I'm Gonna Be SO Sore Tomorrow...

Total for this ride: 81.5 miles

Total for this year: 263.5 miles

Wanted a long ride today, and that's what I got.  In fact, my 7th longest ride ever, and the only one in my top 10 longest that was ever done this early in the season (next earliest was late June, and that was a shorter ride).

The plan was to take off about 8:00 and ride due north to Webster, where I would meet up with an old friend.  The two of us would ride about 15 miles due east to the little town of Pultneyville, have lunch, and return to Webster.  After dropping him off, I'd ride due south to get back home.

The first third of the ride was great.  I flew through the 23 miles in less than an hour and a half - really good time for an old guy like me.

We took the ride from Webster to Pultneyville at a leisurely pace.  Pultneyville is a quaint little village on the shores of Lake Ontario, famous for being bombarded by the British during the war of 1812.  I didn't have anyplace special in mind to eat - I figured we'd find something there.  And as we rolled into town we noticed a sign for the Pultneyville Grill with a big "RESTAURANT OPEN" sign right by the front door.  We locked the bikes and went in.  That's when we discovered that it really WASN'T open, in spite of what the sign said.  And that's when we also discovered that there's no place else to eat in Pultneyville.  So we just went back to Webster.

By the time we got there we were both pretty hungry.  My friend took off for home, and I doubled back on Lake Rd. to see if I could pick up a couple granola bars or some other kind of snack at a convenience store about two miles back.  I figured I wouldn't be there long so I didn't even lock up the bike outside.  But as soon as I walked in the door I was pleasantly surprised to learn that this was not only a convenience store, but a little restaurant with a full menu of pizzas, sandwiches, and various other dishes.  I was thrilled, and happily devoured a turkey sub and a large Gatorade.  After lunch the owner let me fill up my water bottles from the fountain, and I was off.

I was actually quite lucky that I stopped, because as it turned out, riding home was tough.  Not only was I riding right into the teeth of the wind, but I discovered when I processed the GPS data that I was doing all of my climbing going in that direction too.  It made for a long, painful ride.  I had originally hoped to be home by 3:00 - it was actually closer to 5:00 by the time I rolled into the driveway.

No riding tomorrow - having people over for Easter.  Short ride planned for Monday.  Good thing.  I'll need the rest.