100s of thoughts ran through my head yesterday morning as I jumped out of bed and started getting ready for my first century ride. Before then, the furthest I’d ridden was 70 miles in a day, and I’d only done that one time! Of course I’ve been training a lot, but I still had nerves. Oddly the nerves were frequently overcome with excitement. Probably because I love riding my bike and I love my team – a group of people that I didn’t even know before signing up for this ride last summer. When I said goodbye to the team yesterday, I hugged them and told several I loved him and they responded the same. I mean, who knew it was possible that something like riding bikes can build such strong relationships in such a short amount of time?
Ok, sorry – I got a little mushy there. 🙂
Now let’s talk this huge ride. Holy. Cow. I mean, I knew it was going to be a serious ride to try and hit 100 miles, but shit. I didn’t think about the elevation. That’s TOTALLY my bad. I was the one planning the route after some advice from an avid cyclist. My goal was to prepare us for the couple of days that are 100 miles in California at AIDS/Lifecycle. However, those days don’t have the same amount of elevation that I wrapped into our route (it’s a bit less). #oops
Part of our group had to tap out at lunch and the rest of us kept going. I’m so glad we did, because the three of us that finished hadn’t ridden 100 miles before…until now! We did it – and we experienced it together.
Things we had to fight:
- Steep inclines
- Rednecks yelling things out the window
- Gears that don’t want to shift
- Flat tires
- Steep hills
- Wind
- The clock
I always say that pictures say a thousand words. So, check these out!
 I’ve got more pics I’ll add to this post later!!