The last long bike ride before my Metric Century was a success! 
Kelly and I drove about 45 miles southwest of Orlando to the Van Fleet State Trail, which is about 30-miles long in total.
It was an amazing trail — long, straight, shaded, and flat. It’s in a rural area so there were basically no cars. It was a cyclist’s dream!
All in all, I thought 40 miles was fun and challenging, but I definitely felt it was do-able and feel very confident about my Metric Century (64 miles!).
This was also the longest bike ride Kelly has ever done!
One good aspect about this ride was that it really helped me understand how I need to fuel for the Metric Century. I need to eat a really big breakfast, take tons of goo, and actually eat solid food during the ride. I didn’t eat anything solid on this ride and I definitely began to feel HUNGRY by the end even though I consumed about 400 calories in goo.
I started off with a Clif Shot (strawberry flavor). This is about 90 calories. I really like Clif Shots and prefer them to Hammer.
Then we reached the halfway point at Mile 20.0!
We took a break and I ate a whole pack of Clif Shot Bloks, which is about 200 calories.
And around mile 35, I tried a Hammer goo in orange flavor (also 90 calories). Again, it was good, but I just prefer the organic Clif Shots.
We saw lots of cool animals on our ride! I found a baby turtle in the road:
He’s my little friend! We saw several big turtles, too:
And Kelly found a big GATOR!
Eckkkkk!
I got to try a new piece of biking gear today as well! Aerotech Designs Cyclewear sent me a new pair of their super-padded gel gloves to try.
These gloves are actually a new design that I don’t think are available for sale on their website, but they are similar to this product.
I have to say that I am very impressed with Aerotech Designs Cyclewear. They are the same company that makes my bike shorts (a pair of which Kelly borrowed and said felt amazing!) and the gloves are just as high-quality as the shorts. My wrists did not get sore, and I felt like the gloves provided great gripe.
Another amazing Aerotech Designs Cyclewear product! I highly recommend them.
After our ride, we drove back to my house, and I made us a wonderful and simple lunch to help us re-fuel.
I used Anne’s Organic Mac and Cheese sauce, but I fixed it with whole wheat pasta. I had about 1.5 serving. Plus, some steamed broc on the side. Yum!
- Duration: 3 hours, 30 minutes
- Distance: 40 miles
- Calories Burned: 1,500 – 1,600 (estimate)
Time to EAT SOME MORE!
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I just got back from my 40 mile ride! We saw turtles too, but thankfully NO Gators!!
I have learned that a 40 mile bike ride HURTS if you don’t have bike shorts! So glad you had a good ride
Congrats, you’re such a trooper! Uh, I’d WIG OUT if I saw that gator, whoaaa.
P.S. You and Kelly look oddly alike to me; so weird!
Isn’t today another good day for a blizzard from DQ?
Seriously though, awesome job, and neat pics!
AW baby turtles!!!! I wish I saw those out in the “wild” more. How adorable.
congrats on your awesome ride girlie
!!
Love the animal shots!! What an awesome place to ride!! Great job today, you are gonna rock your bike race!!
That’s a lot of goo!
The baby turtle is so cute! Since I’m not supposed to run, you’re making me want to bust out my bike!!
Damn chickadee…you rocked that bike ride! i totally wish i could have done that!!!
woweeeeee thats a huge distance! good for you two!! exercising is always more fun with a friend
you will rock the metric century. i’m glad you’ve found a new thing that is easier on your joints yet still pushes you physically. you’re so great !!
woweeeeee thats a huge distance! good for you two!! exercising is always more fun with a friend
you will rock the metric century. i’m glad you’ve found a new thing that is easier on your joints yet still pushes you physically. you’re so great !!
You are definitely one majorrr weekend warrior Caitlin! Congrats on getting through that bike ride!! I’m sure it was tons of fun, but that distance is insane! Have fun re-fueling!
Looks like you are ready for the metric century! Great job out there.
Awesome job! I would be super nervous to see that huge gator!!! It seems kind of exciting, though! Much more than riding around a residential area!
You are a biking queen!! Your exercising ways are so inspirational to me! First running and now biking! I love your mac n cheese fuel after your hard workouts too!
Great job on the bike ride! And wow, that is a LONG time to be on a bike. You’re gonna do great in the Metric Century
That gator is HUGE! Wow! I’d probably freak out. And your mac and cheese looks so yummy!
Oh i missed reading your blog! It’s been a week but I have really missed the blog world!
40 miles is so amazing!! I have to say reading about your bike rides really makes me want to take it up as my cross-training exercise.
Great re-fuel!
I am so impressed with your biking! I know you will be ready for the Metric Century
My husband and I are talking about getting bikes now!
Caitlin, your bike race/tour will probably have snacks at rest stations along the way, so you should check that out beforehand, but if not, definitely pack some things! I've done a few bike races and tours of 20 miles, 30 miles, 35 miles, 45 miles, and 60 miles (by myself and also with my dad, so I love that you're doing this with your dad!) and they usually have pb&j sandwiches, bananas, granola bars, rice krispie treats, cookies (my dad digs into them!!!), brownies, water, gatorade, etc. I usually go with the pb&j and it has never let me down, but I actually find Gatorade makes me sick while biking/running. This is probably just a personal thing, but I stick to water because nothing is worse than feeling sick on mile 30 while you're by yourself. (My dad leaves me in the dust. Hopefully your dad is more loyal to YOU than his goal time!!) My dad really prefers to use Cytomax as his recovery beverage since it prevents leg cramping in his opinion more than Gatorade due to some of its special ingredients…you might want to check it out. You can buy a big tub of the powder, keep it in your bike bag or pocket of your bike jersey, and throw it in your water when you need it on the ride if you want to start with H20. I'm so excited that you're doing this!
By the way, I'm also a former runner who was derailed due to knee problems so I really, REALLY understand how bittersweet your time with Meghann yesterday was. I'm glad you can throw yourself into this activity (biking) but it's okay to mourn too. Don't feel like you're being too negative.
Congrats on doing 40 miles… and I’m from the Northeast so seeing gators sounds so exciting!
How exciting!! And that gator is HUGE! I love the gels, too. I think they are perfect for bike rides. When I tried to bring solid foods it felt like they didn’t digest all the way (it was trail mix).
Answering your question on my blog, I’ve never been to the Van Fleet State Trail- but I’d love to go!! Maybe we can do some long rides together after your race. Good luck!
You are SO going to kick ass at your race!!! You rock girl!! (PS I love turtles, so every time you find one I get excited to see them!)
sarah thank you for all that info! i hate gatorade too!
That's awesome! The longest ride I've ever done was 20 miles and *that* seemed long. I can't imagine doubling that!
Looks like you guys had tons of fun!
Yah for your long ride! My dad is the ultimate turtle saver on bike rides!
awesome job! 40 miles.. amazing! You are def going to ready for the bike race!!
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Mmmm what a great idea using Annie's cheese sauce with WW pasta… Too bad they don't sell the cheese sauce alone (or maybe they do?).
40 miles! Congrats… you'll rock the 64!
40 miles! I can't even imagine! You and Kelly look so much alike. I hope you enjoyed a great day of eating after burning that many calories.
I had soooo much fun today! I can't believe we went 40 miles! You are going to knock that 60 miles race out of the park. Tell Kristien I said thanks again! And thank you for letting me borrow the shorts and gloves and for feeding me! I was sooo hungry today! I ate about everything within arms reach. lol
Nice ride today!
I also prefer clif shots over other gels. They have the best taste as well and the best ingredients.
Talk about a ride! Great job
Looks like you had a great ride! I can’t wait to start doing longer distances. That trail looks amazing! I wish I could find something like that near me. Everything is so hilly! What time intervals did you fuel at?
spicy – my rule of thumb is to eat 50 – 100 calories for every 500 calories burned while exercising for a long duration. that it just what worked for me. but i normally just listen to my stomach cues.
That looks like a great ride! I need to dust off my bike and start getting some miles in again.
Congrats to Kelly for another PDR!
[...] old ones were “borrowed” from Caitlin when I first met her and we went on a 40 mile bike ride. I guess I forgot to ever give them back. [...]