I rode with the same lady I went riding 9 miles with last week. We met up at a bike-friendly church (parking, bike repair kit, welcome to bikers signs, use our bathrooms) on the bike path and headed north on the Fred Meijer Berry Junction Trail. My new friend has an e-assist bike, so I knew she would not get too tired. Our plan was to go 11 miles north, to Montague and back, and both of us have been on that trail many times on our own. The temperature when we started was in the 80s with a bare hint of wind. Because we started at 1 pm, the sun was directly overhead so no shade. It was a very hot and grueling ride.
At about 3pm we stopped at a really nice sandwich shop/ice cream shoppe and enjoyed a delicious lunch in the blessed air conditioning. What we didn’t know is that they were closing at 3 that day, even though the sign out front said open until 9. My friend thinks the teenagers had to leave for a graduation ceremony. They were friendly and put no pressure on us to hurry.
We left the place and continued on for a couple more miles. Since I forgot to turn Strava on at the beginning, I waited until I got home to manually draw out our route. Total miles: over 28!!!!! If I hadn’t brought lots of water and bought more at the restaurant to bring along, I probably would have gotten heat stroke. When I got home I tried to lay down and rest for a few but got severe charley horses in both legs. Took potassium and magnesium caps and a few aspirin and was fine. I got one brief charley horse in one leg today but I walked it out.
The weather report 10-day forecast says temps in the 80s through next week at least. This is way way way too hot for the end of May, and there has been no rain in sight in over a month. I’ll be either riding in early morning or later in the evening or just doing other things until things cool down a little.
I didn’t take a lot of pics but here are most of the ones I took.
Irritating that I can’t import the map of my ride as the formatting section of my blog seems royally screwed up, but I will put the Strava link in here in hopes you can see it.
Tao Talk 
Awesome! 28 miles is a great achievement
LikeLiked by 1 person
Sadje it was a true test of endurance. Alone, I never would have made it. My riding partner was wonderful! She kept my mind distracted and was perfectly ok with resting all along the way.
LikeLiked by 1 person
That’s true if we have someone motivating with us, we do manage what we think wasn’t possible
LikeLiked by 1 person
Wow, hats off to you.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks much, Robbie. We intended on a 22 mile ride. How it turned into 28+ is a mystery!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Such lovely countryside!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Randy it is like paradise here, and I’m sure you have so much lovely countryside where you are also.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Be careful out there… that is a lot of miles! Congrats Lisa.
The 80s are not bad until you are baking in that sun and exercising.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you, Max. It was the worst ride of my life. I could feel my face on fire and was lucky to have lots of water to drink and a kerchief I kept wetting down for my face and then tying it around my neck to keep cool. My riding partner found some really good cooling devices on her phone on the breaks and think I’ll buy some. Never again in this kind of heat!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yea it can get dangerous….or just cut down your miles to the single digits when it’s that hot.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Midday in heat is hard on both body and mind. I admire your perseverance–that’s quite an accomplishment! It does help to have companionship. (K)
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yeppers, I’m still feeling some effects from it and am laying low from the sun for a few days.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Good idea.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Wow Lisa! That is a long bike ride! I’m glad you got through it without getting heatstroke! xo
LikeLiked by 1 person
I think I came close, Carol Anne. Without all of those fluids I would have been sunk. I went 5 hours without taking a pee, which is the record of a decade or more for me. I was sweating it out as fast as I was drinking.
LikeLike