14 June 2008

I Feel Good!!










Yeah, that's right, cue the James Brown music, I feel awesome! Great ride this morning at the 30 mile CARTI Tour de Rock. Got to meet fellow blogger Annette and other great people from the Cabot Cruisers (Curtis, Jane, Joan, and a few others that senile me can't remember the names of). Awesome people all the way around.


Petra had a busy week so she didn't make it to the ride this morning, but met up with Gary and talked with him and his wife before the start. I really wanted to be able to ride to the first rest stop with Gary to catch up on things but they had the ride start segregated out, 62 milers in front, 50 milers next, and then the 30 milers. Just too many people in between us, I couldn't ever catch up to him before the ride split up. He did tell me beforehand that as a doctor he would recommend that I not do the ride but as a friend he knew how it was about wanting to do it. Even James had that worried frown going and kept warning me to be careful. You would think I was accident-prone or something ;-). It is nice knowing they care though.


It was a WET start, had been storming most of the night and driving down we were getting a lightning display. Ride start was delayed 30 minutes to let the rain move out but we still hit some showers within the first few miles. The trainer has helped me immensely on my pedal stroke and cadence rate while I was off the road, couldn't believe how great my legs felt. I was booking it on the first 1/3 trying to catch Gary at the stop but saw him leaving out while I was waiting in line at the porta-potty. All that rain, coffee, and hydrating really caught up with me, lol. I'm not sure if my computer is correct but I showed 13 miles in 48 minutes at that point (I reset the computer just after we got it out of the pickup so there was some mileage before the actual ride start). I also have experienced my first case of chafing thanks to getting soaked and a tick bite in a very sensitive place from last weekend's disc golf.


After just missing Gary I decided to wait on Annette and am I glad that I did. As I said before that's an awesome group of people and time just flew by. Oh, and the rest stops were fantastic, lots of fruit, 2 kinds of granola bars, pickles, gatorade, water, and energy drinks all handed out by very nice people that were having to work in the rain. Had a nice conversation with a guy on a Specialized mountain bike that was also doing the 30 miler. He is trying to get in shape for his son who is a runner and just graduated from high school. Very inspiring!! Oh, and did I mention that Annette has only been riding just over a month? There's no way I could've done a 30 miler in that amount of time, shoot it was kicking my butt doing a 12 mile ride at that point. Susan you're right, she is great to hang out with. I think we finished in 2 hours, 24 minutes (my computer was showing an average speed of 14.58 mph with 35 miles, includes the pre-ride and after-ride miles). Not bad at all considering that 6 weeks ago today I broke my right collarbone.

James did the 18 mile family ride, or at least he attempted to. The turn-off for the 18 mile route was blocked by a table and he missed it so ended up on the 8 mile route and going beyond it and taking a scenic ride up a bluff. He made it 80% of the way before having to walk it up to the crest. That is a steep incline he ended up on and he said he had his bike up to 40 mph before deciding to slow down on the way back. He said he wished he'd done the 30 miles afterwards but was afraid he'd slow me down too much. I wish he would've done the 30 miler too :-(

The rain and wet roads weren't so nice at times but boy did it make for a much pleasanter temperature this morning. After the cloud cover burnt off, it started heating up fast! And my shoulder, no problems at all until I tried to tried to change out of my wet clothes. I still have some problems when crossing my arms over my head when undressing, esp. jog bras



















This was in the goody bag, I was wishing I'd used it before the ride!!












Front of the t-shirt











Me and Annette at the finish line







My dirty, dirty backside










4 comments:

Kelownagurl said...

Hey, thanks for stopping my my blog! A couple of quick comments: 1st - Have you tried loosening your clipless pedals REALLY lose so you can unclip easier? Made a world of difference for me. 2nd - do you post on Team Estrogen? I'm there ALL the time, especially in OT:A. Find me! 3rd - I have trouble pulling jog bras over my head too. 4th - An easy way to cook steel cut oats is to put 1/4 cup oats and 1 cup BOILING water into a thermos before you go to bed, put on the lid, and leave on the counter overnight. I find they need 1 minute in the microwave to warm them up a bit and they're good to go. Easy to make, no watching, and easy to clean up!!

Good luck with the biking!

Arland said...

Glad you had a good time with Annette and the Cruisers! I hate that I missed getting to meet you but I was in the not as fun 62 mile group! Well, we had fun too but probably not as much as you guys. Good luck on your training and recovery.

Terry said...

I was wondering if your hubby was as active as you... I would love it if I could find someone to work out with....I seemed to making excuses alot lately, don't know what my problem is..Glad you had fun!!

Unknown said...

Terry you should have just heard the conversation between my husband and me when I read your comment. He said to tell you he's active for a truck driver!! He's the one that got me into bicycling (as well as trucking and motorcycles) but right now he's only riding short distances (12-20 miles), kayaks, disc golf, walks when I nag him, and he was running a little before a weightlifting injury sidelined him and he's not gotten back to it.