Boy did I overdo it yesterday!  I got it stuck in my head that I wanted to ride the entirety of the Jedidiah Smith Memorial Trail, usually referred to as the American River Trail, or ART.  It’s a paved trail that runs along the side of the American River from downtown Sacramento up to Folsom Lake.  Round trip comes in at around 65 miles, and there’s a pretty big climb up to Folsom Lake, I think it’s 350 or 400 foot vert.

Anyway, I had a good breakfast, packed some snacks, filled the water bottles, and headed off at about 10am.  Rode from home up to Folsom Lake where I ate one of my snacks.  I also filled up the water bottles.  It’s about 18 miles from home to there.  I was feeling a little tired, but otherwise ok.

Head off down the hill, through Folsom, and down to the William Pond area (about 20 miles from last stop).  I sat down there and had another snack, a bit of a rest, and topped off the water bottles yet again.  At this juncture I was feeling pretty tired, but thought I might have enough left in me to finish the ride.  I get pretty stubborn about stuff like this.  And after all, I had my phone and could call my wife to come pick me up.

Headed back out and rode down to Sacramento to Discovery Park.  I passed the mile ‘0’ marker, got to the bridge, turned around, and headed for the nearest break point.  I was really feeling tired by this point.  Topped off the water bottles, had another snack, and about a 15 minute break.  I figured I’d head home and see how it went.  I had about 16 miles to go.

So I started back and was feeling the effects of the heat.  I tried to keep drinking water, but I’m sure that by this point I was starting to get dehydrated.  I stopped off at the Howe Ave. overpass, there’s a water fountain there.  I was having trouble catching my breath and a bit dizzy.  But I only had 7 miles to go.  So I had a good drink and topped off again.

Back on the bike and riding.  I passed the Watt Ave. overpass and was less than 5 miles from home when I got really dizzy.  I crashed at a bench.  I was feeling really clumsy, major loss of motor skills.  I couldn’t catch my breath, and thought I might pass out.  I was also feeling nauseous and was worried about throwing up.  It took a while for the dizziness to pass, and I drained another water bottle.  I rested about 40 minutes until I felt like I might be able to finish the ride and get home.

I climbed back up onto my bike and headed back up the path.  My pace was way down, to about 10 mph from the 15mph I had been riding.  All I wanted to do was take it easy and get home without throwing up.  It took a while, but I made it home. 

A nice cold shower, fruit juice, water, and several hours of rest got me feeling well enough to eat something for dinner.

End result, I finished the ride, but it was way more than I was ready for.  I need to work some longer rides into my schedule so that I can work up to trying this again.  I had the same sort of trouble on a ride when I started out, that was only a 25 miler.  So now it’s happening at 65 mi and I know I am getting stronger and have more endurance.  That’s a good thing!

I lost some weight on the ride too.  Got up this morning to read 180lbs on the scale.  I’m sure it’ll be back up to 182 or something tomorrow, I’ll just have to wait and see.