All I need is a track in the background

Yesterday was a day full of accomplishments and new records for me.
- My first time camping in Texas
- My longest ride ever (my first time riding over 28 miles).
- My longest athletic event ever (previously 5 hours, 18 minutes)
- My fastest speed on a bike (31.6 mph)
- Hit my maximum heart rate on my bike
- Finished a tough 65 mile leakey ride of death!!!

It wasn't easy. It took blood, sweat and tears.

Every time I talked to someone about the ride, it was described just a little bit differently. Even on the morning of the event, not many of us were sure what to expect. The biggest concern on my mind was the steep climb of 5 miles. I'd heard it was 15 miles from the finish, yet there were conflicting reports that the hill was at the beginning. I was pretty confident in doing the rest of the ride, but also fairly sure that the climb might be the cause of my own death. My two month old goal was to do at least 50 miles so that I could earn my helmet!

In preparation for the weekend, I bought new Hind arm warmers, a sweeet pair of blue cycling sunglasses and an REI sleeping bag designed for women! I used all three and they worked most excellently. We met Friday night to caravan over three hours to Leakey, Texas. (Pronounced lay-key) I was in the second car where Jay and I watched Oscar drive over a poor innocent opposum! We arrived, set up camp sites and sat around the campfire eating dinner and looking through our neat ride packets.

The craziest plan I heard that night was that we were going to start at 9am. Fortunately we didn't take off until 10:45. As it had been far too long since I'd been camping, I kept breakfast simple. I ate a plum and a Key Lime Pie Luna Bar and stayed far away from all the effort (and smell) of those athletes cooking more gourmet meals like eggs and bacon or canned salmon mixed with avacado.

The weather was foggy, misty and sometimes accompanied with a light drizzle. I was pretty proud of myself for not forgetting one thing. I wore shorts, tights, warm OC Tri club socks, a jersey, arm-warmers, my red Mizuno jacket, bike gloves, white Mizuno gloves over them and a headband (uh yep, Mizuno, too). I didn't mind dressing too heavily because Jay let me borrow his cool Camelbak with lots of pockets where I had room for 6 ClifShots, an almond Snickers, some Jolly Ranchers, a plastic bag sealed map of the route, a backup bike pump, cash, ID and lots of water. I also had one bottle of blue Gatorade. I didn't carry my camera because I was afraid it'd get wet and I didn't bring my cellphone because coverage was minimal and the battery had died the night before.

Just starting the ride was quite a lengthy process. Twenty-nine cyclists gathered up and rode down to the entrance where the office tried to figure out how to charge us for our stay. During that time, I practiced shifting my triple chainring. I was pretty thrilled when I was able to switch from the middle ring to the small ring and back without having to stop and readjust the chain. As much as I joke about how I have a pathetic bike, it was pretty cool hearing some people say they wish they had a triple for this ride. We left the park, and stopped at the road to wait for someone who got a flat back at the office. Then we rode until just before the hill and gathered together again. In the first few miles someone else had a flat! I was pretty impressed that everyone was patient enough to make sure we all rode together in the beginning and not leave anyone behind.

We continued and soon enough we encountered the hill. On the approach, I shifted into the small ring, but discovered that instead I was in the large one! Yikes! I stopped right next to Keith, our fantastic starting sag person and asked him to help me get it back into the small ring. We got it shifted correctly in place, and he gave me a starting push to go up the hill. Man, what a hill. Even with my apparent gear advantage, I was sooooo slow. Stathis got a flat halfway through the first hill, and Keith drove up to help. As I passed by they encouraged me as I pedalled by breathing so hard. I looked at my HRM and saw that my heart was beating just as hard as possible. How exciting! Even running hills, it's pretty rare to actually hit that. Eventually, I got to the point where I decided I'd do better just walking. Stathis passed me up with incredible speed considering the climb and so did Keith in the truck (and I turned him down when he offered a ride to the top). I could still see Richelle going not much faster in front of me, but as soon as she turned the first corner, it would be the last time I saw cyclists going in that direction. I kept walking, pretty happy that I was only slowed down to half the speed of what I was doing on my bike and I wasn't killing my legs. It wasn't a laid-back walk as my heart rate continued to maintain a nice beat in the 160-170 range. The ongoing, steep, killer hills were ridiculous. That must be why it was called the death ride.

At long last, I reached a downhill, so I got on my bike and started my descent, riding my brakes almost the whole way. The roads were wet, curvy and if I fell over the guard-rail, I'd be falling down a long ways. Although it was tough to see the tops of the hills and sometimes the bottom of the valleys, the view was gorgeous. Eventually the down hills became extremely steep and my hands and heart were worn out. My legs were shaking from all the adrenaline, and I hopped off my bike and began to walk down. I could hear the BSS guy telling me not to walk so much in my cleats, but a pair of new cleats was a small price to pay for my comfort. (Walking a mile or so in cleats is anything but comfortable.) On the way down, I saw a white cross and broken glass and other pieces nearby. There was the broken windshield of what looked like a motorcycle. So that must be why it was called the death ride.

I got back on my bike when the road improved and rode down and up some more. I tried switching between the small and middle chainring and the chain fell off. Ugh! Before the ride, Jay had handed me one of the WWJD? (What Would Jay Do?) bracelets he had ready to tormet people with during the ride, and I realized it was doing no good under my jacket sleeve, behind my HRM. So I put it on my other wrist and asked myself "What would Jay do?" Jay wouldn't cry. So I didn't. I knew I could fix this like I did during the AT ride, so I turned my bike over and fiddled with the chain til it was back in place. My pretty white Mizuno gloves that Phil had given me were instantly black with grease. Oh well, at least he gave me two pair!! I continued riding until halfway up another tough hill where I started walking again. Looking at my total distance and the time was incredibly depressing, so I tried not to think about it. Keith and another rider drove by in the other direction and asked me if I was okay. I said yes, but certainly didn't feel like I was doing great. Just how long was this ascent, anyway?

I rode downhill a little ways and then walked a little more. When the descent became more manageable, I attempted to get back on my bike, except I couldn't clip into my pedals. I cleaned out the rocks and dirt and grass from my brakes and the inside of the cleats, but they still wouldn't clip in!!! My WWJD reminded me to stay tough. I grabbed a small stick to help me make sure every little piece of dirt was out of my cleat and nearly cried when I still couldn't clip in. As I got my left foot clipped in, I lost my balance and fell right into the road. (I don't think that counts as falling off my bike, because I sure wasn't on my bike when I fell, and I was still connected to it on the ground.) Thanks to two layers of padding, my bike was damaged more than my arm, but there was still blood. Bracelet or not, there were frustrated tears in my eyes. I got off the road, in an upright position, and finally discovered that the cause of my problem was little rocks in my pedals! (I don't think this is a common problem with speedplays, but it can happen.) Finally, I was clipped in and on my way again. Even though the ride had been incredibly beyond my abilities at this point, at least I had learned something new about my bike, so it was already a successful ride.

There were a lot more down hills, a couple uphills, and I managed through them all. Sometimes the road in front of me would bend and climb before hiding behind two large hills. As I prepared myself for another great ascent, I'd discover it was all a trick and the uphill wasn't as bad as it appeared. On the way down, I saw a dead deer on the side of the road with two vultures feeding off it. So that's why it's called the death ride!

A few more miles and I had finished the first quarter of the ride in a little over two hours. Before stopping in at the grocery store, I rode by a cemetery full of dead people and wondered if that was why it was called the death ride. At the store, I bought 24oz of Gatorade and a real snickers (since the store yesterday only had almond) and hit the bathroom. I asked if any cyclists had been by, and the man said a big group of them had. I sat down on the bench outside the store and ate the Wallace Alaniz-approved distance cycling nutrition of half a Snickers bar. Man, that was the best Snickers ever!!

I continued on my way down a busier road, and was highly impressed with the largest shoulder I'd ever seen. I found great delight in discovering that the goats would go "baaaa" in return. More dead animals. More hills, but nothing like the orginal. I didn't see any cyclists and figured even the people doing the extra 20 mile out-and-back before the store were ahead of me.

At the halfway point, I turned again and was pleased to find another road in great condition with hardly any traffic. I passed by another dead deer with more grazing vultures. They saw me and all took off into the air and I counted 15 of them! That must be why it was the death ride. Later I heard jokes that it wasn't a deer being feasted upon, it was a cyclist! Keith and Richelle exchanged cycling and sag positions and Richelle asked if I was going to keep going. Of course! I had to get my 50 miles. Stathis and Keith rode by in the opposite direction and asked how I was doing. Since I had just started up the long hill they were cruising down, I replied with "I'm doing great!" By this point, the weather had cleared a little and I took off my jacket, arm warmers, extra gloves and put on my sunglasses. How freeing!

I think 80% of the traffic on the roads were pickup trucks. Earlier a truck in the opposite direction had driven by with some kids yelling "hi!!" but I didn't get the opportunity to wave in return (Tip #6). When a truck going in my direction passed me up with two kids sitting in the bed, I waved to them and they waved back. I also waved to a man in a cowboy hat fixing the fence to his ranch. I kept counting down the miles to 50, and as I got close, I pedalled harder wanting to beat the next sag visit. In the time it took me to run my first marathon, I hit fifty! At this point, I was willing to go back with the sag truck since I'd reached my goal. I was also wishing bathroom facilities were nearby, but there weren't. So for the first time since becoming an athlete, I had to pee out in nature!! I celebrated 50 with half of the almond Snickers, and had visions of everyone back at camp drinking beer and feasting on recovery food wondering what happened to me.

No sign of sag and I still felt just fine, so (Tip #22 quite literally) I continued on, hoping I'd find sag or the finish before the sun went down. Richelle and JT showed up and asked how I was doing. I was all ready to go back with them, and they said that if I was feeling fine, the camp was only 5 miles down the road without any hills. Well then! I set out to finish the whole ride. For the first time that day, the sun came out to match my mood and light my way to the end. Five miles later, I saw signs for the camp just a few miles ahead. I was feeling a bit more worn out at this point and every mile seemed pretty long and the "no hills" inclines weren't all that easy. I'd just finished my last sip of Gatorade and had no more gels. A dog spotted me and started running up towards me. Oh no! I had nothing to squirt at him if he tried to attack me. Fortunately he seemed pretty friendly and ran alongside me. As I turned to go into the camp, he lead the way as well as got in the way. After 65 miles, I wasn't too eager to steer around a moving obstacle. Together we made the final stretch up to the campsite.

65 miles done!!

I was suprised to see a nearly empty campsite. As Stathis gave me a congratulatory hug, I asked where eveyone else was. He said a lot of people had gone home or went to the store to get things. When the sag truck came in, I found out that I wasn't the last finisher and there were plenty of cyclists behind me. (All the people who did the extra 20 miles.) An hour after my finish I was suprised to find that Jay wasn't with Brenda and Drew. Apparently he had been ahead of them, but he hadn't arrived since I'd been there and his bike was missing. Oscar said he took the sag in, but I watched only JT and Richelle get out of the truck when they'd arrived. Asking around, Jay was last seen somewhere in the last 10 miles before the camp. Drew figured he made a turn when he should have gone straight, so Richelle and I went out to find him. We found him coming in just a few miles from camp. Even though Jay had already done the long route, 5 miles from the finish, he made a wrong turn to another highway and rode an extra 12 miles which included two nasty climbs. Only two triathletes who started an hour earlier rode farther that day, going 129 miles.

The dog hung around our area all evening. I found out he had also run alongside Sabine and he ran with a second group of triathletes for who were going 18 mph for eleven minutes. What an amazing (and friendly) dog!

At last we all got our post-ride feast, and I happily roasted marshmallows in the campfire.

It was an incredible event and by far my best ride ever. I hope to do it again sometime! Many thanks to the organizers Stathis, Daniel, Ryan, Shae and Oscar! (Especially Stathis who I think did the most work.) Big thanks to those who did sag -- Keith, Richelle and JT. A lot of people were concerned about me through their ride, and some riders (including Penny and Richelle) had waited for a me at the store. I really appreciated that and I'm glad that in the end, there was no reason to worry. Thanks to all the ride sponsors, especially ClifBar, who provided ClifShots and ClifBars. I got a cool red ClifShot t-shirt! Whoever put together our race packets was awesome... I got some coupons, a tin of peppermint mints, Almond Joy, raisins, chocolate egg, a balloon and an egg with Bottle Caps candy and three creepy rubber critters. Other riders got slimy toys!


Tim, Brenda and Drew finishing the long route of about 85 miles.


Final finisher Jay accepting awesome sag support by Richelle. The best thing about being the last to come in is that you get a pretty big welcome because everyone's happy to see you.


Triathletes Tim and Ben. Ben and I discovered we went to Oregon State University together!


Oscar and me right after he finished riding the longer route.


Time: 6 hours, 2 minutes (once we hit the hill, I didn't pause my HRM for stops)
Max HR: 190, Avg HR: 156

I've been sore from running long distances before and it's definitely different than being sore from cycling long distances. It's so intriguing. It's a great feeling of accomplishment to have done all this with virtually no support. I've now done half the distance of the Hill Country Ride for AIDS which is next month. Another great outcome of the ride was that I now LOVE my bike. I used to joke that it was such a pathetic bike compared to the nice new tri bikes most people had, but now I'm so appreciative of it. Halfway through the ride, I was so happy with it, I wanted to hug it. Even though I'm hurting nearly everywhere today, it's certainly not my bike's fault.