Photos from the ride day are finally available!
I rode downtown with my neighbors.
Breakfast was provided by Whole Foods and Kaldi's Coffee. I had yogurt made from coconut milk, granola, a banana, and almond butter that had been sweetened with honey. That was all quite good. Kaldi's hit it out of the park with their coffee the night before, but the stuff they served the day of the ride tasted like it had been sitting getting reheated and reheated until it was burnt. Yucky stuff. I've been to Kaldi's shop several times, and they are capable of way better than what they were serving on this day.
Finish line photo
My stats for the ride:
Finish time = 1:24:44, 94th overall out of 1,668 fifteen mile riders and 33rd out of 806 females.
Not bad. This wasn't a race, but I did want to finish at a reasonable time. My goals were to finish at least in the middle and to stay on the bike - no walking the bike up hills or stopping for frequent breaks. I stopped once just over halfway through the route, and I stayed on the bike. I had my bike computer with me, measuring my speed and distance. When I crossed the finish line it read 16.2 miles. I don't know if the route wasn't quite 15 miles, or if I got off the route inadvertently for a bit. I had reset the computer right before the ride, and I tried to stay with other cyclists. Oh well. I felt like I could have ridden longer anyway.
It was a little before 11 AM when I finished, and James was there with the kids. I changed clothes, and we ate lunch. Sugarfire BBQ provided the food, and it was fabulous.
James had trouble finding a place to park when he arrived, and he ended up parking in front of a Hooters that was several blocks away from the finish line. I decided to ride my bike back to the car and get it loaded up while he walked with kids. I needed to use the restroom before we drove home, but I didn't want to use a Port-A-John again. Those are nasty, nasty places. So, I went in Hooters just to use the bathroom. I had never been in a Hooters before, but I knew that it would be way cleaner than a Port-A-John.
Samuel has been playing with my finisher's medal. He will pick it up and say "I go bike race." Makes me smile. I hopes he love it as he grows up. Last Saturday, there was a new section of highway opened up for pedestrians and cyclists. Just four miles there, four miles back. Easy peasy. We decided to take the kids with us in the bike trailer. What I didn't account for was the 27 MPH headwinds. Oh my word. James had the kids hitched to his bike when we got started. He lasted about half a mile, then I took them. I didn't make it far with them either. James decided to take the kids back to the car and go to the library while I finished my ride. That was the most awful, difficult 4 miles of riding followed by 4 miles of fast, fun, easy riding.
Well, look at you! Hats off to you for such an accomplishment! I probably couldn't bike from here to Mary K's and Carl without dying. :o)) Keep up the good work!
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