Celeste, Shannon and I rode Fitzhugh today, 53 miles of some beautiful scenery and awesome hills. It was my 2nd longest bike ride, after Shiner. Shannon apparently rode hard yesterday so he joined for a 53 mile, hilly, head-windy, Fitzhugh recovery ride. (Oxymoron?) Anyway, it was a gorgeous day, we got a somewhat late start with wheels rolling just before 10 am. Somewhere around mile 12 I was regretting the breakfast taco, and last night's sushi. At mile 16, I realized I was nursing a baby bonk. By the time we got to the Exxon station, I wanted nothing more than to curl up in the sun, laying on a bag of seed corn, and read whatever magazines were available until Celeste and Shannon finished this ride and came back for me.
True friends that they are, they fed me and gave me fluids and got stuff to prevent future bonks and off we went! We had a beautiful rest of the ride. It was sunny, still windy but a good piece of that was tailwind. We saw buzzards, longhorn cattle, sheep, goats, Shannon saw a roadrunner, and we also saw our fair share of dogs (most of whom were behind fences). We did proactive bonk management (it was a group effort!) to prevent any more and it worked. I was fatigued and had lots cramping but it felt so good to finish. Even though we got dropped by the most fit grampa on a road bike I've ever seen on those switchbacks coming out of the river valley.
We finished in a big headwind, with me in the princess chair humming the themesong from Chariots of Fire. Yeah, that one.
Shannon, I hope you will blog about today's ride ... I would love to hear your perspective!!!
I can barely keep my eyes open tonight and am currently icing my girl parts, but I count today as a big victory for my first Fitzhugh ride and Celeste's longest ride post-surgery. And Shannon was a total trooper through it all - a victory for his patience and his sense of humor.
Yea girls on pink bikes!! And men on black ones! Breaking through barriers ... everytime we ride!!!
Anna
