Century Saturday

I guess I need to blog about the big ride on Saturday.  It was a pretty big accomplishment, and it may never happen again, so I better get it down in writing.

Bill and I had the goal at the very beginning of our bike training that sometime in June before our trip to France we were going to ride the 100 miles from our house, over Steven’s Pass to Leavenworth.

When Bill first suggested the idea I was thinking, “I’ll never be able to do that” in my head, and out loud I was saying “sure! lets do it!” And after 2 months of hard training, June finally came.

The bishop of our ward is a HUGE cyclist.  He and Bill have ridden together many times.  He has a ride he does with all the men around town every Saturday morning.  So when he heard that Bill and I were planning on doing this ride, he wanted to come along.  He kept mentioning it every time I was him.  So, at last, we planned a day where all three of us would ride and the bishop’s wife, Kami, would pick us all up in Leavenworth when we got there.

I was so nervous about this ride.  I fretted about it all week.  I admit, Friday night I was a little bit (ok, a lot) grumpy, and I didn’t sleep real well the night before.  But, alas, Saturday morning still came anyway.  

We left bright and early.  The sun was NOT out, (of course), in fact, we got a little bit of a sprinkle a few times along the way.  

This is kind of at the beginning of the ride.  Look how happy and fresh we all are!

The first 40 miles are pretty straight forward, just a lot of flats with a few undulating areas.  At mile 40 we stopped at the last gas station before the big climb, filled our water bottles, grabbed a snack and prepared ourselves for the hard part.  20 miles of steady climbing.  We did pretty good the first 10, not so hard.  The second 10 is a beast.  The bishop was ahead of Bill and I that first about 15 miles of climbing, then he said he needed to stop for a minute and Bill and I should go ahead.  Bill thought he might need some time in the bushes (if ya know what I mean) so we continued on.  We were sure he would catch up.

Climbing

Bill and I continued the last 5 miles of beastly climbing to the summit.  When we were at about 3 miles to the summit my right foot started the burn, and once it starts, its a steady burn till the pain gets so bad it’s like my foot’s on fire.  Then at about 2 miles to the top my left foot started the burn.  There was NO WAY I was stopping.  Even though when you are only going 7 miles per hour up a huge climb, 2 miles takes FOREVER!   So I started to sing my way to the top.  I made Bill sing with me to take my mind off the burn.  (actually my legs were doing pretty good!  Last time I thought they would fall off, but this time maybe the foot pain was over-powering the leg pain, because I don’t remember the legs hurting much.  Or, maybe, just maybe, I’m getting stronger!)  So, back to the singing.  We sang a little Pearl Jam, a little John Denver, a little Depeche Mode. 

The whole time we were climbing Bill kept looking back to see if the bishop was catching up....no sign.

As soon as we saw the ski resort building at the summit Bill started singing “We are the Champions”.  You seriously feel like one, too, by the time you reach it.  That last 3 miles seems like about 30.  

This must have been after I got the use of my feet back .

We cycled over to a gravel parking lot.  I unclipped out of the peddles, but I seriously couldn’t stand up of my own free will.  My feet were in so much pain that I fell onto the gravel and couldn’t move.  Shoes come off.  There were a whole bunch of people at the summit.  It looked like they were some sort of tour group or something that was going to get on a bus.  Anyway, this guy sees me collapse and Bill is heading toward a picnic table about 8 feet from where I’m on the ground.  This guy comes over, he's all “are you ok?  What should we do? (at Bill)...should we carry her over to the bench?”   How embarrassing.  I assure him I’m ok, just won’t be able to walk for the next 10 minutes, but after that I’ll be fine.  And I was.  It only takes about 10 minutes out of my shoes for the nerve to calm down and not burn.  

Bill then gets a text from the bishop.  He has cracked.  He's done.  He called his wife to come pick him up at the summit, but we have still seen no sign of him.  We decide to wait at the summit until he makes it up.  About 15 minutes later we finally see him coming around the corner, but he’s toast.  He hasn’t ridden as much this season as he usually does and just doesn’t have the legs this year.  

The three of us when we all got there.  Don’t ask me why the Stevens Pass sign is backwards.  I don’t know!

So, Bill and I decide to continue our journey down the mountain leaving the bishop at the top to wait for a ride.  

The ride down was a blast.  A huge 10 mile descent.  Then 30 more miles of mostly descending with a few smaller climbs into the town of Leavenworth.  We Hauled!  I think we stayed over 25 MPH most the 40 miles into town.  It was a great ride.  At mile 98 my right shoe came off and I cycled into town in my sock.  My feet were done, but the rest of me felt pretty good!

It was awesome to see mile 100 come up on my Garmin! 

We met the bishop and his wife and family in Leavenworth, went out to lunch and had a really fun afternoon shopping and playing in Leavenworth.  What a day!  Something to remember.