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.