i MUST be stronger!!

Wanna know how I know? Well, I'm sure, because today's Ride for Heart didn't kill me! What doesn't kill you, makes you stronger, right? Seriously, I hope that's the 'worst' ride I'll ever have to do. Ever!

And before I recap everything from today, I don't mean worst because of the event, or the organization. In fact, I have nothing but positive things to say about all of that!!

I checked the weather report one last time before heading to bed, and set my alarm clock for 4am, which was completely unnecessary, because I was awoken by the wind and rain at 3:25am. At that moment, I was hopeful, but sorta dreaded getting out of bed. Of course, I did anyway. I had been looking forward to this day for more than a year, maybe the rain would stop before the 6:45am start time. Or not.

Grabbed my usual breakfast, found an extra layer to wear. Under Armour Cold Gear tights to wear under my shorts, and a Cold Gear hooded long sleeved shirt for under my jersey, and a jacket over top. It is June, right? I got down to Exhibition Place, in the VIP parking lot at about 6:15am, rain coming down sideways, wind a pretty steady constant, with strong gusts just to make it 'interesting'. Hmmm, this'll be fun. I didn't pay attention to wind direction at that point, in hindsight, I think I'm glad I didn't.

I checked my bike, checked my bag, had a pre-race picture done, grabbed a drink and heard the announcement that the 75k riders should make their way to the start line.... collect my bike, and I was headed to the starting area. It was at this point that I realized that I had made a mistake already. I packed my full-finger gloves, and my shoe covers, but the rain had let up, so I decided not to bother. As I glanced around, comparing my clothing with other riders, I was already more layered than many riders, and I'm notorious for overdressing, (and later regretting it), so I decided to go as I was. Ah well.

Somewhere today, on one of their print-ads, I saw something along the lines of: We close down two major arteries of traffic, to open up many others. Being able to ride on two of the city's busiest highways is really want got me wanting to do this ride, before it became about much more than that.

As we started to roll forward, I realized that it was raining more than I thought it was, and much more windy, and as I watched the flags, realized that I'd be getting a strong cross and headwind for the first 30k. Lovely. Oh, did I mention that a good portion of the first 30k is a fairly steady climb, with some decent grades?

I stopped for the first time at the top of the climb, at approximately 30k, where I saw Ken, from my Tuesday night ride group! Until that moment, I had a fleeting thought of doing only the 50k route rather than the full 75k due to the conditions, but didn't want to be the first to say it. As we started to roll again, we had a reprieve from the wind, and were finally going downhill, my spirits picked up... slightly. 

We stopped again at 41k, where I snapped this quick pic. Notice the raindrops on my helmet and glasses? Hard to tell, but my jacket was soaked, and can you tell that I wasn't at my 'happiest-ever' moment? haha. I didn't even try to muster a smile.  Had I worn the shoe covers and full-finger gloves, maybe I wouldn't have been cold to the core. Chilled to the bone.

Time to turn around and repeat that climb... ugh. Pedal, pedal, pedal... huff, huff, puff.

The climb up for the second time didn't seem as bad, maybe I was already  numb, and having someone to ride with likely also helped  a bunch! Once again, stopped at the rest station for another banana, and realized it was downhill with a tailwind form here. SWEET! That part was fun... a little white knuckled at times though, hitting 50+k/hr on slick, wet roads, with riders going from side to side without paying any real attention to faster cyclists coming on their left.  Very pleased that the ride was without incident for me, although I did see a few that tipped over before unclipping, etc. Finally onto the westbound stretch of road, still windy being close to the water, but the homestretch. 

Then the finish. Loud music, awesome volunteers as we entered the party area.  Including rest stops, ride was done in a little over 3 hours. It wasn't a race, wasn't timed, other than by my Garmin, and considering the conditions, I'm pleased to have completed what I started.  

We had some food in the VIP area post ride, where Ken also admitted that he might have cut the route short too had he not met me at that rest stop. Picked up some goodies, and finally into my car to stiffen up drive home. 

Showered, then tried to nap, which was unsuccessful, but woke up to this. Mother Nature, you can be a real b!tch sometimes.

Once again, thank you from Terron and I for all the love and support!