Early Sunday morning, I met up with 20 or so riders for the weekly Sports Basement Group Bike Ride. Our ride that morning took us from San Francisco over the Golden Gate Bridge through Sausalito to Mill Valley where we turned West and headed almost straight up to Four Corners. Crossing the Panoramic Highway at Four Corners, we headed down through Muir Woods to Muir Beach, then back up again on PCH for the second big climb of the ride to cross back over the Panoramic Highway a second time to get back to Sausalito and finally back home to San Francisco for 35 miles of good brisk riding.

I managed to finish, but just barely.

I didn’t really fuel up properly for the ride. I started the morning with a large bowl of Cheerios figuring that would be enough to get me through a moderate ride. I didn’t bother with any type of sports drink, snacks, or energy gels for the ride figuring a full Camelbak would carry me through the ride. Turns out a bowl of Cheerios will buy you about 25 miles of moderate tempo riding. That’s pretty good for one bowl of goodness, but for a 35 mile ride that creates some problems.

Next time, I’ll start with the Cheerios but continue with a something more substantial, and pack some Gatorade and a Clifbar. I also won’t ride on by Mike’s Bikes thinking, “hmmm… I’m running on empty… I could stop for 5 minutes and fuel up… no, I’ll keep riding.”