Day 4 of the LifeCycle was 98 miles but I added a 5 mile excursion because I wanted to do another century on my mountain bike. Today was more of a mental challenge than a physical one for me. The morning was beautiful but foggy and very cold. We got a glipse of beautiful sunshine at the summit but then had a long, cold descent into Cayucas. The first 50 miles was beautiful and great cycling, the second 50 miles was pretty dangerous conditions. The shoulders were narrow or non-existant and the traffic very heavy, not at all pleasant. From decades of bike commuting, I have come to rely heavily on my rearview mirror for safety. The entire second half of the day I had one eye glued on the traffic behind me which is very tiring for me. Most of the 2500 cyclists dont use a mirror, IMO they are crazy. There were many times I had to make instant safety decisions and ride in the glass, gravel, and junk ridden shoulder because I saw potentially dangerous situations of semi passing semi in opposite directions while they were passing me. A flat tire sucks but not nearly as bad as getting hit by a truck so in those situations, I move over regardless of shoulder condition. To stay alive as a cyclist, you have to know precisely whats going on behind you because its the car behind you that will kill you 95% of the time, not the car in front of you.
So yesterday I did an hour pushup and abs workout after the ride. Tomorrow is short (60 mi I think) so I will do a 90 min pullup, pushup and abs workout before starting the ride.