Normal people do normal things for their birthdays. They go out for fancy dinners. They ask for jewelry. They may even take a trip. So, I'm kind of normal. My family took me out to dinner a couple times. I asked for a fancy new watch. And I went on a 3-day tour of Virginia. What's not normal is that my watch is a Garmin 910xt and I spent those 3 days perched on my bike. As far as dinner, it was a necessity because I was camping! Camping! In a tent! And can I just say it was a fantastic birthday - my husband rocks for managing the house while I did this, bringing the girls down to eat with me both nights, and doing the laundry while I was gone. (Oh, and not laughing too hard when I said I wanted to go to bed at 9pm last night.)
This weekend I took part in Bike Virginia 2014. I did the Weekend Escape and rode the longest and hilliest routes available each day -- 28 on Friday, 104 on Saturday, and 89 on Sunday -- although I'm really bad at starting my fancy new watch when I leave aid stations, so I never actually registered those numbers on my wrist. But anyway, I rode the whole loops, so I'm taking credit for the posted numbers.
Friday:
I drove down to Pocohontas State Park, the site of the event, on Friday morning, hoping to set up my tent and go for my ride as soon as the course opened up at noon. Unfortunately, I did not expect the crazy lines at registration or how long it would take to get camp set up, so I didn't actually hit the road until closer to 1p. I was only worried because I planned to meet up with the family to swim in the river that night with my masters group and I didn't want to be scrambled (any more than usual). Anyway, after I registered, I set up my campsite for the next 2 nights.
Some people were concerned about me camping alone...but seriously, there were like 500 tents in Tent City, so it was like camping with 1000 or so of my newest friends.
Anyway, after I set up and ate some leftovers I brought for lunch, I headed out on my bike for day 1 - 28 miles, almost 1400 feet of climbing. It was interesting seeing so many different types of bikes and bikers. There were people on fancy roadies, some tri bikes, recumbents (damn those look weird), tandems, mountain bikes, junky old fixies, you name it, it was out there. To be fair, most people had good road bikes, but still, it was cool. Also, you have never seen so much lycra. Ever. Even at a triathlon. It was crazy. Plus lots of little old men who like to walk around shirtless in bike shorts or bike bibs. Eww. But anyway, what can you do. (This was in camp, not on the ride...)
So each day had one "premium" rest area. The first day, since it was short, only had one rest stop at all...but they were making fresh funnel cakes. OMG so good. I can't remember the last time I ate a funnel cake. I should eat them more often. Well, maybe not, because then they wouldn't taste so good maybe?
The ride went well; I rode hard because I didn't know how much of the ride for Saturday I'd get in - the weather looked to be a complete washout - thunderstorms and all. The bike safety lecture at check-in was even concerned and told us what to do if we got caught out on the road during lightning. (FYI - go find a farmer and ask if you can stand in his garage...y'know, in case you wanted to know.) There were some good rolling hills around Lake Chesdin, but otherwise it was a fairly easy ride.
After the ride, I went back to the campsite and had my bike looked at. Baby had been on the trainer all winter and she wasn't shifting well. The wrenches fixed her (mostly, although I'm still not thrilled with the front derailleur adjustment - at least the rear works well now) and then I got my stuff together to meet the family.
The plan was to meet up with the Masters group to swim in the river and then do dinner. I still had a couple hours, so I went to Starbucks and got my free birthday drink and tried to read a book, but realized the book I had picked up from the library was one I had already read on my iPad...I usually remember book covers, but don't pay as much attention when I read on screen. So that kind of sucked, but I wasted time and then met the family.
The swim went really well - I did 3 out-and-back loops and my sighting was much better this time - darker goggles. Did 0.84 miles in 42 minutes. Plus it was my first real non-wetsuit swim of the season, and I felt good about it...which is good, since Muncie and Louisville are not going to be wetsuit legal (unless something very weird happens, like Hell freezes over.)
Then the family took me for Mexican where hubby and I split a very large margarita. It was a great birthday.
After I got back to the campsite, I got ready for bed and then tried to get to sleep. Around 11p or so, there was lightning which made me kind of nervous so I decamped to my car and slept in the trunk of the SUV for the night. Not comfortable, but better than sleeping through the storm.
Saturday:
Saturday was the big day - over 100 miles, a lot of hills, and it was supposed to be crappy weather. Well, two out of three ain't bad, right? So says Mr. Loaf, Meat Loaf.
Thankfully, the part that I missed out on was the crappy weather. I got the miles and I got the hills, which was part of the point - I was using this as training for IMLou after all. Problem was, because I was looking at it as a training ride, I was pretty disappointed in myself. It was slow - and I was only keeping ride time, not total time, because I stopped my watch at each aid station. Of course, this caused me to occasionally (or often?) forget to restart my watch...I only counted 92 miles of the ride on my fancy pants watch. :( Oh well.
Anyway, by the end of the ride, my back hurt. My brain hurt. My feelings hurt. Surprisingly, my hind end didn't hurt - so that was a bonus, considering I'd have to get back on my bike on Sunday morning. The ride was very pretty - lots of farm country, historic areas - including one rest area at Sailor's Creek Battlefield - where Lee lost shortly before heading to Appomattox Courthouse to surrender. A few of the costumed docents were out and about at the rest area. (Check out the ominous clouds in the background.)
Anyway, this lady was awesome - she was taking pictures of all of us in our lycra and spandex. In her right hand behind her back she has an iPhone that she was sure to hide before I took my picture!
The premium rest area for Saturday was at Amelia Courthouse. That was nice, but the food was tomato sandwiches. Ick. This may have been why I didn't eat enough on Saturday (which caused a really tough ride). Now, it's not their fault -- I am a grown up and I should have eaten better. But ewww. And I even like tomatoes! A lot!
After I finished my ride, I went to get lunch. This was one real bummer - for some reason, even though I came in while there was still a hour left of lunch, they had already run out of fruit. So I ate the loaded baked potato and salad, but I was still hungry. I bought myself an ice cream cone and tried to get a Coke, because you know what I think of Coke when I'm training...but they only had diet Sprite. Geez people, you're killing me here!
I called hubby when I finished and so he and the girls came down to meet me at the campground. We went down to Tent City and had a few beers while I relaxed and so they could take in the atmosphere. Really, it sounds weird, but it is really cool to be around that many tents and bikers. I did point out that the age trend was much older than me - but I still had a great time. Also, yes, I was by myself. I like to ride by myself and I like to be in my head for 6-7 hours + at a time. I know that sounds weird - including to my family - but I'm OK with it. The only problem is that I have been listening to the Billy Joel channel on SiriusXM and so I was doing a lot of singing of Billy Joel songs all three days. And I made up a lot of words. :) Because who really knows what he is saying during "We Didn't Start the Fire" anyway.
After I got cleaned up - SHOWERS ON SEMI-TRUCKS rock - the family took me out for dinner again. This time I had a choice between Jamaican and Italian. Normally I'm more adventurous (and anti-pasta - not to be confused with antipasto) but after the long ride, not eating enough, and the missing fruit at lunch, I wanted noodles and more noodles. And that's what I ate.
Family took me back to campground and this time, since there was no weather, I slept in my tent all night. And now I know that the generator for the shower truck comes back on at 5 am. And NOONE should be allowed to bring a baby to Tent City. That is all. :)
Sunday:
I was planning all along on doing the long route on Sunday -- 89 hilly miles...but then I started to waffle after Saturday. Could I even do that far? (I hoped so.) Was I an idiot? (Obviously.) It would mean over 220 miles of biking over 3 days. Seriously. I started the day with the same plan - I'm going to do 89, but if I'm really struggling at the decision point (rest area 2), I could change my mind. Plus, I didn't have any time goals in mind - the point was really to relax and enjoy the ride and see if I could do it. When I got to the decision point at 34 miles, I was actually feeling good. I had been eating all morning (ate some Powerbar chews every 10 miles or so, in addition to the food at rest area 1) and what could it hurt. Plus there was good food at rest area 2 - NACHOS! At 9:30 AM! Bam!
And so I headed out on the long option. And it was good. Plus, I got to see this awesome Confederate soldier cemetery at mile 53 or so.
Now, there's one thing I got to say here. There is a local sprint triathlon that goes in the area where we rode yesterday and right before the turn-around point of that race, there is a BEYOTCH of a hill. I've done the race a couple times and only once have I made it up that damn hill. After the rest area at the Confederate cemetery, we turned a corner and I knew exactly where I was...and I knew that hill was coming...and I was dreading it. By the time I got to the base of the hill, I was probably going about 5 miles an hour and I said screw it. I got off my bike and walked up the stupid hill. And it didn't bother me one bit. I had nothing to prove on Sunday - and I had 30 more miles to go and I wasn't going to blow it all on that hill. So there.
And then I finished and it was awesome. I ate some more pasta at the lunch. Went home and had pie and ice cream with the family. And beer. More beer.
I am so excited and proud of myself. Now back to my regularly scheduled training. Which happens to be a dropback week. Thank goodness.
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