This past weekend I participated in the AV200 (AIDS Vaccine) ride out of Atlanta. It's two days of back to back Centuries riding from Emory University to Rock Eagle State Park (and back the next day). I raised $1,025 for HIV vaccine research and the group raised over $160,000! www.actioncycling.org Prior to this weekend, my longest training ride to date was 72 miles and I was REALLY tired at the end of it, so completing over 100 miles was still intimidating. I started trianing in February getting one long ride in a week and I was nervous going into the weekend as to if I'd be able to complete the full ride, but was prepared to give it my all. Biking is my worst of the 3 disciplines which doesn't help any. So here's the report: Day 1: 106 miles. Woot! Woot! It was a great day, overcast and not too hot. Started at 7:30 am, arrived around 3:30 – 4 pm (not certain). 7:03:00 of actual riding time (15 mph). There were stops every 12 to 20 miles. I was good all day until after the stop at 72 miles…which I then hit a wall at about 85 miles. I had been eating very well all day, but think I must have not gotten enough at the last stop for that late in the day…probably should have eaten a bit more at that stop. The next stop was at mile 93…and this 20 mile stretch was also one of the longest lengths between stops. Then it started to rain at mile 90, but luckily got to the stop at 93 before the heavy stuff came down. I rested there and took a bit of extra time to let the heavy storm pass by and eat a ton of chocolate, energy bars, energy gel, fruit and whatnot. Was able to make the last 12 or so without struggling too bad to complete the day. I think I did a great job for the most part of staying hydrated and eating along the way. And completed the full 106 miles! Day 2: 62 miles. / I left at 7:00 am to get an early start to be able to take my time and not overexert myself too early…as they were staggering the starts to try and get everyone to finish as close to the same time as possible. I was good until about mile 45 when my left knee started to hurt whenever I had to get out of the saddle and pedal hard. I made it to the next stop at mile 50 and decided to keep going on to the lunch stop at mile 60. It started to rain again, and there were a number of hills between these stops and every time I had to get up off the saddle, my knee started to hurt more and more. Midway through lunch I made the decision to throw in the towel and get SAG’d back to the finish instead of risking any sort of serious injury…especially since I’m already nursing a shoulder back to health. The last thing I wanted was to not be able to run or bike in addition to already not being able to swim - so I feel like i made the smart decision. I averaged about 14.5 mph or so for the second day. I was a bit disappointed that I didn’t finish, but I’m very proud nonetheless that I did 168 miles in 2 days. I plan to try to do the ride again next year…I’d really like to finish the entire thing. I definitely could have done a bit more training (more than one ride a week). I hope to keep up the biking this summer which hopefully will help me keep a base. My knee is feeling fine now, though my legs are still recovering so I havent' done any running or biking since Sunday to see if it hurts. (Stairs are a b!tch right now! lol but that's due to my muscles being TIRED!) So I think no damage was really done to my knee, may have just been overworked. Wow. 168 miles.

200mi in 2 days? That's insane. You should go join those insane people that do tri... um, never mind.

I delt with a badly torn rotator for years. I was not good about taking care of it until I eventually caused a labrum tear......bad deal. An impingement will lead to a tear if you do not take care of it. Get friendly with the ice paks ! When it hurts, back off. The surgery sucks !