Still at the Back of the Pack

When I trained with the run team, I was at the back of the pack and things haven't changed much now that I'm cycling and swimming.

Yesterday was my longest ride to date (an 80 miler) which was essentially the Vineman course. We started in Santa Rosa, rode to Guerneville, up past Healdsburg, to Geyersville and back to Santa Rosa. For awhile, I was riding with Honoree Captain Liz and Coach Sedonia, but we parted ways when I stopped for a potty break at a biker bar along the route. However, for being such a dive of a bar, the women's bathroom was extremely clean! I will have to remember this stop for future rides.

After the break, I rode with Jen Jay for a few miles before she pedaled off into the horizon. I was feeling pretty good until about mile 55 or so. At this point, my booty wasn't happy and my hands were getting numb. I took off my cycling gloves, which helped immensely, but every now and then the numbness would return. Fortunately I have an upcoming bike fit appointment with Rand, the bike fit guru at AriaVelo.

There were times when I wasn't sure I would complete the entire distance. Ironically it was not the two major hills that got to me, but the combination of a sore rear, numb hands and mental games. Sure, the views were picturesque and the weather was perfect, but at times I thought---

"this is an 80 mile ride and my actual event is 112 miles, holy crap....." Okay, its time to stop playing mind games and return to the breath...in breath, out breath, relax, quit ruminating about the distance......

It was at Chalk Hill (around mile 63) that I knew I would make it. A portion of Chalk Hill has a short, but slight steep incline, but after all the hill training our team has done (Mt. Diablo, Pig Farm, 3 Bears, Mt. Howell) it was definitely manageable. I was on Chalk Hill a few weeks ago when I did the Wine Country Metric Century (62 miles) and it seemed much easier, probably due to the shorter distance of the entire ride.

I saw Coach Mike at Chalk Hill and we rode together back to our starting point in Santa Rosa. I think I finished the ride about 1.5 hours after the speed demons on the team. Initially I was a little discouraged that I was so slow, but that thought left my mind quickly, when I realized that I accomplished my longest ride to date.