Saturday's Ride

I had a 5 hour ride + 20 min run planned on Saturday.

I decided to hit up the group ride at RB's Cyclery in Bartlett, and when I called the shop Thurs, the dude said they were going to do about 50 miles. I knew I would need about 75 for a 5 hour ride, so I decided to ride there, and hopefully ride back. Getting there was about a 12 mile ride.

Friday night I packed all my stuff up and made 4 bottles of various drinks: Gatorade, Accelerade, and GU20 just so I wouldn't get bored. I was in bed by about 10:30.

Saturday morning I woke up at 6am, to depart by about 6:45. Made some coffee, walked the pup and ate a peanut butter sandwich. Yummy! I finally got everything ready, dressed and was out on my bike departing at 6:55am. Only ten minutes off. It's probably because I laid in bed exactly 10 minutes too long. Oops!

The 12 miles to the shop wasn't bad. I used it as an easy warm up. I had to ride on a busy busy road unfortunately, but at 7am on Saturday there aren't that many cars out. Well, less than normal anyway. The ride was leaving the shop at 8am, and I arrived at 7:45am.

When I got there, there were already about 30 riders getting ready! With more and more cars pulling in every second. It was already hot, as I was dripping with sweat and my eyes were burning from sweat and sunscreen. It was hot...AND humid. Finally the ride was departing. About 50 riders were in this group. WOW. This is the "B" ride that averages about 17.5 mph. Before we started going, the dude leading the ride said "remember this is a 17.5mph ride, so don't drop my ass like you did last week". GREAT. I hoped they were listening to him!

He said we were going to do 55 miles and we were off. It felt pretty good at first since I was already warmed up. We were probably averaging about 16 right off the bat to let everyone warm up. I was right in the middle of the pack chatting with some older gentleman. Then, we hit the first few hills. I kept up at first, until we got to a much bigger one. Then, I fell out of the middle of the pack like I was riding a unicycle. I ended up riding in the back with one other guy (who was 63, that was his excuse). We were several bike lengths back, when after about 10 miles we pulled over to a rest stop to let everyone use the restrooms. Since it had been about an hour and a half, I figured I better go because who knows when I'll get to go again. Of course I was the last one out of the restroom and as soon as I got to my bike, they said "Let's go!" I jumped on my bike, chugged down a gel and was off.

I held on for about another 10 miles, and then the hills started again. I had been in the middle of the pack when we hit a pretty big one. I was pushing and pulling like my life depended on it, and I look over at other women, who appear to be in the same gear riding at the same cadence, not exerting much energy, and they dropped me like I was standing still. SO FRUSTRATING. Once again, I was in the back of the pack. My legs felt like jelly, and when I tried to stand up on the hills, I felt like I had had a quadectomy (that's the medical term). I had NOTHING. I managed to keep at least one rider (the 63 year old dude who was kicking my ass at this point) in sight, but I started to lose him because I had nothing in the tank. I guess I wasn't recovered from my long run on Thurs. I saw a guy circling back up ahead and immediately felt embarrassed that he had to come back for me. When he pulled up beside me, he said "is anyone behind you?" I said "I don't think so."

He circled around and rode with me. His name was Wes. I was so thankful he came back because I had NO idea where we were or where we were going. We chatted a lot, and I felt like we were crawling, so I kept apologizing for him having to come back for me. But then, I looked down at my computer and realized we were going 19mph! Wait...first of all, we're flying and we're still this behind? Secondly, this is supposed to be a 17.5mph ride! WTF?! The hills are what really killed me. Anytime I hit them, I would end up going like 12-13mph but I felt like I was recruiting every last muscle fiber in my legs. How is this possible?! I wanted to blame my bike, and the heat, but knew it was just me. Which was super frustrating.

We finally made it to "cat pee", a small convenience store in the middle of nowhere, TN. Wonder where it gets the name Cat Pee? Just take a whiff when you walk in...A few things that gave away the fact that the Saturday ride that stops there every week is the biggest day in sales for them:
1.) There were products (dog leashes, fishing equipment, etc.) that had about an inch of dust on them and the packaging was obviously from the 1970's.
2.) It smelled like cat pee.
3.) They don't take credit cards.
4.) When I bought a coke and a bottle of water, the woman at the front looked at me, looked at the drinks, and said "$1.25". Since when can you buy a soda AND a bottle of water for that cheap?!

When we walked about, Wes said "We're pretty sure they just make up prices". haha. Great. Once I chugged the coke, and filled one of my bottle with the water, we were off again. The coke worked...for about 8 miles. Then, once again, I found myself getting dropped on the hills. This time, however, since I had about 50 miles already put it, I was quickly falling behind. I was hoping Wes would come back and get me, but at the same time I felt bad and wanted him to get a good ride in. I was so frustrated and wanted to cry, stop, and call someone to come get me. I had actually been considering this since the first time I got dropped about 30 miles ago.

Finally, I was starting to lose sight of the even the last rider. I needed to eat, and finally decided to just pull over and grab a gel and rest my legs. I found a little side street and pulled over. I ate a gel, and pulled out my phone. Thank goodness for GPS!!! I looked up where I was in relation to RB's. Great! Only 12 miles away! Then I realized that was if I took the interstate. Probably not the best idea on two wheels.

At this point, I just decided to follow the road I was on and then look at the GPS in a few miles to see where I could go. I started praying, hard. God, just get me back to the bike shop. I had Heather on call to come get me if I needed her to. I had text messaged her the night before telling her I might need a ride back! She had texted me at this point to ask if I needed a ride and I said yes! She left to meet me at the shop.

God must have been watching over me, because I got to a T in the road and either had to go left or right. I pulled out my phone, only to realize since I was in the middle of no where, the GPS couldn't find me. I started to try to move around a bit, hoping that would help, when a rider that wasn't with our group, flew past me and turned right. He said "Hey how's it going!" as he passed me. I thought... "Thank you GOD!" I decided to go right and try to follow him.

As soon as I turned, I started seeing markings on the road for an annual ride that RB's does. They put the markings on the road so that if anyone gets lost they can find their way back. Good thing! I followed the markings and had ended up being about 12 miles away when I stopped. Heather came to the shop and picked me up. Thank goodness for that!

I found Wes on facebook, due to my amazing facebook stalking abilities and thanked him for coming to get me the first time and to let him know I didn't die. He said some people were worried and tried to go back and look for me, but couldn't find me. OOPS! He said not to worry, and this group ride is hard, because a lot of people are between the "A" and "B" groups abilities, and tend to start taking off after a while.

I emailed coach in frustration, and she said not to worry also. Group rides are hard, especially when riding on trashed legs.

All in all, it was a learning experience, and I will do it again. Just not for another few weeks :) Thanks to all those who rode with me, and especially Wes for saving me!! At least the first time....