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Bruises, road rash, stitches, a broken bone, blisters... check out my toenail from the Disney 1/2M... |
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| Finally took off my toenail polish! Eww! |
And I still wanted to ride my bike 100 miles last weekend. Why?! Am I crazy? Why am I doing this to myself? I'm scared of my bike, I have a broken face, and I want to get back on? I was talking to my husband about it and he said we're just used to being active now, and you risk injury in any sport. Whether I played hockey, football, or raced cars... There's going to be a risk of injury when you aren't sitting on the couch. And I think it's worth the risk. He told me he didn't think I was ready to do all 100 miles. I haven't been training on my bike like I was last year, and I'm still healing. He thought I should do the 67 mile ride. I was determined to do the century.
We got up at 4am on Saturday morning to get to Redmond by 5:30am for The Flying Wheels. We planned on doing the ride in 2 groups. VK Sista', my husband, BFF's husband, and another friend (I need to come up with a blog name for him. Those of you who know him, give me some ideas!) And then group 2 would be going slower... Me, Cheetah, and my MIL. Cheetah and my MIL are pretty new to cycling and with my broken bone, I wanted to take it pretty easy so this seemed like a good plan. Us slow group started off 35 minutes ahead of the guys and VK Sista' because the guys were late.
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| Husband, me, MIL, VK Sista', and Cheetah... waiting for the guys. |
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| Cheetah, MIL, and me... the slow group at the start line! |
We started off slow. I wasn't nervous about being on my bike. There wasn't a whole ton of people all starting at once at the start lines so we were free to just leisurely cycle along. I led the way at about a 15 minute pace with my MIL behind me, and Cheetah behind her. I kept looking back and they seemed to be further behind me than they should be. After a couple miles, Cheetah passed my MIL and came up to chat with me. My MIL was keeping up back there... but just barely... and this was a really easy pace for us. Then we hit the big hill. I knew it was coming and I was actually looking forward to it because I was freezing in my tri top and I knew going up that hill was going to warm me up.
Last year on the Flying Wheels, my stepmom passed away the weekend before so I was kind of an emotionally drained mess. The whole ride was a blur and it was really hard for me. Last year I had to walk up a portion of that hill. This time I just slowly made my way up, and smiled for the camera that I knew would be at the top. Cheetah made her way up first and I found her at the top and we waited for my MIL who had to walk. She got to the top and said that she thought she trained on hills in Spokane but she was wrong and they have no hills like that there. I was worried since this ride is full of hills. She said maybe she should just do the 67 mile ride. I told her I'd stay with her and that we have 10 hours to finish this ride, and we'd just take it slow. The fast group caught up to us around mile 10. Got a kiss from the husband, saw the guys and VK Sista', wished them luck and they took off again.
We made it to our first rest stop and ate some PB&J, crackers, etc. The fast group was about to head out when we arrived so we said hello again. I told husband I was worried about his mom finishing this today. She usually rides along at such a slow pace with friends, stopping for lunch, etc. Last weekend she rode with my BIL and his wife and kids, but I just wouldn't consider rides like that training for the STP. We ride with our kids for fun, not to push ourselves. I don't think her fun rides are helping her improve. I think she felt she was in a little over her head.
We fueled up and headed out again. Cheetah jumped out ahead and I stayed back with my MIL and would explain to her how to start shifting when going up and down the hills. She wasn't shifting soon enough. She said that was really helpful. After hanging out slowly with her for a little while, my legs were just itching to get going. So I decided I would go catch up to Cheetah and chat for a bit and after a couple miles, we'd stop at the top of a hill and let my MIL catch up to us.
We stopped after about 2-3 miles of riding and waited for her. And waited, and waited, and waited. We waited about 10 minutes and there was no sign of her. I said, "Oh no! How much you want to bet that she took a right for the 45 mile ride instead of a left?" I tried calling her and she didn't answer. I text her and no luck. I figured that had to be what she did. She probably went the short route. Maybe she did it on purpose and gave up? We continued on maybe another mile and it was bugging me that I didn't know where she was for sure, so I tried calling again. This time she answered, and yes... she took a right instead of a left. She said she thought the sign said 100 was that way. Hmm. Not sure if I believe her but she sounded glad she turned that way and didn't have to complete the whole 100 miles. Cheetah snapped a selfie as I was on the phone with her. Ha...
Then I called my husband to let him know I lost his mother but she was fine. So Cheetah and I headed off on our own for miles, and miles, and miles. We kept a pretty good pace together. We hit a bunch of rolling hills and I feel like I've totally mastered getting up and down those. I'd go down one side peddling fast and shift into a hard gear as I started going up the next one and would sling shot myself to the top. I was having a blast. No pain in my face at all. Just slight sinus pressure once in a while. And I finally feel like I have fueling down. I would eat blocks or a gel or something every 10 miles at least. I never felt tired. My legs never gave up on me.
At the 55 mile rest stop my phone rang and husband said he was at that rest stop. Whaaat? There's no way we caught up to them. He said that the guys and VK Sista' went off without him and he wasn't feeling well so he thought he'd rest longer and wait for us with another girl who rode with them. We adopted her during the STP. It was fun to see her. He got a text from his mom saying she completed the 45 mile ride when we got to the 55 mile rest stop. At least she had a car key and a beer garden! We were going to be a while. I was starving at this stop so I basically stuffed my face with PB&J, cookies, a banana, almonds, pop chips.... basically everything they had.
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| Husband, me, and our adopted cyclist at the rest area |
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| Cool bike shot Cheetah took |
And then we were off again, joining pace lines and trying to make up some time. I still felt great. Once in a while I'd be going along at a fast speed and think, "It would really, really hurt if I fell off my bike going this fast." And then I'd talk myself out of it and think, "You're fine. You're just going along in a straight line. Trust your bike." Here's a couple "on the road" pics Cheetah took...
At the mile 68 rest stop I felt sick. My husband said that's how he felt at the last stop. I took some tums, a rehydrate gel, and tried to eat but food didn't sound that great. I asked everyone to hang out for another few minutes so I could lay in the grass and drink another bottle of water. I felt a little better and the plan was for me to take the lead and go as slow as I needed and they'd keep my pace until I felt better. I pretty much felt better right away. There was another stop right before the hills at mile 82. We ate what we could, I turned on my music, and prepared for the climbs.
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| Rest stop selfie! Our adopted cyclist friend, me, and cheetah |
Cheetah and I zoomed ahead of husband and our adopted cyclist friend. I felt awesome. I was sweating and huffing and puffing and it felt so good to finally push myself. It has been over a month since I've even gone for a run. I kept passing people and cheering them on. They looked miserable and annoyed by me. It was a blast. I killed those hills. I stopped near the top of one to take a swig of water and decided to wait for my husband. Cheetah was nowhere in sight. He came up slowly around the corner and said, "What did you guys eat at that rest stop that we didn't?!" Ha!
I remember the end of the Flying Wheels last year as one long road that just never, ever ended. I was exhausted and just wanted to stop and lay in someone's front yard. This year I felt great. It felt easy. When we finally reached the finish line, I felt like I had more miles in me. I was so, so excited that my lack of seat time and my injury didn't prevent me from finishing. My husband didn't even think I could do it. Not only did I do it, I felt great doing it. When I finished I knew I'd be just fine for the STP. My MIL, VK Sista' were there cheering us on as we finished. Cheetah was there cheering too. She finished about 5 minutes before we did. (Because she's a cheetah.) The guys left already. I barely saw them. I didn't even get a photo of them. I was so proud of VK Sista' for keeping up with those crazy guys the entire 100 miles. Badass chick!!! Here's some finish line photos...
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| The 100 mile crew |
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| Everyone except the guys |
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| Beer garden |
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| Cheers for VK Sista's birthday that was the day before! |
We went out and stuffed our faces with sushi that night, and went to bed...
Then at 2am I woke up with the worst pain. It was like a gallbladder attack but I have no gallbladder! I laid on the bathroom floor in child's pose feeling like I was going to get sick. I took a percoset and just waited for it to kick in and it never did. After about a half hour, I took another one. Nothing. I was in such pain. It was the weirdest thing. I finally woke up my husband and told him I think I should go to the ER. So we left around 3:30am. This is only the 3rd time I've ever been to the ER my whole life. The first was gallstones when I was pregnant 3 years ago. The second was 4 weeks ago when I crashed and needed stitches. So a month later, I really don't want to make a habit out of this!
They had me change into a hospital gown and gave me an IV and took a couple viles of blood. They wanted me to take a urine test and I didn't have to go. And come to think of it, I have been up for 2 hours and I haven't needed to yet. Maybe I didn't get enough water during my ride? After 2 bags of fluid, I still didn't have to go. Super weird. The nurse gave me morphine for the pain. It made me really warm for a few minutes, and it almost felt like all my muscles were spasming. Like I was so tense the meds were trying to make them relax. It hurt. The pain dulled a little bit and then it was back. Awesome. Morphine doesn't even help. So they decided to try dilaudid. One mg of that and sorta the same thing happened with the morphine but I also felt like I had 3 too many beers. Pain was still there. So they gave me another mg. FINALLY the pain went away but I felt so nauseous and dizzy that I was dry heaving in a barf bag. They put a couple different types of anti-nausea meds in my IV but they didn't seem to be doing anything. What the heck was wrong with me?
They said they needed to take a urine test to make sure I wasn't pregnant before doing a cat scan. How stupid. I'm not pregnant. I have an IUD and my husband has had a vasectomy. The chances of me being pregnant are .0000001 or something. But I had to make my way to the bathroom all loopy and pee 3 drops into a cup. Surprise, not pregnant. So they wheeled me down to get a cat scan and I couldn't get on the table because I was dry heaving. I wasn't able to keep still enough to have the scan. That took some trial and error but I was finally able to lay still enough to do it.
When I got back to my room the rest of the early morning was kind of a blur. Too many meds I guess. The doctor came in to talk to me and I couldn't pay attention to her. I couldn't keep my eyes open. She said she'd just talk to my husband so I could sleep. Oh thank goodness! Leave me alone. I know they got my cat scan back which was normal, and my blood work came back normal. At some point, hours later, I went to the bathroom to finally give them a whole cup of urine and they tested that and it was normal too. They decided that maybe I have a stomach ulcer or I have too much acid? I have no idea. They gave me Zantac. Told me to eat bland food, see a GI Doctor ASAP, and sent me home about 10am. They have no idea if any of this was ride related or not. Thank goodness my kids were still at my moms. I went to bed and slept until 2pm. I woke up with a migraine and couldn't stop throwing up. Awful. And I felt loopy the entire rest of the day.
So I'm home today resting. Still a dull pain but feeling a little better. I can't get into the GI Dr until Thursday and we're supposed to leave for Mexico Friday night. I'm really worried about that now. I've been sleeping or sitting on the couch for a day and a half. I missed my stepmom's headstone unveiling ceremony yesterday. I'm tired of sitting here already. I already want to go for a run. Will this keep me down?
