If you follow me at all on this blog or facebook or instagram .. you know that the Great Cycle Challenge has begun.
https://greatcyclechallenge.com/Riders/EricShepard
I've pledged to ride 1000 miles over the course of September to raise money and awareness for the Children's Cancer Research Fund.
1000 miles is a lot of miles. To accomplish it, I have to average 33.3 miles a day, which isn't too bad physically, but takes quite a bit of time.
Every year, I try to set up my month so that my miles are front-loaded so that I don't have to play catch up.
I told myself before the month started that I'd like to be at 300 miles before the Labor Day weekend was over.
As I type this, it is Sunday and I'm already just over 300 miles, so I accomplished that little mini-goal.
I took Friday off work to get a big ride in and start the weekend off strong.
I was up well before sunrise to take advantage of cooler weather in the early morning.
I was probably in 20 or 25 miles before the sun came up.
I didn't really have a route picked out before the ride. I just rode.
And rode and rode and rode.
As I've done in previous Century Rides, I returned home part-way through. This time I had almost 90 miles done.
My wife (aka The SheppyBrew Beer Model) and I went out to lunch.
It wasn't until much later in the day that I finished up the last 15 miles for a total of 105.71 miles for the day.
I was actually feeling good enough that I thought I'd do another long ride Saturday.
Again, I was up early. Not as early as Friday, but still significantly before sunrise in Denver.
I noticed on these two rides how darkness really slows me down.
Anyway ... I had significant miles again before the sun came up.
My route started out similar, but I cut down the Platte River rather than going up C470 in hopes that my effort would be less with less climbing.
When it comes right down to it, I'm blessed to live where I do. The views on all my rides are spectacular.
I rode past Empower Field on this ride.
Again, I returned home to pick up The SheppyBrew Beer Model. Stay tuned for F is for ...
This time, I was at 72 miles. At this point, I wasn't sure I'd finish a whole Century.
But after lunch, I made it back out for the last 28 miles. No problem.
Two Centuries in two days. This is certainly the most I've cycled in two days.
I also got in over 50 miles on Sunday.
So, I'm doing well on my Great Cycle Challenge. Today is Sunday the 4th. At 33.3 miles per day, I should be at least 133.3 miles to be "on track". At this point (as I mentioned above), I have completed over 302.
Now, I "just" need to ride 26.8 miles per day for the rest of the month.
That's still a lot.
Anyway .. feel free to follow along ...
https://greatcyclechallenge.com/Riders/EricShepard
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