BIKE RIDE ANYONE?

The last time I rode a bike was the summer of 2000. They say you never forget...

I hope not, because Burt and the girls bought me a rode bike for Mother's Day 2008. I was nervous at first, well actually I still am... I tried to ride with my friends at least three days a week, usually 15-22 miles each ride. One Saturday we planned to do 40 miles, but I was WAAAY to slow and ended up only doing 22 miles. My longest ride that I went on was 28 miles.

Feeling pretty confident in my riding ability (ha ha), I went ahead and registered for THE LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD BIKE RIDE with my friends. If you don't know what that is, I will tell you...it is a 100 mile bike ride in Logan. Apparently I'm dyslexic because I read the biking description as "mostly flat with SOME rolling hills", turns out it said, "MOSTLY rolling hills with some flat"!

Anyway, we all pulled trailers up to Logan and camped together with our families. We had a great time, but went to bed early since we (the girls) were each biking 100 miles the next morning. Now if you know me at all, you know that I don't like to take any kind of medication. However, I was biking 100 miles, the most I had ever ridden was 28 miles, AND I had only had my bike for a month, so before I went to bed I took four Ibuprofen so that I wouldn't wake up sore and stiff for my ride. I was so nervous about the ride, I couldn't sleep! I finally fell asleep some time after midnight and was up for the day at 3:00 AM!! Ridiculous!!! When it was finally time to get out of bed, I got in my biking clothes, ate a banana, a yogurt and a poppy seed muffin, drank 2 bottles of water and then took 3 more Ibuprofen. Not exactly sure why I took the Ibuprofen, just preparing for the pain I guess. I met up with Rachel and Natalie and Melissa and Amberlie and we were off.......

I lost sight of the majority of my friends about two minutes into the ride, they are unbelievably fast! I hope I can be half as good as they are one day! I told them our team name should be "The Turtle and the Hares". I even wore green to fit the part! Although looking at this picture makes me think more along the lines of the "Jolly Green Giant"!

My intentions were to do the 100 miles but the route had time limits. Apparently you had to be at mile 36 within 3 hours. I made it there in 3 hours and 15 minutes, so I was diverted onto the 80 mile route. Tanya was awesome! She had only planned on doing 60 miles, but when I missed the cutoff time, she took pity on me, and we did the 80 miles together! ! She could have finished the ride at least 1-2 hours ahead of me, but she stayed with me the entire time!!

Participating in this ride was so much fun, but it was also THE hardest thing I have ever done physically! There were strong head winds, and cross winds most of the ride, AND a rain shower, so it made pedaling that much harder. I climbed over 1750 feet, burned over 3600 calories, and got up to 34 miles per hour on a downhill. At mile 70, I completely bonked!!! Luckily Tanya was there and gave me, what I call, "the Nike pep talk". She told me to "ride through the pain, ride through the pain"! She also told me that I was so close and if I quit now I would be so mad at myself later. After taking some Gu, some Sport Beans, and more Tylenol and Ibuprofen, I got back on my bike, but it was hard! So hard in fact, that at mile 74 I started to cry!!! I know!!! I was pedaling down the road with big old tears just streaming down my face because every muscle and joint in my body hurt. Not only did they hurt, they burned! In my opinion it was a well deserved cry!

I think we were at mile 76 when Tanya and I saw another hill! We decided that it was probably just a mirage and when we got up to it, the hill would disappear. THE HILL DID NOT DISAPPEAR! I believe I was going 5 miles per hour when Tanya told me that if we didn't speed up, we were going to be on our bikes for another hour! Didn't she know I was giving it all I had? At that point I decided to follow her advice and "ride through the pain" and I believe I got up to 5.5 miles per hour!

Finally, after 6 hours and 36 minutes on our bikes, Tanya and I crossed the finished line! Woo-hoo! We did it, I did it! I couldn't believe it! I was so proud of myself! What a HUGE accomplishment for me! I'm not athletic, in fact, I think I'm kind of wimpy, but I did it!! 80 miles in 6 hours and 36 minutes! Melissa and Amberlie did 100 miles in 6 hours and 43 minutes! Yes you read that right! They did 20 extra miles and it only took them 7 extra minutes! Yes, they are my idols!, I told you they were fast! Natalie and Rachel did awesome too! They finished in 7 hours and 17 minutes! Here we all are at the finish line, and yes, that is fake champagne!

Finally, I couldn't end this blog without saying how wonderfully supportive my family was! Burt was AWESOME! He got up with me at 6:00 am and fed me a banana while I was getting dressed, spoon fed me a yogurt while I was nursing Brynlee and quartered my muffin for me so that I could eat it a little easier. He put Makenzee, Kambree and Brynlee in the car at 9:00 am and drove along the bike route for 100 miles cheering me on! (They were in the car for over 8 hours and 4 month old Brynlee was not used to the bottle that Daddy was trying to feed her)! They met up with me at rest stops to give me a hug and a high five. They pulled off the side of the road many times to take pictures and videos of me in action. They screamed and hollered and cheered me on every pedal of the way! I couldn't have done this ride without the love and support and blessings of my family! Seeing their smiling faces and hearing their words of encouragement rejuvenated me every time I saw them! You guys are the best! Thanks so much for being my biggest fans! Burty, I love you!~