Sat. a.m. at about 4:30. Ahhhhh!!! Alarm went off and I realized my old, tired behind would be biking 75 miles that day!! What was I thinking?? I crawled out of bed with butterflies whirling about my tummy and set off to getting ready. Neil was there in support mode grabbing this and that for me, getting our bikes ready and keeping me from throwing up. We managed to get it all together and make it to the school for breakfast by 5:30 a.m. Payton and I gorged ourselves on pancakes that were flipped to us (Yep, flipped. The guy made Payton back up while he flung pancakes into the air at her. I must have had a look about me because he just gently put them onto my plate...hmmmm), sausage, yogurt, butter, coffee (again...75 miles!!) and whatever we could stuff into our pockets for later. We met Darraugh just before 6:30 and was ready to roll. Our goal was to beat the mass start at 7, I wasn't feeling very safe about being in a herd of people. It was a very gray start to the ride. Upper 40's to lower 50's and misty. I'm glad I made some sorta rain gear purchases and invested in some saddle bags. I'm not known for being a light packer and the though
t of how I would be able to carry everything I thought I might need brought me more angst than the actual thought of biking 150 miles. Anyway it felt good to finally be off and rolling after anticipating this moment for months. We weren't on the road for too long before it shot us onto a bike path. I've decided I really like bike paths. No traffic to worry about and they are usually fairly flatish. This one was nicely wooded and quiet. We came across a bridge with a river that was beautiful. You can also get a good idea of what the weather was like. The good n
ews is that even though it was cool and misty, we stayed warm. This was also about the time the mass start caught up to us which made getting back on the path difficult. It was after the first rest stop in Carlton that Payton hit her wall. A mother knows when there is a problem and I could tell there was a problem even though I was getting the shoulder shrug "I'm fine" pouty look. It was about this time that Darraugh found a faster partner which left us alone, a good thing in the long run. (Not that having him with us wasn't fun, because it was, I just think it made having a hard time well...harder with an audience.) Finally she admitted she was hurting, and finally narrowed it down to a knee/rear end issue. I was immediately irritated (I admit patience is not one of my strong points) because we were only about 16 miles in. We've done 30 miles and there were no complaints. Seriously?? 16 miles...not good. Well there were some matter of fact words of wisdom that spilled from my lips, maybe not in the sweetest fashion possible but I guess I'm not that kind of mom. (I work on it though.) My speech was basically this- "Do you want to finish all 150 miles?" "Yes, mom." "Alright then, man up, get through the pain and endure. Otherwise you need to quit at the next stop. You're decision." After awhile I just shut up and we continued on. After she didn't make it up a hill that she should have easily and the tears started to flow we took a break on the shoulder. Again I gave my heart-warming words of wisdom ;) and she told me she wanted to finish. So I decided to try a slight seat adjustment up to see if that would help the knee. A Ride Marshall stopped to see if all was well and I told him what was up. He said he would ride with her a little and see if the adjustment looked o.k. After a quick watch and some words of encouragement we were back on track. By the time we made it to the lunch stop in Moose Lake around 12:30 all was well. I don't know what happened but she got over the hump and was strong and ready to go. I was so darn proud that she didn't quit! As a matter of fact at about 50 miles it was her turn to motivate me. Yikes, I just lost all energy and must admit from mile 40 to 60 I was struggling to keep up with her. I knew I would finish that day but thoughts of the next day kept nagging me and making me unsure I'd finish. I finally figured that I needed to just focus on the present and couldn't worry about the what ifs and the last 10 miles went better than I would have thought even with the steady rain that started. We pulled into Hinkley at about 3:30. I was so proud of us. We had some struggles but endured. The 75 miles (my odometer said 71) took 9 hours including stopping at every rest stop. Not too bad, although we weren't nearly at the head of the pack. We met up with Neil and Joe who had driven down with the camper in the morning to help at the Hinkley Elementary School moving and unloading luggage. They got to spend the day with some of my favorite people, Reggie, Kathy and Mike, Holly, Tyler aka Kathy and my crazy Jean. Jean and Mary were kind enough to massage our tired muscles with minimum amount of pain involved. After hanging out for awhile we headed over to the casino to find the rv parking. A quick supper and some wandering and we all headed back to the camper to wind down and plan for the next day. I think I was in bed by 9/9:30.
Day 2-Woke up around 5 since we were a little more prepared. Again had a giant flippin' breakfast and was on the road a little after 6:30. Woke up not nearly as sore as I felt the night before which was a pleasant surprise.
Alright I'm still working on this, please check back.
To view more photos from our journey please click on the following link-
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=173673&id=651578234&l=76885a66da
