Archives for May, 2013

Tour of Long Beach 31-Mile Ride Race Report

Posted on May 15, 2013 under Race | No Comment

tour of long beach

I actually registered for this race months before, but as it got closer and closer to race day, I still wasn’t sure if I was going to do this 31 mile bike ride. That’s the problem with signing up for a race so far in advanced, you never know what plans you’ll have until a few weeks before. But at the end of the day, I was able to do the race and attend the other commitments I had afterwards. And since there was a chance I was going to do this ride, I prepared as much as I could for it. The weekend before, I completed an 18 mile ride so 31 would not feel as bad. In between those rides, I was still running as often as possible as well as working out at the gym. The race wasn’t even timed, since it was a ‘tour’ of the city. But I like to time everything, so here are my unofficial results: 30.42 mi, 1:49:46 (16.6 mph). The course was very straight forward, basically a giant square around the downtown area, which consisted of four terrains: dedicated bike path along the Los Angeles River (didn’t know this existed, not like the typical river you expect), backside city streets, down a similar dedicated bike path along the San Gabriel River (again, did not know this existed), and finish up along the Long Beach boardwalk. The problem I had when I did the 40 mile bike ride a few months ago was that because it was a smaller race, I ended up riding along for a lot of the race. This time, because of the big turnout, I always had someone to ride with and never worried about going the wrong way. The problem with these tours and fun rides is that I’m not really competing against others, it’s more casual to them. Then again, I don’t think I’d be prepared to really compete in a real bike race, I mean I don’t even own the proper gear (I wear basketball shorts, running tech tee and sneakers with my toe clips).  Read the rest of this entry »

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