Today was a day to exhibit control. We started out with a cold morning again and had 84 miles on the docket with just under 4000 feet of elevation gain. While today was on all of our minds, tomorrow and Sunday were even more prevalent. What we did today would contribute to how the harder coming two days would be. We made a point of going relatively easy.

I was very relieved when I woke up on day forty-one as my body was ready for a rest after back-to-back century rides. The additional bonus was the proximity of the hotel to everything in Corning. Nothing seemed to be more than a 15-minute walk from wherever you were. This was going to make it a great day for getting out and exploring but also finding decent coffee, going to the museum and also my massage scheduled for the afternoon.

Today was another 101-mile day wrought with climbs and hills. There were, however, also some nice descents and an overall downhill after about mile 70. We were talking today about how we are managing to knock out 100-mile rides like they are nothing. It continues to astound me the power of the body and the mind.

Day thirty-nine brought, guess what? More climbing and more hills! But somehow it all seemed manageable over just under 100 miles. I’ve said it before on this ride, but I’ll say it again – the strength of the human body and mind are incredible. I’d never have thought that I’d be able to ride these long distances day after day and still have the stamina and mindset to get up the next day and do it all over again. Of course, we are cautious about how we ride ensuring that we don’t attack every hill looking for the King or Queen of the Mountain, and we don’t push ourselves to the point of exhaustion daily. This is slightly different for every rider, but everyone rides every day knowing that there is another ride tomorrow. A few days back, when we had a shorter day of 60 miles the next day, I was a little more willing to attack the few climbs we had the day before knowing that I wasn’t going to have to ride as long the next day. Today, however, wasn’t one of those days with another 100 miler tomorrow and then another 100-miler following the rest day on Tuesday. The remaining days are also hilly and wrought with climbs meaning that we have to be somewhat mindful that there is a next day to ride.

Today marked day 36 of our ride meaning we have 10 rides left before reaching the coast of Portland, Maine on October 6. It’s somewhat hard to believe that we have come this far. We still have hard days ahead, but we are all mindful that they are no harder than the days we’ve ridden thus far, and we feel that much stronger today than we did 36 days ago.

Someone asked me my least favorite part of this ride, and I couldn’t think of anything that I didn’t like… with one exception. I find the end of every ride somewhat difficult. Depending on the day, sometimes it’s the last 30 miles, sometimes the last 20 and sometimes the last 10 or even 5. I find that counting down rather than counting up is better on the mind. I’ve referred to this in other posts. What I realized today is that we are at that point where we are counting down the days – not up. I continue to count how many days we’ve ridden, but I’m far more focused on how many days we have left.

Change can be a good thing – or it can set you slightly off kilter. Day thirty-three was a day of change that was welcome but also set us slightly off kilter. 

The day started with breakfast at seven which is usually a little challenging because those of us who are early-risers are hungry by the time seven in the morning rolls around. The service in the restaurant was slow, but the latte was good making the waiting worthwhile. Everything else about the day would be structured slightly differently than usual.