Mood: Proud and relieved!
The Peanut Countdown: 191 days.
POD:
Dust in the wind
I have a feeling that many of you out there have been waiting for an update on how my century ride went this weekend, so here you go!
In short, it was one of the most fantastic days of my life, by far the most physically trying day of my life, and definitely one I would never want to repeat. :) I know, doesn't make sense huh?
Saturday started at 5am. Surprisingly, after only about 4 hours of peaceful sleep, I wasn't too tired and could definitely feel the adrenaline starting to kick in. After watching the sunrise, we started riding at about 7am and the beginning of the ride was just so incredibly beautiful. None of our training rides compared as far as scenery goes. We rode up Hwy 395, barely any cars, clean roads, and just the most amazing scenery. The skies were a deep blue and the mountains all around us just went on and on and on. Every 5 minutes or so, I said to my teammates 'I can't believe we're actually here doing the real thing!'. I'm sure that got old after the 5th time or so. :) We went up Deadman's Summit (I would still like to petition a name change!) and the downhills were just faaaast. I think by the end of the day, I had a max speed of 42.2 mph. Yes, MILES PER HOUR. How crazy is that? Up until Saturday, my fastest speed had been about 38 mph. So 42.2 was fuuuuuuuuuun (but scary!)!!
Around mile 25, the wind really picked up. And the wind just never stopped. Never. All the way until mile 100. I was so unprepared and really honestly didn't think I would finish. I never thought I would have to sag out, but I never visualized myself finishing. I guess some part of my mind started believing that I would spend the rest of my life out there in the wind. Kind of like in the cartoons where the wind is blowing so hard that when Bugs is trying to run, he's really just standing still. That's how it felt. If you don't have a good idea of how brutal this wind was, imagine being on a bike, on a 7% grade going down (that's pretty steep for a bike) and actually having to pedal, HARD, to make it *down* that hill. That's how hard the wind was blowing. If you still can't imagine it, there was a stretch of about 10 miles near the end where I had to constantly lean my bike into the wind so that I wouldn't get pushed over. If I had tried biking with my bike completely perpendicular to the road, I would certainly have been blown off. That's how hard it was blowing. STILL can't imagine it? The weather out there on Saturday was pretty cold, even without the wind. Good biking weather, but my nose was running like a faucet. When the wind was really bad, I couldn't even reach up to wipe my nose or else I would have fallen off my bike for sure. That's how hard the wind was blowing. Honestly, the last 2/3rds of the ride just wasn't enjoyable. Except for the rest stops where I would get to see Shehrzad and other team members, and except for the end, the ride wasn't fun.
But, I wouldn't have changed the entire day, wind and all, for anything in the world. It makes me so happy to know that I made it through such a tough day. And I made it to the end of the hardest century ride that TNT trains for. I had no idea that was the case until Frank told me afterwards (and it's a good thing I didn't know that beforehand!). And I finished strong. I didn't hobble in, I was able to walk afterwards, and even made it until 9pm. :) Three months ago, I was freaking out at the idea of having to ride 15 miles. I'm still in shock about how far I've come and how strong I've become. I feel like I can do anything, ANYTHING, I put my mind to. And that's such a powerful feeling. Our team raised almost $100,000 for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society and every mile on Saturday was worth it. If I were to die tomorrow, I would feel like my life mattered and that I did something really valuable with my time here. It's the first time in my life I've felt that and because of that, I wouldn't change anything about Saturday's experience.
Daily Dose of Lubna: Volunteering tonight at Bring Me a Book.
The Peanut Countdown: 191 days.
POD:
Dust in the wind
I have a feeling that many of you out there have been waiting for an update on how my century ride went this weekend, so here you go!
In short, it was one of the most fantastic days of my life, by far the most physically trying day of my life, and definitely one I would never want to repeat. :) I know, doesn't make sense huh?
Saturday started at 5am. Surprisingly, after only about 4 hours of peaceful sleep, I wasn't too tired and could definitely feel the adrenaline starting to kick in. After watching the sunrise, we started riding at about 7am and the beginning of the ride was just so incredibly beautiful. None of our training rides compared as far as scenery goes. We rode up Hwy 395, barely any cars, clean roads, and just the most amazing scenery. The skies were a deep blue and the mountains all around us just went on and on and on. Every 5 minutes or so, I said to my teammates 'I can't believe we're actually here doing the real thing!'. I'm sure that got old after the 5th time or so. :) We went up Deadman's Summit (I would still like to petition a name change!) and the downhills were just faaaast. I think by the end of the day, I had a max speed of 42.2 mph. Yes, MILES PER HOUR. How crazy is that? Up until Saturday, my fastest speed had been about 38 mph. So 42.2 was fuuuuuuuuuun (but scary!)!!
Around mile 25, the wind really picked up. And the wind just never stopped. Never. All the way until mile 100. I was so unprepared and really honestly didn't think I would finish. I never thought I would have to sag out, but I never visualized myself finishing. I guess some part of my mind started believing that I would spend the rest of my life out there in the wind. Kind of like in the cartoons where the wind is blowing so hard that when Bugs is trying to run, he's really just standing still. That's how it felt. If you don't have a good idea of how brutal this wind was, imagine being on a bike, on a 7% grade going down (that's pretty steep for a bike) and actually having to pedal, HARD, to make it *down* that hill. That's how hard the wind was blowing. If you still can't imagine it, there was a stretch of about 10 miles near the end where I had to constantly lean my bike into the wind so that I wouldn't get pushed over. If I had tried biking with my bike completely perpendicular to the road, I would certainly have been blown off. That's how hard it was blowing. STILL can't imagine it? The weather out there on Saturday was pretty cold, even without the wind. Good biking weather, but my nose was running like a faucet. When the wind was really bad, I couldn't even reach up to wipe my nose or else I would have fallen off my bike for sure. That's how hard the wind was blowing. Honestly, the last 2/3rds of the ride just wasn't enjoyable. Except for the rest stops where I would get to see Shehrzad and other team members, and except for the end, the ride wasn't fun.
But, I wouldn't have changed the entire day, wind and all, for anything in the world. It makes me so happy to know that I made it through such a tough day. And I made it to the end of the hardest century ride that TNT trains for. I had no idea that was the case until Frank told me afterwards (and it's a good thing I didn't know that beforehand!). And I finished strong. I didn't hobble in, I was able to walk afterwards, and even made it until 9pm. :) Three months ago, I was freaking out at the idea of having to ride 15 miles. I'm still in shock about how far I've come and how strong I've become. I feel like I can do anything, ANYTHING, I put my mind to. And that's such a powerful feeling. Our team raised almost $100,000 for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society and every mile on Saturday was worth it. If I were to die tomorrow, I would feel like my life mattered and that I did something really valuable with my time here. It's the first time in my life I've felt that and because of that, I wouldn't change anything about Saturday's experience.
Daily Dose of Lubna: Volunteering tonight at Bring Me a Book.
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