7:30- I awake to a huge storm, complete with lighting, thunder, & tons of wind. Hmm... this may get interesting! Up & at it, getting gear together. Packed some foods for the day, & ate my breakfast of toasted whole-wheat english muffin & PB. Yummy! Got dressed in my new (and only) cycling jersey and my cycling shorts (which I need to upgrade!). Got a call saying someone was gonna pick up our packets & we would start the ride from a friends house down the road instead. Ummm... ok.
8:30- All ready to go but time to kill, so hit the potty & then go upload the bike. Get all my gear out & on. Garmin it ready to record my BIG moment.
9:00- Off we go, ok we're riding with traffic. I'm in the very back & cars could care less if the buzz by way to close. We finally make it onto some residential roads and things quite down. As soon as we get off the back streets where right make on a busy road and thankfully down hill. Up ahead I can see a huge group of riders from the tour and I decide to catch them as there going at a much faster pace than my group. My peeps stayed behind though.
9:20- I'm behind a guy & drafting for the very first time ever. WAY COOL! As I look down & my garmin to see some of the stats I realize I forgot to start it! CRAP! Ok, garmin started and I'll just have to forget those 20 min of my life. So far almost all the ride has been down hill or flat. Whoot! I'm a master of down hill!
--:-- Okay, I've lost track of time, and this fun adventure has lost some of it's glimmer. I don't see my friends behind me anymore. And the guy ahead of me has slowed WAY down, and the hill are killing us. I make a decision to pass the guy and go on alone. And the hills just keep coming. I make some crappy shifting decisions and ended up stalling mid-way up a steep hill. I had to un-clip & bail. Finish walking to the top. But it seemed to level out again and were are back to rolling hills.
As I came to a turn in the course I asked the volunteer if I had someone gotten in the "hilly option"?? Nope, this is the regular course. WTF! Serious? On I petal and downhill we go back into the town of Loveland. And it's time for our first water/rest stop (23 miles in). Thank heavens! After a pretty quick stop, and a nibble on a 1/4 of a PB&J, banana, & some water, off I go (I would come to regret not resting more). Back on the flat Loveland trail, it seemed to go on for miles. Wait, it did! lol! A pack of riders finally catch me, and I had road the first part with them. So I'm happy to see familiar faces and I at least know I'm going the right way.
11:30 (27 miles in)- I start slowing down and it gets hard to petal. A rub sound is coming from my back tire. DAMN! The hole I had hit about a 100 yards back, had blown my back tube. OH HELL! I was just happy to not wipe out when it hit that damn hole, I never even thought of the tire. I realize I'm in BIG trouble here. I had used my CO2 the other day, & didn't replace it. I don't have another tube. Or do I know how to change a tire, even if I did have the stuff! DOLT! Ok... keep walking & push the bike till ya pass another tour volunteer. No volunteers in sight. Finally a really nice guy wearing a "Cycle Sport" jersey stops & asked if I was ok. Hell no I'm not ok! I've got a flat, I'm hot, I'm ready to cry, and I still have 13 miles to go! While I'm standing there kinda dumbly, he grabs my bike, whips it to the ground, has the tire off, and apart in like 20 sec. And it finally sinks in, that he is asking me questions. No I don't have a tube, CO2, or know how to change I tire. He just smiles and says "it will be our secret! I'll have you back on the road in a couple minutes". Literally! As he hands me my bike back, I ask him how I can repay him, for at least the tube. He says "just let the bike shop know a member of there training team helped you out. And karma comes around... help someone else out someday." He parting words where "What are you gonna do when you get home?" Learn how to change a tire!!! I promise!
Off I go again, and that was the last of the flat riding I got to do.
12:00- The rest of the ride was pretty much straight up hill. And all of it began to blurr together. Sift, petal, push hard, keep going. Yuck it hot. Spray water onto body. Petal, petal, petal! Petal until I can't anymore, and then walk the bike the rest of the way up the hill.
1:10- I'm there!!! The end! food, water, rest, & shade! Wait... no shade, okay, well, I get to sit down anyways. I grabe some grub and try to eat. Food won't really go down, but I know I need it. Rest and chat a little. And then it sinks in. I just rode over 40 miles (yeah, they always sneak some miles in on ya) on the hottest day of the year! OMG!
