56 on Saturday!

Last Saturday was an "off-week" for the cycle team, meaning we had a buddy ride organized by the team, but not supported by coaches and staff. Since the start of the ride was only a few miles from my house, I decided to ride over instead of driving, which added about 6 miles roundtrip.

I expected most of my pacegroup to be there, but - much to my dismay - only one showed up! Craig and I decided to join another group, which turned out to be another rider named Kevin. The three of us braved the hills of Los Altos together, and each of us took a turn pulling the group, or waiting at the top of a hill, or being waited on as we climbed! We rode very well together, and really enjoyed our group, despite how small we were!

About halfway through the ride we passed a group of riders heading towards Edgewood. I said, "On your left" as I passed, and they responded with "MCNUTT!" Two of my teammates who missed the start of the ride had taken a shortcut and caught up. We had a bit of our group back together - it's amazing how much we've bonded in the short time we've ridden together.

I knew Ken was running with Jodi at Edgewood and Canada, but didn't expect to see them. When I got closer and saw Ken's car still on the side of the road I got really excited! I was going to leave some stuff on his car to take back home with him (arm and leg warmers) and was even more excited to (almost literally) run into Jodi and Ken just as they finished their run. Talk about perfect timing! Ken filled up my camelback for me and took my sweaty gear. It's amazing how emotional endurance sports makes me. I was so excited to see him! He even gave me a big hug, which was a big deal considering how yucky I felt after 2.5 hours of riding.

The rest of the ride went fairly well, but I was glad to get home after 56 miles and almost 4 hours on my bike. I'm so proud of myself for all I have accomplished on my bike thus far, and can't wait to cross the finish line in Tahoe. I'm still not sure how I'll survive the rest of the training, though. I was an absolutely mess for the rest of the day and I only went half of the distance as my goal event!