In August, Sarah and I did a 50+ mile bike ride and crazy me says, "hey! If we can do 50 and feel so good, let's go do a century!!" And crazy Sarah says, Ok! And off I went to the computer to find us a Century Ride and that's how I found the Wonder Woman Century Ride. I was thrilled it was all women (sorry guys, but I'm not a fast rider and you make me feel slow), it was also close to home, and it wasn't competitive. I talked Rach into doing the ride too - and lucky us, another dear friend of mine, Susan, was looking for someone to do the ride with! That's how our group came together.
Here is a pic of us that morning - smiling and ready to ride! Susan has already decided that today is not a good day for 100 miles (due to knee surgery) so she'll do the shorter loop.
THE RIDE WAS LONG! LONG! LONG!! I've done a century before - but I did it alone. It was a very different experience to ride with friends -- lots of great conversations and I'm glad they were there to encourage me along. Overall, I wasn't as prepared for this ride as I was two years ago. I hadn't planned or prepped for a century ride - I think we had a month of "preparation"! I think we all had our moments of discouragement - but since everyone else was still going, we just stuck together. Susan had her chance to turn off for a shorter ride, but she turned to the left with us! We were so happy to have her along for the long haul, but I'm afraid it really did hurt her knee (and she is still having issues). I'm so very sorry about that! But, she wasn't in pain while riding, so she kept enjoying the ride! The effects were felt later...
Most of the ride was beautiful. I need pics from Rach - she was good about taking pics with her phone along the ride. We rode up in a canyon at the break of dawn - LOVED THAT! And we rode past orchards that smelled SOOOO good. There were also stinky fields followed by a strong head wind that made you feel like it would never end. After lunch, I was riding along and I thought to myself, I can do this. Then I looked at my spedometer and realized that I had only gone 5 miles since lunch and it felt like HOURS. I wasn't so sure of myself at that point in the ride. But, the end of the ride was the hardest. We were coming towards the finish line and we knew we were close. We also knew there were 15 more miles to get on those spedometers, but when the path started sending us BACKWARDS and further from the finish line, it was very disheartening. The miles worked out in the end, but to go the opposite direction after so much riding was honestly a huge frustration and it made me so discouraged. But, we kept pedaling and eventually we were heading back the right direction.
As I came around the corner for the final block, I saw my dad standing there with his camera. I felt the tears well up and I couldn't stop them! I'm so glad he was there for me (Shayne had other committments)! Here I am riding to the finish - 100 miles on my bicycle.
Here's our group at the finish line - we did it!!
Was it hard? Yes! Was it worth it? Yes! I love being on my bike. And I also love knowing that I can do hard things. I'm hoping my example of doing hard things will help my boys know that they can do hard things too! It felt very empowering to go beyond myself and I plan to do it again!
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