I decided that for my qualifying ride, I would simply commute to work on my coker two days in a row. I usually drive about 28 miles down the highway to my job in a neighboring city, for a 56 mile (90 km) round trip. Of course, I wasn’t too keen to ride down I-95, so I opted to take old Route 1 instead, which actually cuts the round trip down to 85 km.
Phase 1: Richmond to Petersburg. I left home at 6:32am. It was about 45 degrees and overcast, the forecast called for light rain. I wore shorts and a short sleeve jersey. My experience with this temperature is that I end up shedding an outer layer fairly quickly, and though I felt cold at first, I hardly noticed it a couple miles down the road. The trip through downtown Richmond went well despite the rush hour traffic. Crossing the Lee bridge into Southside, I felt my first tinge of pain in my right hip flexor. Once I crossed the river I stopped to stretch a little and kept going, reaching Richmond city limits at 7:17am. I was hoping the traffic would let up once I left the city (or at least go the other way) but the frequency of passing cars stayed pretty steady until I reached the off ramp to 288, which was more or less my midpoint. From here on there was a series of rolling hills to cope with. I started to feel pain in both hips as well as my left ankle, and I was really wishing I had trained more for this ride. I reached Colonial Heights around 8:20, and things flattened out, though the traffic picked up again, which I was expecting as I neared Petersburg. If only there was a rating consideration for carbon monoxide content! I was feeling pretty exhausted by the time I hit Washington St. and could barely make it up the slight hill to the building where I work. I finished at 8:53am. I was met with the applause of my co-workers.
I didn’t get much work done that day. I started nodding off at my desk around 10:30am, and was getting migraine by noon. I was feeling a little disoriented and nauseous by early afternoon, and my boss offered to drive me home. I decided I was probably dehydrated, so I spent the rest of the day drinking copious amounts of water, and felt well enough by the end of the day to give the trip home a try. Knowing I’d have to deal with more rush hour traffic, I made a sign to put on my camel back that said “Hey, it beats $3.29 per gallon!”
Phase 2: Petersburg to Richmond. I left work at 4:39pm. Right away I knew it would be a hard trip. It was supposed to get into the 60’s, but it felt about as cold as the morning ride. The forecaster was right about the rain though, which came in a drizzle or mist on and off throughout the ride. I stopped for some camera batteries and a snickers bar at a 7-11 in Colonial Heights, and crossed into Chesterfield around 5:15pm. At 6:00pm, I reached the midway point, and stopped at another 7-11 to take a piss and grab another snickers. As I mounted to leave, my right calf cramped up for a second. I didn’t have to dismount, but it worried me since I still had at least another hour and half of riding to go, and dusk was coming quickly. Same thing happened when I stopped to get a picture at the Richmond city limit, with the addition of a spasm on the underside of my left foot. I finally made it home around 7:45pm, a few minutes before sunset. I decided to check and see if the light rain put my rating over 125 before considering going back out for a quick 2 km loop. Sure enough, with a conservative estimate of 16 km of light rain, I finished the day with a rating of 131.
My boss called that evening to make sure I got home safe and offered for me to take my time coming in the next morning.
4/9/2008
150
Phase 1: Richmond to Petersburg. This day the forecast didn’t call for any rain, though it looked and felt like the previous morning. I felt pretty sore. I couldn’t get out of doing an extra loop today, so I decided to ride 5 km up to Laburnum Ave. and around the block before starting the commute, partly to gauge if I should even try it, partly because I worried I wouldn’t have the energy or willpower to do the extra loop when I got back that evening. Taking my boss up on her offer, I hit the road at 7:13am, in no particular hurry. I reached the south end of Richmond city limits in an hour. Pain came back in the same places as I climbed and descended the rolling hills of Chesterfield. At one intersection, a car slowed down to let me go even though he had right of way. Usually I just wave and go ahead, but this time I had already slowed down to a stop and was hopping in place. The pain in my legs made it hard to hold this position, and I ended up yelling, “Come on!” perhaps more sharply than I meant to. The driver kind of flinched, then chuckled and sped away, allowing me to continue. I reached Colonial Heights around 9:30am, and was feeling a little hungry and dizzy, so I stopped at yet another 7-11 for some taquitos. One of my favorite things about unicycling is the ability to eat and ride; always seems to impress people too. I made it to work around 10:00am, feeling pretty sore, but definitely less exhausted than the day before.
No headache or nausea during work today, just really bad pain in my right hip flexor. Climbing the stairs to my office was pretty hard; I could barely lift my leg to change out of my cycling clothes. All my limping didn’t illicit much sympathy from my co-workers, who just gave me a "Well, what did you think would happen?" look.
Phase 2: Petersburg to Richmond. I left at 4:26pm. For the first time during this saga, the weather was really nice; about 65 degrees and sunny, with a light breeze. I actually felt pretty good, with minimal pain, even as I climbed the hill into Colonial Heights, north of the Appomattox River. Then, about 30 minutes later, I stopped for a picture by the Chesterfield line, and as I mounted the pain in my right leg came back pretty strong. It eased off though until about the midway point, where I decided to stop and rest for a while since I was making good time against the setting sun. I stopped at a convenience store for a slice of pizza and noticed that it hurt much more to walk than to ride. For the last half of the trip home, saddle soreness was more prominent than leg pain. I must have missed the Richmond city limit, but knew I was getting close to the James River when I smelled tobacco leaves (actually a sweet, pleasant scent) coming form the Phillip Morris factory. I made it home at 7:28pm.
All told, it made for a pretty interesting uni ride. Route 1 between Richmond and Petersburg is a mixed bag of shopping centers, Latino markets, car dealerships, and sketchy motels. It definitely doesn’t have the same appeal as, say, the C&O Canal; there’s usually only about three to six inches of shoulder to ride on, and the possums you see aren’t just playing dead. Still, it’s kind of nice to have people around to honk and cheer you on the whole way, and it was refreshing to slow down and get a 10 mph perspective on a world that usually goes unnoticed in the periphery.