Saturday was my second century ride in the last two weeks. Depending on what Coach K puts on my workout calendar, it may be my last
until Vineman. The ride we did Saturday was called the Tour Delle Vigne (formerly the Sunrise Century) and it was one of the better organized and supported cycling events I have completed. I actually saw SAG vehicles out on the course and the rest stops had plenty of fresh food choices and treats, and lots of friendly volunteers.
Time to Ride
Time to Ride
HS and I got a bit of a late start and didn’t arrive at BareRanch until about 6:30am. This proved to be perfect timing because four of my
co-workers had also just arrived. HS said “Good, you can ride with Eric”. I
tried telling him that Eric wouldn’t want to ride with me because I was too
slow, but he wasn’t having any of it. So, once everyone had checked in and had
their gear ready, the six of us headed out as a group. HS announced “Tri bikes in
the front”…and that was the last I saw of him until the rest stop in Clements.
The Clements rest stop was located at the fire station. After I had finished eating and was getting ready to go, HS and his group rolled in. We talked briefly and I got a quick kiss. He was having a good time with his group and said they were taking it easy. We said good-bye and then I hit the road again for the climb around Lake Camanche. One thought kept crossing my mind as I rode away from the rest stop...what is more anxiety producing...riding 100 miles in hills or knowing your husband is riding with your boss for 6+ hours and you aren't there to monitor the conversation? LOL
Squirrel!
After the climb up Stony Creek, Eric and I stopped at the water station to refill our bottles. As we were standing there, a rider approached and flew past us up the next hill. I looked at Eric and said "I think that was Bob." (aka Coach K). Eric decided to try and chase him down to see if it was. I got back on my bike and figured I would meet up with Eric somewhere down the road...I really doubted he was going to catch him unless Coach K decided to stop riding, got a flat, or decided to double back and do Stony Creek again just for giggles. Watching Eric take off to chase him down was almost as fun as watching my dogs chase squirrels... they never stop trying, the squirrel is just a bit too fast ;-)
Next Stop
The Clements rest stop was located at the fire station. After I had finished eating and was getting ready to go, HS and his group rolled in. We talked briefly and I got a quick kiss. He was having a good time with his group and said they were taking it easy. We said good-bye and then I hit the road again for the climb around Lake Camanche. One thought kept crossing my mind as I rode away from the rest stop...what is more anxiety producing...riding 100 miles in hills or knowing your husband is riding with your boss for 6+ hours and you aren't there to monitor the conversation? LOL
Squirrel!
After the climb up Stony Creek, Eric and I stopped at the water station to refill our bottles. As we were standing there, a rider approached and flew past us up the next hill. I looked at Eric and said "I think that was Bob." (aka Coach K). Eric decided to try and chase him down to see if it was. I got back on my bike and figured I would meet up with Eric somewhere down the road...I really doubted he was going to catch him unless Coach K decided to stop riding, got a flat, or decided to double back and do Stony Creek again just for giggles. Watching Eric take off to chase him down was almost as fun as watching my dogs chase squirrels... they never stop trying, the squirrel is just a bit too fast ;-)
Next Stop
I saw HS and his group again at the rest stop in Wallace. His group had made up some time and only seemed to be about 10 minutes behind us. I was happy to see him again and to see that everyone was doing well. We chatted a bit but it was time to keep moving.
Before we left, I hemmed and hawed about whether or not to use the porta-potty but finally decided it was best to go when I could. To my horror, just about every surface in the porta-potty was wet! WTH??? Obviously there were more male riders than females. I covered the seat with a couple of layers of toilet paper but had no intention of sitting down. The TP was merely to keep a layer of something between me and the grossness.
Now at this point, most people won't think anything about hovering over the seat. I'm sure 99.99% of all women hover in these blue boxes of filth. However, after just completing the hilliest section of the ride, my legs weren't entirely up to the task. As I was squatting my legs started to shake. Apparently I had to go worse than I thought because I couldn't stop going. I started to worry that my quads were going to give out and that I was going to fall back on to the seat. OMG! STOP PEEING!!!! Stop! Stop! Stop!
Thankfully, I remained upright and dry. When I later recounted the incident to HS he remarked "That's how sh*t ends up on the seat" ha ha ha ha Well, I wasn't going No. 2, but I may have contributed to the wetness issue ;-)
Where Are You Guys?
I finished my ride around 2pm and decided to wait to until the entire group was back before I ate. So I waited...and waited...and waited. I took a little recon ride back out on the course to see if I could meet up with them, but didn't see them. At this point, it had been about an hour and fifteen minutes since I finished and I was starting to get worried...at both of the rest stops where we saw them, they weren't that far behind us. Then I heard sirens and I was convinced that something horrible had happened.
Before we left, I hemmed and hawed about whether or not to use the porta-potty but finally decided it was best to go when I could. To my horror, just about every surface in the porta-potty was wet! WTH??? Obviously there were more male riders than females. I covered the seat with a couple of layers of toilet paper but had no intention of sitting down. The TP was merely to keep a layer of something between me and the grossness.
Now at this point, most people won't think anything about hovering over the seat. I'm sure 99.99% of all women hover in these blue boxes of filth. However, after just completing the hilliest section of the ride, my legs weren't entirely up to the task. As I was squatting my legs started to shake. Apparently I had to go worse than I thought because I couldn't stop going. I started to worry that my quads were going to give out and that I was going to fall back on to the seat. OMG! STOP PEEING!!!! Stop! Stop! Stop!
Thankfully, I remained upright and dry. When I later recounted the incident to HS he remarked "That's how sh*t ends up on the seat" ha ha ha ha Well, I wasn't going No. 2, but I may have contributed to the wetness issue ;-)
Where Are You Guys?
I finished my ride around 2pm and decided to wait to until the entire group was back before I ate. So I waited...and waited...and waited. I took a little recon ride back out on the course to see if I could meet up with them, but didn't see them. At this point, it had been about an hour and fifteen minutes since I finished and I was starting to get worried...at both of the rest stops where we saw them, they weren't that far behind us. Then I heard sirens and I was convinced that something horrible had happened.
About 10 minutes later, Even "Gun Show" got back and announced there had been an accident and that is what caused the delay. Thankfully, HS wasn't involved but Gun Show and my boss took quite a tumble. Both riders suffered cuts and scrapes, but were for the most part OK. Amazingly, this happened at around mile 54 and they got back on their bikes and finished the ride!
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| Enjoying a little post-ride wine and telling war stories about the accident :-) |
Gun Show was feeling bad, so he bought a bottle of wine to help ease the pain. Shortly after that, one of the volunteers checked in with us to see how we liked the event. We told him we really thought it was nice and then sort of joked about the accident. That little story was worth a complimentary bottle of Freakshow...Nice! I said the volunteers were friendly ;-)
Total Recall
I Last Wednesday I took my bike in for some recall work on the
mounting brackets for the aero bars. Unfortunately, the fix changed my position
on the bike and the arm rest ended up being an inch and a half farther out. The
bike shop told me to try it out on the century ride and let them know how it
felt.
Let me tell you…it felt horrible. It wasn’t bad at first, but as the miles added up, the pain in my neck and shoulders got worse. On top of that, the new position of the arm pads also affected the steering of the bike and things felt just a bit squirrelly.
Let me tell you…it felt horrible. It wasn’t bad at first, but as the miles added up, the pain in my neck and shoulders got worse. On top of that, the new position of the arm pads also affected the steering of the bike and things felt just a bit squirrelly.
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| You wouldn't think that 1-1/2" would make such a difference, but it did |
As I mentioned before, this was my second century ride in
two weeks. Two weeks ago felt nothing like this ride. On this ride, I kept trying to change
positions to see if the pain would get better, but nothing seemed to help. After I got back, I used the time waiting for HS to try and stretch out my neck. I hate the thought of doing Vineman on this bike and I really hope that #Specialized comes through with an acceptable fix :-(
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