Chaffed and Tired

EDIT: David (dude in the back left of the photo) put this in an online post eariler today: "Here are some stats from my Garmin - Distance 66.07 miles, time 4:11:51, Avg 15.7, Avg for the first 43 miles - 16.5, avg for last 23 miles 14.5, total vertical ascent 4151 feet." David and I rode together almost the entire way!!! :)

I completed my first ever Metric Century today which turned out to be more like 67 miles than 62 - I felt every hill of those last 5 miles! On the way out I felt like I was flying but at the halfway point, I realized that this was an out and back ride and I'd face the business side of those hills on the way back. I'm proud to say that kept a respectable pace and had an absolute blast riding with Ann, David, Michael, and Ken. Here's a picture of what we looked like before we began:



The course itself was quite hilly and at one point, I was convinced I was experiencing the bonk b/c because I looked to my right to see a huge hog on the side of the road. Ann swears it was the size of a volkswagen... As it turns out, since she saw it too, we decided that we weren't experiencing the bonk - just a moment of confusion and bewilderment. It's not everyday you see livestock aside the road off of Riverside Pkwy!

We faced terrible headwind coming back but still finished w/ a respectable average. All in all, I'm proud of myself b/c I saw the benefits of all of the effort I've put into this sport that I really and truly have grown passionate about. I won't say it didn't get hard at the end - it did - but I muscled through and finished the ride.

After getting home I discovered the true meaning of chaffed and I was so physically exhausted that I took a nap until the sunburn and windburn I acquired began to give me chills. After getting some food in me, I started to feel a little better and I've agreed to ride the Wilson 100 metric next weekend. Either I had a good time or I'm once again experiencing "the bonk".