Turkey Day Bonk

Why are distances always shorter in memory than real life? I set out this morning at 9 am with the intention of riding to Little Freezeout hill in Emmett, a ride I planned on taking about 2 hours. For some reason I thought the hill was a lot closer than it turned out to be... I enjoyed the ride out and decided to turn onto Little Freezeout instead of continuing on the highway into town. I descended to the bottom and immediately turned around to start the ride home. I soon realized that what I had thought would be an easy descent back to Beacon Light turned out to require a little more effort due to a strong sidewind. Since I had originally planned to only ride 2 hours I hadn't taken any food with me and had only water in my bottle. After 2 hours and with another 30 minutes ahead of me I knew that I would need to stop and buy something to eat. Unfortunately, the closest convenience store was in Eagle so the next 20 minutes saw my perceived extertion constantly increase while my heart rate started to drop. It's a funny thing looking back, seeing your heart rate at 115 yet feeling like you're giving it full gas. My speed started to decline from 20 to 19 to 18, 17, 16, 15 until I finally turned off of Beacon Light and started the descent down the hill into Eagle. Stopping at the first gas station, I bought a chocolate milk and package of mini donuts. Five minutes later I was on the road again and this time, instead of continuing to drop, my speed gradually increased. Not the best pre-Thanksgiving dinner meal I know but at least it got me home.

Tomorrow I'll remember to pack something to eat just in case my memory fails me again...