50 + 50

Guess what time of year it is! …no, seriously…GUESS! Or I’ll just give you the answer…

It’s 100 MILES OF NOWHERE TIME!!

Taken directly from Fat Cyclist’s website, here’s his description of the event:

“The 100 Miles of Nowhere is a race without a place. It’s an event in which hundreds of people participate . . . all by ourselves. (Or with a friend. Or with 20 friends.)

It’s a very strange thing where you pay $89.95 (plus shipping) for the privilege of riding your rollers, trainer, or a very small course (like around the block or up and down a hill) for 100 miles. And then the profits from your entry (i.e., $70 per entry) go to LiveStrong, which will turn around and give that same amount to Camp Kesem — camps all across the U.S. dedicated to giving kids of parents with cancer a week of carefree fun, at no cost to them.”

Lucky for me, Fat Cyclist also includes this little blurb about the event:

“And also, the “100 Miles” part is more of a guideline than a rule. For example, if you would rather ride 50 miles, that’s fine with me. So is 25.”

So I’m changing it up this year – instead of riding 100 road miles, I’m shooting for 50 single track miles!

The furthest I’ve gone EVER on a mountain bike was 35 miles.  (It was at the “Croom 35/50 Off Road Challenge” back in 2008…or maybe 2009…I can’t remember what year…and it took me over 5.5 hours to finish the distance.) I was totally spent at the end of that 5+ hours…so I’m already terrified about what 50 miles is going to feel like! 

Of course, Ryan will be riding with me again, but he’s a champ at long distance mountain biking.  And by “champ” I mean “he has completed several 50s and one 100 mile MTB ride already”.  I’ll be relying on him to motivate me through the miles!

We’re about 99% sure we’ll be riding the event at a park called “Santos” which is maintained  by the Ocala Mountain Bike Association.   Ryan has ridden at Santos many times (and swears it’s not as filled with Palmetto roots as the trails in the Tampa area.  He has a set of trails in mind that combine to create a “loop” of about 7 miles…or we can do a 3 or 4 mile loop a million times which would be more “true” to the 100MON theme.

Event Day is June 2nd…so we’ve got 4 training weekends left to get some miles on those knobby tires. 

There’s no turning back now – “50+50 Miles of Nowhere” HERE WE COME!