The Ride

The Buffalo Bicycle Classic was today. It was tough, but it was awesome! I feel so great! We did the 35 mile ride, and after doing that, I am in just in complete awe of those people that do century rides. Thirty five miles was seriously hard, so I can't imagine what doing a century is like. Maybe next year.

We woke up around 6 and after a breakfast of whole wheat English muffins with peanut butter and honey, we were on the road before 7. We were in the third wave of riders, so we had plenty of time to warm up and mill around after we got up to Boulder. It was so nice to see campus again; I forget how beautiful it is. I loved going to school there.

As this was my first organized ride, I was slightly nervous and didn't sleep very well last night, so I was pretty tired this morning. Once we got on the road though; I was pumped. We started with a gradual uphill that lasted about 5 miles, and by the time we got to the top I was terrified that I wouldn't make it the whole way. My heart rate was up there and I was struggling. Luckily we had a downhill and a nice rest stop coming up, so that helped a lot.

The aid stations were great on the ride, there was tons of fruit and energy drinks and lots of water and sports drink to choose from. The middle part of the ride was awesome; I felt good and I was cruising along. There were lots of uphill climbs, but lots of coasting on the way down too. On one downhill I even hit 38 mph, which for me on a bike is absolutely insane. I was repeating "Please don't die, please don't die" over and over again. Oh yeah, like that's gonna help when I crash my bike at that speed. Luckily (or maybe not) it didn't last very long and we were going back uphill soon enough.

The last 10 miles of the ride were killer. Mostly uphill and in 90 degree heat. By the last mile, I was cranky and snapping at the boy, but luckily he remained calm and my mood didn't ruin it for us. We got to the finish in about 2 hours and 47 minutes, for an average speed of 13.8 mph. Not as fast as I usually ride, but we had a lot of hills to deal with so that's my excuse. I'm just proud that I did it! I love feeling the strength in my legs and knowing how athletic my body is. Finding cycling has been such a blessing for me; it's a sport that I absolutely love and I continually want to do better. I have miles to go, literally!