Eric signed up to ride in the 30 mile memorial ride right away. After giving it some thought, I asked him if he thought I could handle the ride as well. He was all for having me along with him. I signed up and was pretty excited to be doing my first ride and to be doing it for such a great cause.
Crystel was 29-years-old and was a pretty amazing young lady from everything I have read. She was kept on life support so that her organs could be donated to help seven other people. I'm saying it here and now, people, that my organs will be donated if I am ever so unfortunate as to be on life support.
Besides new running tights, I also bought a red shirt at Target last night. They didn't have any red shirts in the women's section, so I got a men's small. Red was Crystel's favorite color and we were supposed to wear red on the ride.
Front view of my riding outfit.
Side view. Do I like like a cyclist? A runner? I don't know, but I think I want to be both.
Weird shot of Eric. I'm sure he loves it when I post such flattering photos!
Before the ride.
Waiting to start.
I didn't know what to expect. I was a bit anxious but ready to get on the road. We hung back to let most people go ahead of us. I was wobbly and nervous at first, but once we made the first turn onto Ashlan I settled down a bit. I've never ridden with that many people all at once.
We rode way out into Sanger. I was feeling pretty good at the beginning of the ride. I was trying to soak up the morning. I had one of those moments where I was grateful to God for my life. I have my family, my health, and so many other blessings. I was reveling in the fact that I was out on a three hour bike ride with the love of my life on a gorgeous spring morning. Things don't get much better than that.
We came to the SAG stop. That basically means a place to rest, get snacks, and use the bathroom. We did all three.
Coasting in to the SAG stop. You can see small tents on the right side of the road. I am the rider on the far right with both my feet on the road. I love the view of the mountains in the distance. We got to see that view the whole first part of the ride.
We headed off again and were pretty far in the back of the pack at this point. There were some points where it felt like Eric and I were the only ones on the road. We couldn't see anyone in front or behind us.
Once we turned around, the ride got much tougher. There was a headwind that was pretty brisk. We ended up behind a small group on beach cruisers, and I was able to use them as a good excuse not to go any faster than 10 mph. I'm not sure I could have gone faster even if I had been able to get around them!
Two hours of riding is pretty rough, but I kept telling myself that it was for an amazing cause. My butt was (and is) so sore. Oh my goodness my glutes were aching! One other weird pain I had was my thumbs. They got tired being wrapped around my handle bars, so I needed to stretch them out every once in a while.
We got to about a mile from the finish point when Eric decided to stop because his bike had been making a weird noise for the past five miles or so. He didn't want to break a spoke, so he ended up putting his bike on the SAG vehicle and riding the last mile in the car. I kept going on my bike. I think I was the very last person to coast into the finish area. That's okay. I felt amazing (aside from being exhausted and sore).
After the ride. We volunteered to go back out to the half way point to load the porta potties into a truck so they would be off the side of the main road.
I stayed in the car. I wasn't much use in lifting porta potties into a truck bed!
Eric was bummed to not finish the entire ride, but it wasn't due to his physical ability. It was a mechanical issue beyond his control. I think he's pretty amazing!
I really enjoyed the speed and freedom of riding along the road. Who knows? Maybe I'll add cycling into my list of ways to exercise and stretch out of my comfort zone! I just know that I liked it.
And now I want a better bike!
1 comment:
You look really thin in that side shot, you go, girl!
That's so awesome that you both rode.
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