Let's hear it for Sport Beans

Rob and I rode out to the marina at Saltair yesterday. It was a really great ride. At the marina, there wasn't too much to see besides water, sailboats, the dingy Saltair building, and two bus loads of Chinese tourists. But there were spiders. Oh yes, spiders. I was rather amazed actually. There were THOUSANDS of these big fat spiders hanging out in webs on the rocks that separate the pier from the water. These pictures (click to enlarge) don't do it justice. Blame Rob, or Rob's cell phone, or both; or just blame it on the rain, yeah, yeah. But it was a bit creepy to see so many. I've never seen anything like that in Utah. It was more like something you'd see in the forests of the South or something.

I was quite surprised actually by how well it went. A few weeks back we did that 56 miler (see previous post), which was pretty tough. There was lots of climbing. It took us nearly 4 hours to complete, and I felt wasted afterwards. This route yesterday was totally flat, and 64 miles long. We did it in 3:28. So we rode much faster. That was the surprising part. We went 8 miles longer, but did it 30 minutes faster. Plus I felt way better after. Here's what I think made the difference:

• No hills. I ALWAYS train up on the benches, where there are tons of hills. My average speed up on the hills is 16-16.5 mph. Our average yesterday was 18.5 mph (including a bunch of stop lights). Which for me was pretty decent. I've never ridden a completely flat route before, so it was really cool to kind of gauge how we would do in the ULCER, given that it is a completely flat route as well. I would be very pleased, yea and verily, even ecstatic if I could keep 18.5 mph for the ULCER. That would have me finishing in 6 hours, plus stops. So around 7 hours.
  
• Tylenol and Ibuprofen. I took 2 Tylenol before the ride, and 2 Advil during. Then 2 more Tylenol after. It really made a big difference on the aches.
• Cliff Bars, Sport Beans, and PowerAde. Water is good, and critical for hydration, but isn't enough. It doesn't replace electrolytes and carbs that you burn while riding. I found these Sport Beans at Target the night before, and decided to give them a try. I must say I did enjoy them. They tasted good and seemed to provide the energy they touted. Oh sweet sport bean fruit punch goodness! I feel great today. I'm learning that eating is a huge part of these long rides. You constantly need to be drinking and munching on something.

So the count down is on. I have two weeks from Saturday for the race. Next week we are doing a 75 miler, which will be our last big one before the race. I'm feeling pretty good about the whole thing. I think it's going to go great.