This weekend, I rode 35 miles. It was very challenging; I couldn’t help but compare it to some of the other long rides I’ve completed.

I’ve ridden my road bike to Troy, ID and back multiple times. That’s about 50 miles. I’ve ridden to Garfield and then on to Colfax before returning home. That’s about 60 miles. I’ve ridden STP. Two 100 mile days. Those are all on roads. Roads are fast. But 100 miles is still a very long day.

On dirt, I tend to maintain much shorter distances. 15 miles is a long day. I’ve done that a few times. The legendary Lewis River #31 trail is about 15 miles. Ascending the southeast flank of Mt. St. Helens is a 9 mile round trip.

Until yesterday, my longest ride was 20 miles—a loop and a half of the “Round and Round” course. It would have been 30, if I didn’t blow out a tire.

But it’s not just distance. It’s all relative. A mile on my road bike is just a mile. It takes about 3 minutes on a good day, rarely will it take more than 6. Yesterday, at one point I was traveling at slower than a walking pace.

What’s 35 miles on Moscow Mountain? Easily, it’s “longer” than the 50 miles of paved trail between Pullman and Troy. It’s not as hard as four loops of Round and Round, but it is far far harder than two. Perhaps even 3. It’s hard to compare, because during RnR, I get 4 hour rests between 15 mile stints. Yesterday, the longest rest was lunch—about a half hour.

I still haven’t figured out how to explain what 35 miles on Moscow Mountain is like. All I can say is that I’ve done it once. Now that I have, I don’t need to do it again for a while.