Today Mike and I embarked on what I knew was going to be the hardest ride that I've done in my approximately 3 month cycling career. We basically took the hardest climb I've done to date and added to it. To make it even more fun, I rode without having been on a bike in three weeks... life's just been too darn busy! Finally, for whatever reason, I just had one of those days that I just plain wasn't feeling it. Fellow athletes out there, you know the feeling - it's not that you're in any better shape, it's just that some days you don't want to.
Well, I did it... all 28.44 miles, all 2,280 feet of climbing. I did have one little mishap... you guessed it, I fell off my bike. I'm not sure, but it may be even more embarrassing than the first fall I had. You see, as we climbed the Rams Horn (that's the part we added on - it's about 2 miles of steep) I was suddenly swarmed by a massive cloud of gnats. Those little suckers stuck with me for the entire climb. I spent a good deal of it not focusing on my rhythm or breathing and focusing instead on swatting. It was awful. On the final ascent (the steepest part, I might add), one of those little suckers made his way under my glasses and got stuck in my eye. I was so busy trying to get him out that I stopped pedaling and tipped right over. Don't worry... I'm just fine... some minor scrapes and a little sore. My ego hurts a lot though... to Mike's credit, he did a damn good job about not letting me see him laugh. I know if the tables were turned, I probably wouldn't have done as great a job!
Even with Gnatfest 2011, I'm super glad we did this ride - it's been something we've talked about for the last few weeks. I did a really good job on my descending - I hit 35.8 MPH at one point! Since descending scares me the most, I'm really glad I'm forcing myself to practice it... I'm feeling better and better about it!
I had grand plans of taking pictures at different points throughout the ride, but as it turns out, I was just trying to keep myself on the bike. Maybe once I get a little better I'll remember to take pictures - the beauty of living where we live is that our rides are absolutely stunning... most of today was along a little creek-river and in the woods!
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