Sunday morning, we met at 7:30 in the parking lot of the Optimist Foot Ball Field. By 8:00 we were on our bikes and heading down the road. Brad, Joe, Allison, Anna and me. Julie was there as well with the Sag Wagon, all decorated and painted with all of our names on it. It looked SO cool!
We got good and warmed up and headed on our first of two loops. This is a link to the map that will show you what we did if you are interested: http://www.mapmyride.com/route/us/id/garden%20city/278128409810917846
Julie played leapfrog with us by passing us in the van, then sitting and waiting. As we would get close by, she would cheer for and encourage us. We’d keep going and next thing we knew, she was passing us again, music playing and cheering us on, then she would find a place to sit and wait for us again. Warm Springs was a nice quiet road, and then we turned onto Hwy 21 towards Columbia Village. This hill wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. We got to the top and fueled up with red potatoes and salt, among other things and then kept going. We were making great time and headed down Federal Way. Those hills are really fun going down. We found our way through town back to Hill Road. Next stop would be the Chevron Station at Beacon Light and Hwy 55. By this time, I was ready to shed my leg and arm warmers. We fueled up again and headed North on Hwy 55. This is the part of the route that had me a little terrified. Knowing the road is a 7% grade was a little daunting, but we headed out anyway. Here I started remembering that a lot of cycling is mind games, and I was concerned that I was too late and had psyched myself out. We were going along the flat area before the first hill, Anne and I were talking, when I noticed a snake on the side of the road. We were riding side by side, and Anne was closest to the still laying creature, when, just as she got beside it, it started wriggling and squirming and was trying to make it’s way off the road. I think she scared it. Of course, as you’ve seen in my other postings, that I don’t like snakes, so it gave me a start, too, and of course, the heebie jeebies.
We arrived at “the hill” at last. I told Anne that I’m a slow climber so feel free to go on ahead of me if she wanted to. Pretty soon, she did pass me up. Then Brad passed me up. Julie was driving circles around us-going up the hill, finding a place to turn around and coming down the hill, finding a place to turn around and going up the hill. It was always encouraging to see her come, because I my speed was about 4 mph, and it made me remember that I wasn’t out there alone. At one point, I was by myself and I heard “GO TEAM” from an oncoming car. I don’t know who it was-maybe it was Julie? Maybe it was someone else, but that encouraged me. At some point on this hill a flash caught my eye. It was blue, so I looked around to see where the light came from. My first thought was that a police officer had pulled someone over. My second thought was that a police officer was pulling me over. Yeah-right, I thought to myself. Pulling me over for going a blazing speed of, what? 3.7mph? I looked around and didn’t see a police car, but found the flashing was on my bike. Curiously (and cautiously), as I kept pedaling, I leaned forward and looked at my right gears/breaks and saw another flash. This one was white. That’s weird. I didn’t know I had blinking lights on my bike. I kept pedaling and every once-in-awhile, the flashing caught my attention so I kept leaning over, trying to figure out what it was. (It also made me think of the song “Fireflies”.) It finally dawned on me that the sun was hitting a reflector on my bike and was causing this one area of my bike to reflect the light from the reflector. Well, it kept my mind off of pedaling up the hill for a little while anyway.
A little bit further up the hill, I was feeling my muscles burn and on the edge of cramping. I was also to a point in my mind where I was pretty well convinced that I wouldn’t make it up the hill without the help of the SAG wagon. I saw that Julie had pulled over and was waiting for me so I stopped for a break. As I pulled over, the realization hit me, too, that I had bonked and needed food and water. I gulped down half of a water bottle, and tried to eat a bit of sandwich. One bite and my throat tightened up so that I was having a hard time breathing, and I just about threw up. I stretched out a little bit and ate a shot block (energy booster), drank a little more and started feeling better. I was looking up the road thinking that I was “just about to the top-that HAD to be the top-and if it indeed WAS the top, I was going to make it,” when a familiar car showed up. It was my Mom and Dad (along with Molly-my pooch). I chatted with them for a minute and then started riding again. At this point, the shot block had kicked in and all of a sudden, I felt like the rest of the hill was a little easier. Amazing what happens when there is energy in the system. I had two corners to round, and just before the second one, I saw Allison heading back down looking for me. (THANK YOU ALLISON!) As soon as I got to her, she crossed the road and followed me the rest of the way to the turn off to Old Hwy 55. We all stood there while I did a little recovery and talked and cheered, and of course, we all posed for pictures.
Next is the fun part, though a little scary. We headed down-hill on Old Hwy 55, you know, where you can actually see bread loaf rock. We rounded a corner and came across a couple of “spectators” that nearly made me jump out of my skin. A huge bull on the very edge of the road on my left, and a huge bull a little ways off of the road on the right. The one on the left was watching us as we passed. As soon as I passed, the one on the left crossed the road behind me. Whew! No big deal. After that, we got to a part of the road that is not maintained, so we had to watch for and dodge potholes-some not easily seen. There was one area where we had to get off and walk-but only for about 20 feet. There were also a couple of tricky maneuver points where we had to pay attention. Then to chip sealed road that made every bone in my body reverberate by the time we got to where old and new Hwy 55’s intersect. We were to the bottom of the hill-nearly. We made it through Horseshoe Bend and up to the gas station at the head of Hwy 52 and took a break to fuel, use the restroom, etc.
The next portion of the trip was pretty uneventful. It was a nice part of the trip that followed a river on a gently curving road. A few mild climbs and a couple of steeper declines. People were playing volleyball by the river and having a picnic. We stopped at Black Canyon Park and rested in the shade. My feet were screaming at me-I think my shoes were too tight, so I took them off for a few minutes and sat in the grass. Then I decided to walk down to where Julie was so that I could re-fill my water bottle and eat. I decided to walk because I knew that my bum needed a break from the bike seat and couldn’t bear the thought of getting back on right then. When I got back to my bike, I started lifting up my leg to get on my bike and it just flopped back down to the ground. I had to laugh when I realized what I had done. Brad looked at me and laughed-then said, “Come on! Break over-let’s go.” I did it again, and finally got enough momentum to get back on the bike. By this time, we were at about 73 miles. We were about 7 miles outside of Emmett where we were going to stop at another gas station to use the facilities and re-fuel for the final climb of Old Freeze Out Rd.
Break over in Emmett-here we go. I was feeling really good at the end of this break, thinking, “I can conquer this hill!” I had that feeling until we started up a small incline that wasn’t even “THE HILL” yet. Then my legs started screaming at me, but I kept on pedaling. I made it to the top with Julie following close behind and everyone was waiting there for me. Once we got onto Hwy 16, Brad and Joe wanted to draft and asked if anyone else wanted to be a part of the pace line. I said yes, so I jumped in line at the back. Brad let me know that if they were going to fast to shout out. There came a point when I noticed that we were going a little over 19mph and I was starting to fall off of the pace line. I said that I thought 19 was tops for me right now. Joe and Brad slowed down a bit and we started descending a bit. I could feel that we were going pretty fast, and I was keeping up pretty easily. Going up hills, I was focused on keeping up, and then going down small declines, I still was keeping up pretty well. I heard Joe say something, but couldn’t make it out. Then I heard Brad say, “She lied”. Apparently, we were going about 25 mph and I was keeping up without any problem, so he was saying, jokingly, that I lied about 19 being tops for me.
As we were moving along, I heard a truck horn, looked up and it was my sister. She started driving circles around us, as did Julie. Before we got to Hwy 16 and Beacon Light, I told Brad and Joe, “It looks like a party on the corner.” Sure enough, everyone was standing there, waiting for us to cheer us on. We rounded the corner and kept on going with their cheers in our ears. By this point, we are at about 93 miles. Just keep pedaling. Just keep pedaling. At about 95 miles, I had to stop because my feet were screaming again. I loosened them up again and Julie pulled up, handed us some water and then went to the finish line to wait for us.
About mile 98 or 99, we had to stop for a stoplight. I came to a wobbly stop and just about didn’t get unclipped. I told Brad, “I’m getting dangerous.” So he asked if I wanted him behind me to watch me or in front of me to help pull me. I decided in front of me. Mile 100+, we made it to the finish line, everyone cheering. Mom came up to me and handed me a milkshake (just the perfect remedy), and we all sat and talked for a little while before going to dinner.
Today I slept in, walked around very slowly, had a 2-hour massage which woke up all of my aching muscles. I think they were in denial before the massage, but afterwards, reality kicked in. Epsom Salt baths and ibuprofen are fantastic cures for sore muscles. A little ice cream helps too.
100.63 miles, 7 hours 26 minutes. 13.8 mph Average Speed. 36 mph Max Speed Total Miles on my bike: 777.2.
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