DAY 4 - Rest Day (should have been 51.8 miles, 1,180 elevation)

After much discussion, Rick and I decided to just drive the support vehicle to the next overnight town of Charles City. We figured, let Dean, Carol, Pete and Mary ride the entire day and get the full RAGBRAI experience. It's the first time for all of them except Pete. If they like it enough, they'll join us the next time. I was also looking forward to a day off. I was sunburnt, my rear hurt, my legs had a dull ache, and quite frankly, I was just exhausted. We ended up staying at the hotel until just a little before check out time. I took another shower just for good measure. I was enjoying the indoor plumbing as much as possible. When we finally got to Charles City, we picked a perfect little place to camp, set up our little lawn chairs and just hung out waiting for the others. It was fun and relaxing. During that time, I was also mapping out how to drop our bags off on the baggage truck in the morning. I carefully read the RAGBRAI papers to make sure I knew when and where to drop off the bags. It was going to be a relief not to lug 60 lb of gear. The day was a perfectly crisp and warm day. The humidity had dropped after a rough overnight thunderstorm that included lightning touching nearby the campground. I'm glad we were in a hotel that night. While we were waiting for the others to arrive, Rick and I went to the HyVee to buy chips, sweets and beer for everyone. The group finished up around 2:30pm and stuck around talking about the ride and enjoying Shinerbocks and snacks until about 3:30pm. I was kind of sad to see them go. It was so nice to relax in a group setting and just talk about the days events. I really hope that if there is a next time, they will join in on the entire ride.

DAY 3 - 59.9 miles, 1,068 elevation

I forgot to mention before that Rick's lips were also sunburnt...much worse than mine. His lower lip was so swollen and fat that I started laughing at how funny he looked until I was in tears. He kept pretending to talk as if he had one of those dental novacaine injections. That set me off for another round of giggles. Anyway, I was really looking forward to today because of the support vehicle, plus we'll be staying in a hotel tonight. Hooray! Towing 60 lb of luggage is really not easy and as much as I like showering in a truck, a private hotel room is so much better. We started the day relatively early at around 7am. The reason for starting earlier and earlier is because the temperatures have been in the low 90s and the humidity levels are atrocious (somewhere in the mid-70s). Today's weather is supposed to be 94F with a heat index of about 102. It only gets worse when you factor in the heat coming off of the hot black asphalt. So off we went. Rick said we might be able to meet Pete at the first town of Britt, so I pedaled as hard as I could to get there. It was sweltering, but I kept pushing it thinking about unloading the luggage. Oops, we missed them, so it was off to the meeting town of Garner. This was still pretty far away, and I was wilting from the heat. I had to drink water every 15 minutes and I looked forward to passing any house with a kid on the front lawn willing to hose us down. When we finally made it to Garner, I was thinking, all right, I made it without suffering from heat stroke. We stopped short of the main town to try to reach Pete and to cool off a bit. We sat in the grass for a while enjoying ice cold lemonade and a banana. Rick was able to reach Pete. He told me that Pete was in the park area and that he had biked from the overnight town of Clear Lake to Garner. It took about 10 minutes for me to realize, hey wait a second, if Pete biked to Garner, there is no support vehicle to carry my freaking luggage. I was so mad, I was ready to push Rick in front of all the oncoming bicyclists. He actually knew about all of this in advance, since Pete texted him to let him know where he was. But, he wanted to keep me motivated. So, he claims he never lied to me. He just never gave me all of the facts. Really, if I weren't so darn tired, I could have killed him. When we met up with Pete, I felt a little better. The dynamics change when you're in a group as opposed to just being with your spouse. So onward we went to the final town of Clear Lake. I still thought I was dying from heat stroke, but we made it. When I finally got to the hotel, I took a very, very long cold shower. I felt like a brand new person after that. We ate dinner with Pete, his wife, and another couple, Dean and Carol, and then we headed over to the Expo & Beer Garden area. It was still a very humid night and you could see flashes of lightning all around, but no rain. We sat on a couple of benches to listen to a band sing cover songs from the Spin Doctors, but instead, there was a delay, and we were treated to a spectacular fireworks show over the lake. I forgot about Rick's omissions that day, and put my head on his shoulder and held his hand as we watched all the brilliant lights flash over us. When the fireworks were over, we decided we were all pretty tired, so we headed back to the hotel. Tomorrow is supposed to be the easiest day of the tour. It's just a little over 50 miles and it's mostly downhill. Weather reports say that a nasty storm will pass overnight leaving us with cooler, less humid air. I won't be riding tomorrow. I'll be driving the support vehicle to the next overnight town of Charles City. I'm not going to complain. I could use a break. My legs are really sore and my rear is beginning to ache, but at least it's not nearly as bad as last year. Plus, my sunburn is slowly getting better, so rest is a good thing.

Waking Up In Algona

We fell asleep so soundly that we didn't hear the rowdies in the middle of the night climb over the fence of the Aquatic Center and cannonball into the pool. I guess Team BodyShop (or something like that) had a little too much to drink. Apparently the police came to break everything up. I didn't hear a thing :) When I woke up, I was sore all over, especially my "sit" bones. I also had a sunburn on my back. Apparently, the sunblock couldn't save me from being exposed from 7am-5pm. My lips are also all swollen from windburn. Who needs collagen when you could have windburn! It doesn't hurt, but my lips look quite plump. I started laughing at myself when I looked in the mirror. I also laughed at my tan lines, which are the same as last year's -- a straight white line down the back. Off we go to ride 59.9 miles and meet up with our friends Pete Royer and his wife, along with another couple. I'm looking forward to meeting up with Pete. He has a support vehicle. I can finally ride luggage free, at least for part of the ride.

DAY 2 - 79 miles, 1,083 elevaton

After a pretty restful night, we woke up around 6am and started to get ready for the long day of biking. My legs were sore, but not so bad that I couldn't ride. We were out on the road by around 7:30am. Unlike last year, where we had a group that helped us out with food, we had to go ride to the first place for breakfast. The first stop was the Farm Boys breakfast burritos. The line looked like a mile long, so we skipped it thinking we'll ride to the first town, Varina, which was 16.5 miles away. But, we missed the turn off, so onward we went. We had to stop to share a half a protein bar and some water, but we finally made it to K&K for a delicious and needed PB&J along with ice-cold OJ and a banana. That fueled us forward to the big meeting town of Pocahantas, which was a beautiful town with a lot of friendly folks. This was another 17.1 miles away, so when we stopped, I was pretty tired. I took a short snooze on the grass in the park after eating a veggie pizza lunch. Then off we went to West Bend, another 27.4 miles away. This took us a while, but it was nice and flat, so the ride wasn't so bad. At West Bend, there is this incredible grotto. It's the world's largest grotto, so we stopped for about 20 minutes to walk around it (and to use the indoor plumbing -- port-o-potties, as you can imagine, are kind of yucky, especially when it feels like it's 100 degrees in there. As my friend would call it, a poop oven). We rode the last 18 miles into the overnight town of Algona. After a day of riding flat roads, getting into Algona was a challenge...steep and steady uphill, but we made it and set up camp by the Aquatic Center. Since we arrived pretty late, it was once again a veggie curry and gyro dinner. But it was nice just sitting on the curb leaning on Rick, chatting about the days events and sharing another nice night out.

DAY 1 - 68.5 miles, 3,687 elevation

Unfortunately, Rick didn't finish his projects, so he brought his laptop and files with him. He also stayed up most of the night working. This carried on into the morning, so we got off to a late start around 10am. It was hot and humid and our baggage weighed the bike down -- total weight, about 50-60 lb. I was doing okay for the first half of the day, but then my legs started cramping badly during the final 23 miles. I wasn't sure if I was going to make it and once again, I cried from the pain. I wanted to SAG it, but Rick wouldn't let me. I don't know why my legs cramped so badly. After all the running I've been doing, I thought I'd be fine. Maybe I didn't eat enough or drink enough water. Maybe I didn't realize how hard it is to ride self-supported on a hilly route. Probably a little of everything. We finally pulled into the overnight town - Storm Lake - by around 9pm. Luckily, Joe's Shower Shack was still open. Showering inside a trailer never felt better! We ate veggie curry and gyros for dinner and strolled along this beautiful little town. We pitched our tent right by the lake and fell asleep underneath the bright moon and stars. A lovely ending to a rough day. Tomorrow is going to be a long day of riding with nearly 80 miles. At least it should be pretty flat.

The Day Before RAGBRAI

Today, Rick and I made it to the starting point of RAGBRAI, Sioux City, Iowa. It wasn't as easy as we thought it would be. After weeks of sunny days with very little rain, our day started with severe thunderstorms. Luckily Rick's flight out of LGA was on time and while the connecting flight out of Chicago boarded on time, we were stuck in the airplane for 90 minutes. When we finally made it to Omaha, we had to hop onto a 90-minute shuttle to Sioux City. I was expecting a nice and peaceful ride. Maybe get a little sleep. Instead, I got to listen to a loudmouth, pompous ass who was so full of himself, I was tempted to smack him in the face. Rick kept making fun that he should take his biking helmet and smash it over his head...that's how annoying he was. I felt like I was on the LIRR where you can't get the person to stop talking so loudly on his/her cell phone. This guy was talking about how smart he is, how he is superiorly physically fit, how he dates rich and beautiful women. Luckily, the day got better once I got off the shuttle. We had lunch at the RAGBRAI Expo. To continue last year's theme of "I love pork," I had a pulled-pork sandwich. After lunch, we assembled the bike (about 90 minutes) and then we rode it down to the Missouri River, and in RAGBRAI tradition, dipped the back wheel into the river. And then, we enjoyed a lovely dinner at Luciano's, where I flushed a lovely shade of red after having a watermelon martini. I can hardly wait for tomorrow. Distance 68.5 miles, total elevation 3,687 ft. This will be one of the hilliest days, so I'm looking forward to the challenge.

Running Update

My friend invited me to run a 5K with her next weekend. Unfortunately, I had to turn her down since I will be on a business trip in Chicago. I wanted to do the run with her to test my speed at 5K. I know my body is trained enough to handle a nice and easy 3.2 miles,but how would I feel if I pushed the pace. It's hard for me to push myself to run faster when I'm alone. There's just no incentive. But, when you're with a pack of people, the competitive spirit kicks in along with a rush of adrenaline. I'll try to find another event near us between now and the Sept 19 half marathon I signed up for. While I'm in Chicago, I'll go run by the lake. I'll be staying at a hotel right next to the lake, so why not. It should be lovely, but I can't overdo it since the following week is RAGBRAI.

In number news, the running log I've been keeping surprised me when I scrolled down to the total distance I've run since April. I've passed the 100 mile mark! To be exact 112.35 miles. Amazing for a person who has never really exercised regularly until a year and a half ago. I forget how many points I've accumulated, but I'm pretty sure David's far behind me :)

Less than two weeks to RAGBRAI

The bike is packed and shipped already. Our flights have been booked. My bags are almost packed. I'm getting nervous. What happens if I can't finish it?!? It's going to be a very different experience this year. No team - no Tash, Pete, Gene or Ron. Who's going to savor a pork chop with me? Well, maybe Pete. He's coming with his wife and another couple for a few days. We'll also be riding the heavier 1980s Santana tandem. And as if the additional weight of the older bike was enough, Rick wants us to carry our own bags, so all our stuff will be in panniers and on the rack. That's probably another 50 lb. I wanted to use the luggage truck, but Rick's concerned they'll lose our stuff and we'll up the river without a paddle. Personally, I think he just liked the panniers. He was grinning from ear to ear when he showed them to me. Well, they were kind of nice, but quite pricey. For avid touring bicyclists, they'll appreciate Ortlieb products. Rick has a thing for bicycle bags. The guys from last year can vouch for me :)

Running at Night

It's been hot and humid for the past few weeks. I've been wanting to run outdoors and not in the gym. I just want the fresh air and the scenery, but, I don't want to pass out from heat stroke and dehydration. So, I finally decided to try running at night. I didn't dare venture too far from my home. It's dark out here and there aren't all that many streetlights. So, off I went with my little flashlight in hand. I was quite scared at the beginning. A little bit because of the cars, but mostly because of the racoons and possums. I was also a little worried about tripping over any bumps in the road and sidewalk. But, all in all, I survived without any many damage. Total distance in the dark, 3.3 miles. By the end of it, I was dripping with sweat. The sun may have gone down, but the temperature was still in the 80s and the humidity levels close to 80%. I can't wait for it to get at least a little cooler.

Mansion Ride on the Gold Coast

To continue on my training for Iowa, Rick and I signed up for an easy 35 mile ride near our home in Long Island. Rick's done this ride several times. This was my first time. I liked that it was close to home. I also liked that it was for a good cause -- research on autism. We met up with a couple of Rick's friends thinking we should easily be done by 2pm since we were starting around 8am. But, that wasn't quite the case. Not so much because we were slow, but because we hung out at least 20 min at each rest stop waiting for his friends. It made the ride so much more leisurely. The Montauk Century almost killed me. The Mansion ride was a walk in the park. We only biked a maximum distance of 12 miles before reaching a rest stop. Real easy. A lot easier than 25 miles between each rest stop. We stopped by some lovely mansions - Cedarmere and Westbury Gardens. Plus we stopped by my kids favorite beach, Morgan State Park. All in all, a great ride that gives me confidence I can handle Iowa.

Getting Lost this Weekend

On Saturday, I opted to run 5 miles around my neighborhood. It was a beautiful day for a run. I ran to the Glen Cove Mansion, which I believe used to be a foreign embassy, and then to the Glen Cove High School, where I ran a few laps around the track, and then back home. All in all, not bad, but definitely not scenic. On Sunday, I thought I'd take it easy and run a slow and scenic 3 miles. I mapped out how to get to the Welwyn Preserve, which I figured would be nice to cool down on the nature trails. So, I'm running along thinking, I need to make a left to get to the preserve. On Google Maps, it looks like two roads will take me there. I guess map reading is not one of my areas of expertise. I missed the initial turn off to the preserve and thought, that's okay, I'll turn left at the end of the road. When I made the left, it was down a steep road that curved back and forth. There were no sidewalks or shoulders. It was just me, the road, and the cars. I ran a little faster down the hill than I would have liked, but I figured...it's better than being roadkill. I was hoping, actually praying, that there would be a way back to the main road after I finished going down the hill. Of course, NO LUCK!!! I entered a private island that had a million signs screaming, no trespassing. So after I ran another five minutes over the bridge, I had to turn around and see if I had enough energy to chug up the hill. Gratefully, my legs have been trained enough to just keep turning over, no matter how tired I get. It's fair to say I had a lot of adrenaline pumping through me too. I did almost get hit by a car on one of the turns. This gave me a lot of incentive to run faster. By the end of it, I ran a tough 5 miles. So much for a scenic, easy 3 miles. Next time, I won't trust Google Maps to show me how to get somewhere. I'll have to actually get directions from the Welwyn Preserve website. I guess it's true, you can't believe everything you see on the Internet :)

Running Log

As many of my friends know, I have been training to run a half marathon forever. Originally, I was going to try to do it when I went on a business trip to San Antonio, mainly because my virtual running partner, Dave, was going to be there. Dave lives in Houston, so we always email or text each other on our running activities. Unfortunately, I had to cancel the run because I was ill with strep throat the week before the meeting and I was in no shape to run 13.1 miles. I was feeling quite lethargic after I came back from that trip until Dave emailed me with a challenge. The subject line of the email, GAUNTLET IS DOWN!!! He created a point system for each time we run, minimum distance is 3 miles. So here's how it works:

1 pt - 3 mile minimum
1 bonus pt - 5 mile minimum
1 bonus pt - running four times a week (Mon-Sun)
1 bonus pt - running an organized event

Dave knows me quite well in that I have major OCD tendencies. He knew that I would totally buy into this, which I did. I now have a running log that I have kept since the beginning of April. Thanks to Dave, I have logged in 62.65 miles for a total of 24 points. This is significant improvement over my sporadic running habits. If I'm not sick, I'll run 4x a week...just so I can get that extra bonus point. Dave and I still have to figure out what kind of ridiculous thing the loser has to do, but I'm sure I'll think of something outrageous for him :)

Post Mortem on the Montauk Century

I was kind of nervous and excited about riding the tandem with Rick. From what I recollect, he said we were going to ride the 65-mile route, the shortest of the three distances offered (100 miles starting in Babylon, and 145 miles starting at Penn Station). I say recollect, because later on he told me that he signed us up for the century. I could have still opted for the 65 mile ride, but I thought, what the heck, let me see how far I could push it before I break. So, at 7am, we were off to ride from Babylon to Montauk. I will admit that this ride should have been easy. It was very, very flat. I couldn't even call anything we went up a real hill.

The ride started off well. I was feeling okay. Maybe a little sleepy because I only had 3 hours of sleep total. But I had adrenaline to kill the sleepy feeling. When we reached our first stop, Corey Beach, roughly 25 miles into the ride, I didn't feel too bad. My legs were a little tired, but I shook it off at the rest area. What I couldn't shake off was the queasy feeling in my stomach. I didn't want to tell Rick that I wasn't feeling well, so I just stopped drinking and eating so much. While that helped to fend off the stomach issues, it resulted in massive dehydration. By the time I made it to rest area number two, which was about another 25 miles, I was feeling faint. My legs felt like logs and I had to lie down in the grass because I thought I was going to pass out. Still, I didn't want to stop. I didn't want to be a sissy and not finish the ride. So, after some deep breaths, I got back on the bike with Rick. By mile 55, both of my legs were cramping from my knees to my hips. I had to get off the bike several times. Rick kept telling me to drink more water and to stretch my quads each time we took a break and to rub them while I was riding. I wanted to yell at him, but I had no energy. Besides, he was right to tell me that I had to ride through the pain. I wasn't going to get into a SAG wagon. No way. Eventually, the cramps subsided, but I was still feeling dizzy. What should have been a beautiful scenic ride through the Hamptons, became a struggle with me closing my eyes and counting each turn of the pedal. A couple of times, I found myself drifting off, but then I'd catch myself and scream in my head, WAKE UP, you are more than half way there. When we got to the third rest area, roughly 70 miles, that's when I knew I was done. I was more the done, I was toast. I still had stomach issues. My head was spinning. And, my butt was in a lot of pain. Talking to a friend today made me realize that I will never feel comfortable on a bicycle saddle. Why? Because about 6 years ago, I broke my tailbone falling down a set of stairs while holding my baby girl. It's great that my maternal instincts kicked in and I held onto the baby. But, it wasn't good for my butt, which used hard cold ceramic tiles to break my fall. I guess my tailbone never healed properly because I can feel it protrude a bit to the right. Now I suppose I know why I favor my left side when I ride.

After biking 70 miles, I caved in and got on the SAG wagon. I was really tempted to ride the final 30 miles, but I thought, don't be stupid, you're already in a lot of pain. What happens if you do irreparable damage to yourself? Plus, we had some logistical issues with how to pick up the kids, so onto the wagon we went. When I look back with 20/20 hindsight, I think, I should have just finished off the final 30 miles. I was actually more worried about picking up the kids than I was about how much I was going to hurt myself. But, due to some seriously bad luck, we experienced a logistical nightmare getting our bike back from the organizers, that in the end, we didn't pick up the kids from Manhattan at 8pm as scheduled. We picked them up closer to midnight. That's a whole other story. I suppose I'm proud to have finished 70 miles for my first real ride of the year...but I would have been more proud had I actually completed the century. Oh well, there's always next time.

Back on the Bike

It's been nearly a year since I rode 400 miles across Iowa. I had the best of intentions of continuing to improve my bicycling skills and endurance, so that I could ride RAGBRAI 2010 on my own. However, intentions don't mean action. As of July 31, 2009, I have been on a bike for a total of 12 miles...not quite the recommended 1,000 miles of riding by RAGBRAI organizers -- NOT EVEN CLOSE. I can make up a lot of excuses, like I've been doing a lot more training for the half-marathon that I plan on running in mid-September, but that's not going to save me from the pain in the ass I'm going to experience again when I ride RAGBRAI at the end of July.

My hopes of riding across Iowa on my own bike aren't going to be realized this time around. Unlike last year, it'll just be me and my husband riding the entire distance. No team this time around since many of the guys will be doing Ride the Rockies. Since Rick's skill level is significantly better than mine, it's preferable that we ride a tandem, rather than have him wait for me at the end of each ride and potentially lose me among the 15,000 other riders. Rather than borrowing a tandem that is too big for us, Rick did a little shopping and found a used Santana tandem for under $1,000. Tomorrow, we'll be testing it out with a 65-mile ride in Montauk. This is going to be interesting. I haven't been on a tandem with him since last year, so I wonder if I'm still going to feel terrified when we speed down the hills and he screams "ON YOUR LEFT." I wonder if he's going to remember that he needs to communicate with me what's coming up, since all I can see is his backside. I wonder how much my rear is going to hurt :)

We're going to do another 65-mile ride in mid-June that's supposed to be quite hilly, and maybe we'll do a few more rides before RAGBRAI. To try to put a positive spin on things, at least I'll be ahead on training compared to last year. Back then, I only rode a total of 50+ miles before the 400 miles. At least this year, I'll have done nearly 150 miles. I'm sure my avid bicycling friends are getting a kick out of how ridiculous that sounds.