God, I Fucking LOVE Riding My Bikes

Yeah, I know I'm narcissistic and all that, but occasionally, I have to PROVE that I have the Body Of Iron, don't I??? (Notice the Catlike helmet in the background just to prove I've been riding bikes all weekend).

Well it's been 2 weeks since IMLP, and I'm getting ready for a 300K ride on 8/11. I had a touch and go week in terms of recovery from Ironman, but I really wanted to be ready for the 300K, so I decided to tough it out this weekend.

Yesterday it was overcast and not too hot, so I did my ride from home to Fermilab and circled twice (plus) and then back home, for 71 miles on LGL. I did my interval shit, and did it well, and then the rest was just at a pace I could manage. There was a headwind all the way home (and for much of the Fermilab loop), so in some respects, it wasn't too fun, but what the hell, I was just fucking happy to be riding LGL and getting in some miles. I had some minor knee pain, but knew that it was just my fucked up quads yelling at me, so I soldiered on.

About 20 miles into yesterday's ride, I ran into a couple in Fermilab that I hadn't seen for about 6 weeks. They were walking their Yellow Lab and their Golden Retriever, and they remembered my name, but unfortunately, I didn't remember theirs. They reminded me--Kathy and Bill, and I won't forget, because I know another Cathy and Bill couple. They remembered that I was doing an Ironman, and so we talked about that. They were wondering why I was on a different bike and thought I had switched. I told them this was my OTHER bike, and made them guess how much it cost. $2,000? Nope. $5,000? Nope. You get the idea. I chatted with them and they wished me luck and I told them how to stalk me on Google.

I had a pretty decent ride, and was happy to put in some extra mileage, all things considered, even with the winds. I couldn't remember the last time that LGL went "nuclear," and so I felt special riding near the ring. I visited my favorite nitrogen tank, #42, and saluted it. I had some periods of low energy, but this is normal, especially 2 weeks from an Ironman.

I swam 1500 yards (at the fucking INDOOR pool) after I rode yesterday, and it was good. I'm trying to hook up with a local swim coach, but I seem to have bad luck in that department, and he hasn't called me back yet, but from all my time at the outdoor pool, I am getting a better feel for the water, and I noticed that I wasn't really using my lats as much as I should, so that's making me swim differently now. I still suck, but maybe there's hope for me...

After riding and swimming yesterday, I managed to go grocery shopping and do the dishes, spend some quality time on the phone with a few friends, and get to sleep around 8:00. So you know what that means...I was up at 3:30AM. I have to fix this issue. I lay in bed after I wake up so I'm still technically getting rest, but still...

So I got out of bed at 3:58AM this morning, and I want to go ride 100 miles at this organized ride, but it's raining and I'm watching the radar and out my door and it doesn't look good. Finally at about 7:30AM I decide I'm driving to the ride start and taking my chances. I would rather ride in the rain than ride on the trainer, and I REALLY want to get in 100 because I'm riding 300K next Saturday!

I get there, and it's fucking pouring rain, and I'm wondering if I need to drive back home and get on the trainer, but I turn on the radio and they say it's supposed to stop by 9AM so I'm good, even though that's a late start for 100 miles. At 8:20AM I go and pay the money and tell them that I am starting at 8:45AM no matter what. I've got my rain jacket on and I'm ready to roll.

I leave at 8:45AM and it's not really raining, but the skies are still fucked up, so I decide to leave the jacket on until the first rest stop. Which makes me sweat like a pig. No matter, they have a rest stop only 12 miles out, so that' s great, I pee and remove the jacket and continue on.

The winds pick up and it sucks riding by myself but what am I going to do? I make it to the 30 mile rest stop and see some other riders about to take off, and I figured they'd be doing 100 miles because there were some "triathletes" in the bunch. So I decide to give chase, but the triathlete group is going the wrong way, but I do eventually catch up with this guy, and I ended up riding the rest of the way with him. Good thing, because he kept me on pace and was good company! When we reached the 56 mile rest stop (after getting dumped on for maybe 5 minutes by a rogue cloud, but we got a thorough soaking from it) that was only on the 102-mile route, the 2 guys manning it clapped for me because I was the first (and later I found out ONLY) woman to get there. There was a guy, Steve, there, who also had a Griffen bike that wanted to chat me up and I ended up writing an entire chunk of brown paper bag about myself (I really need business cards, hint, hint, Rich), including name, email address, blog URL, CF URL, Endurance Nation URL, and I don't remember what else. Steve is doing Ironman Canada, and I told him about the course talks we are doing for each Ironman race, so hopefully the guy will be smart and contact me.

Steve thought he could keep up with me and Dana (yeah, I know, guy name, oh well), but I didn't think he could and he didn't. It was great having someone to ride with and draft with and all that. When I first encountered Dana, we were going into a headwind, and he made a comment to me about how I must be suffering since I am so small, because there's a woman in his usual riding group that is small like me and she doesn't do well into the wind! I looked at him and told him that I think I ride pretty well into the wind, and then I showed him! Dana appeared to be a fairly talented roadie, so I figured I had better buck up and show him lest I be viewed a loser!!!

At the last rest stop, there was a group of riders who thought THEY were the last ones out on the route, but then Dana and I rolled in. This one chic said something about the 85-mile route and how much was left, and I looked at her and said, "Honey, I know where I am and I've already got 84 miles in today." There was 1 guy with 3 chics, and I looked at his bike, since he was looking at mine and made a comment about my bottles (kiss of death, you know). I was using my hot pink IMLP bottles that I now love, and I had them in the XLAB cages loaded with Infinit, and then a water bottle on the seat tube. Well, since he made fun of my bottles, I told him to read the sticker (your bike sucks) on my chain stay. And then I told Dana we should let them go and show them who knows how to ride.

Well, turns out by that point I didn't have much gas left in me, and that group took off. I kept up for awhile, but I knew Dana probably could take them, and I laughed as he did on a rolling uphill. I thought I was toast and lost the group, but then I ran into Dana about 5 miles from finish, so they really weren't that far ahead. He told me that the dude in the group sucked, and I told him I was happy that he smoked them. Dana and I rode in, and we finished the ride at 18MPH average, not too shabby considering all the wind and rain. Also, once the skies had cleared, the temperature shot up to 90, so the last 30 miles were rather miserable.

At the end of the ride, the people manning the start area clapped for us, and I took several bows, being the only woman to ride 102 miles, having started late and all. I drove home as fast as I could so I could get my grill started and make some food.

The net net is that I put in 175 miles this weekend, and if I add my lame-ass Tuesday ride, I'm up to 202 miles for the week, so I think I should be OK for next Saturday's 300k (180-mile) hilly ride. At least I hope so!

Oh yeah--I was on Bitchie today, and I can't wait to get the carbon compact crank on her, since she will be ultra-styling. In 2 weeks, I plan to ride her with the all-carbon Hed 3D Disk wheel, which is 100% carbon, too, so I can INCREASE my fucking carbon footprint!

Did I say that I FUCKING LOVE RIDING MY BIKES???