.
Posted: Thu Jun 07, 2007 2:14 am
by XXXL
Rode about two blocks this morning, still lots of fun...
Posted: Thu Jun 07, 2007 5:03 am
by Ang
Taco,
Great job and gps link. Fun stuff to put your route into google maps. I had no idea that was an option until my hubbie started showing me his motorcycle rides on google maps from his Garman (a portable, $150 at Best Buy). I told a friend about it who has a teenage daughter who just started driving by herself, and he was joking about putting a portable gps in her car and then downloading it to see where she has really been after she gets home from "her friends house".
Awesome ride that you did. One hell of a long way to peddle, even as beautiful as the place is. Thanks again for the inspiration!
Ang
Posted: Tue Jun 12, 2007 2:00 am
by smackaholic
OCmike wrote:I did a 50 mile bike ride once with my Old Man when I was 14 or 15 and my taint hurt for a week. Can't imagine how it would feel after 100 miles. Yikes!
How does this go a few days without some sort of incest reset? This place really is sliding badly.
There is a reason why we bikers where those faggy padded lycra shirts. Ask your taint, or what's left of it.
Posted: Tue Jun 12, 2007 2:26 pm
by OCmike
Yeah, I realized after I hit submit that I was lobbing a serious meat pitch up there for someone, but decided to leave it up anyway kind of as a public service for someone to knock out of the park. Manager must've given the "take" sign...
BTW, that ride was a great time, even with the sore taint. We did 25 miles on the American River bike trail outside of Sacramento. Granted, they probably haven't paved the path since then so it's probably not as nice now as it was in 1987, but I would definitely recommend that ride to anyone who gets the chance. Beautiful, beautiful scenery, lots of nice parks to stop at for a breather or water refills, and you usually get a nice cool breeze coming up the river if you do an afternoon ride.
We rode from the trailhead out to the 25 mile marker and turned around. I'm not really sure how far it goes, but it was asphalt the whole way.