Remember how I signed up to ride a 100-mile bike race today? And do you also recall how I predicted it would be a complete train wreck because (a) I knew I would end up working so much that I wouldn't have time to train, and (b) I had tickets to a 5-hour opera the night before the race that would prevent my getting any sleep?
Well, congratulations to me, because
all of that happened exactly as I predicted. It's like I'm freaking Cassandra and I'm cursed not to listen to my own prophecies. Seriously, I have ridden my bike all of twice in the past six weeks, which is hardly what you'd expect from someone training for a century ride. I've been working crazy hours at the firm, to the point where I haven't been able to clean or go grocery shopping or do any of my design class homework for several weeks now. And by the time I got home from the opera, went shopping for food to eat on the bike, and prepared all of my gear, it was 1am -- which meant that I got exactly 3.5 hours of sleep before my alarm went off at 4:30am and I had to get up and drive to the starting line in southern Maryland.
Ridiculous, right? Right.
Only here's the thing: Everything went absolutely perfectly. Like clockwork. In fact, it was one of the best rides of the entire summer. I felt fantastic and was able to ride hard and long through the gorgeous, lush farmland of southern Maryland -- and with a finish time of 6 hours and 11 minutes, I was right on target with what I'd hoped for.
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On a ride this long, you need to have a good stock of fuel. I figured this would get
me through the day. Fortunately, thre were way-stations with additional food along the way. |
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7:30am in the parking lot at the starting area (my car on the right) |
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The view from one of the more scenic way-stations. The weather was chilly and cloudy most of the day, with spells of bright sunshine. |
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Around the 90-mile marker. I had just finished leading the group and had fallen
to the back to draft and take a break from the headwind. |
![St Mary's Century](https://lh3-testonly.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_t7tqk7Fw3JH6tf2sUwabDI1LTB7Uvd8OeOGj8jtaQjIlgCiAOrxlAck7f3FWP3gBO7gkljCj3wES6cJRWZDYtIM9SMBE08RymdPPcbFvw_IU3tUmDNbnvaukguOVFcJT7T=s0-d) |
Just over the finish line.
(Also, seriously? why does every single stranger need a lesson in how to frame a photo?) |
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When you burn 5,000+ calories in a morning, you can eat pretty much whatever you want for lunch. |
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Now, of course, I need to jump back into real life and figure out the rest of the work train wreck that is brewing. Hopefully I'll be able to repeating these quasi-all-nighters...
1 comment:
Well, good for you! Looks absolutely beautiful. Heads always go in the middle of the pic... 5Guys IS the food of champions. Lady
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