Tuesday, July 14, 2015

3 rides

for some reason, this was not posted when written.

in the last 2 months, i have ridden in 3 cycling rallies. <p>
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June 6, 2015 - RODEO ROAD RALLY in Mesquite, TX<p>


this ride was over familiar roads. hubby and i started out together but he soon got in his rhythm and left me behind. however, we met up at the last rest rest stop for the 40 mile ride. we rode together for a short distance and then he was off again. caught him at a stop light and we rode together again for a short distance. he left me again and finished b4 me once again. however, i accomplished 2 goals that day. 1)to finish the race; 2)finished the ride under 3 hrs. finishing time: 2 hrs 42 min 17 sec. i was very pleased with my ride overall.<p>
after the ride, i finally decided to go find a pair of road cycling shoes. the shoes i wore did not support my foot or arch at all. i was very sore after the ride on my feet. we were only supposed to look for shoes. hubby bought them for me! so i immediately began training in them. the next cycling rally was a week away.  i only had 5 days to get used to them. the hardest thing to adjust to was the unclipping and landing on one side. with my other shoes, i could easily unclip both and use either foot to land. it took me a few falls and leaning the bike to the right with my right foot unclipped and dangling b4 i got the hang of it. tho i was still very apprehensive, i went on with training and practicing those wonderful hills.<p>
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June 13, 20015 - COLLIN CREEK CLASSIC, McKinney, TX<p>

this ride was definitely gonna be a challenge for me. the weather threatened rain and the humidity was definitely in the air.<p>
the rain came light at first and let up/stop all along the route. my ride was uneventful except for the last rest stop. the rain came down hard with wind. standing under a tent with rain hitting my legs and feet, i was drenched. however, the cycling clothes i wear helped to keep me dry believe it or not. when the rain let up enough to get back on the bike, i took off. hubby was there as well. but he took off b4 i did. he rode 100K (62 miles).<p>
i rode the rally without falling and perfected my one leg stop. it works for me. finished the ride over my 3 hr goal cuz of the lengthy stop at the last rest stop. but not by much. my pace would have put me at 2 hrs 50 mins had the rain not got me.<p>
finished the ride in 3 hrs 8 mins 47 sec.  a very successful ride. :)
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June 27, 2015 - COW CREEK COUNTRY CLASSIC, Waxahachie, TX<p>
the ride i had been wanting to do for the past 2 yrs was finally happening.  :)<p>
to start the rally off right, i fell off my bike cuz i leaned the wrong way and ended up on my left side on the ground. got a good scrap on my my left knee but nothing like my embarrassment. after the rally got goin', hubby and i rode together for a while. we were both riding the same route. however, i knew that he would be leaving me cuz his cadence/rhythm is much faster than mine.  we met up at a couple of the rest stops and then we were separated for quite a while as hubby took a wrong turn. i waited for him at one rest stop for 5 mins as was our agreement b4 moving on. i started hearing a clinking sound coming from my chain area. but when i checked it out, i found nothing. i continued on but found i could not ride in my higher gears as they would jump gears. so i decided i would just ride and fix after rally was done. however, i ended up stopping just b4my phone died as did my wahoo. my chain was making so much clinking that i was very concerned. thought i would have to abandon the rally. called hubby as well as texted him. not long after i dismounted and checking over my bike, 3 cyclists stopped to help. i was very grateful! since i was really upset that hubby didn't stick with me. especially when i told him my chain was acting up. when i found the problem, i was glad that i had stopped. one of my chain links had lost it's top pin. it was bent upwards making the clinking sound and causing the chain to jump. all of us were surprised how the link was damaged and that it didn't just fall apart. i am very glad it didn't fall apart. i would have been down without hubby. the 3 cyclists stayed until a SAG vehicle came by.. it was a repair van from RBM. i was grateful for the help and the fix. i really didn't want to abandon. i wanted to finish the ride. AND I DID! i lost my phone and wahoo connection due to dead phone battery at the 48.72 mile. kinda bummed that i lost my phone cuz of dead battery. but nothing i could do about it. i finished the route in approximately 4 hrs 30 mins. i was down for about 15-30 mins with broken chain. other than that, i accomplished my goal of finishing the ride. maybe next time i will get my goal of under 4 hrs. the route length was 52 miles.<p>
however, after this ride, i was spent. i had no energy left inside. hubby saw my state and encouraged me to drink some protein and finish my cycling drink mix and water. however, that didn't help. we got home and i crashed.<p>
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in the past 3 weeks, i have seen a doc and have been put on Armour thyroid and still waiting on the other tests to come back in. i am still recovering from that ride and i am now getting better. still not 100%. today was the first day i was able to play FLYFF. have not yet been back on my bike except for short time when hubby tweaked the bike. i am hoping to get back into riding soon. but the next rally i can ride in is in McKinney, TX THE MAKE A WISH RIDE. hoping i can make that ride. will definitely take time to get back into the swing of things. i believe this medical set back will make it a challenge. but i am up for it.