Day 8: Are we there yet?

The prospect of doing a century doesn't scare me, what does is doing it in 95 degree plus weather. However, the fact that we woke up this morning to a brisk 65 degrees gave me some hope. The moment I stepped outside I knew it was going to be an interesting day.

I put one foot out the door of the high school and was immediately swarmed by about 50 mosquitoes...not a pleasant wake up call. I headed back inside grabbed my bike and literally rode out the door in order to avoid being eaten alive. We headed down for breakfast at the local diner and hit the road around 7:30. The first thing that occurred to me when I hit the road was "ride damn fast, you don't want to be stuck in the heat." I took off and left the other riders in the dust.

About 30 miles in, what seemed like only an hour, I started to get a little tired. I needed to get pumped and power forward, so I put on my ipod and blasted some heavy metal. Before I knew it I was motoring away at 23mph uphill.

By the time I hit the lunch rest stop it had already hit around 90 degrees. Everybody was taking their time and shooting the breeze, eating a little food and kicking back. Me and two other guys looked at eachother and said, "fuck it, lets go." Unfortunately for them, when I hear the word go, that means go. After about five minutes I was on my own again.

The hardest part of the day was the 4 mile climb. When I hit the base of it I was thinking, "oh this isnt that bad, it almost looks flat." Man was I wrong. Maybe I was just tired, or maybe the headwind was starting to get to me. But within a mile I bonked and had to stop every five minutes just to keep from cramping up. Luckily I was able to make it to the top of the climb without too much pain, and man was it worth it. I stopped to look and see if anyone was coming up behind me only to see the most magnificent view of a winding road and a snow capped mountain in the background.

Once I started back up again my right glute cramped up. Fortunately I had a nice steep 2 mile downhill right in front of me. I started hammering away to try and pick up as much speed as I could; I hit the down hill at about 25 and managed to get up to 45 by the time I hit the bottom. What a rush after a long grueling day. That downhill was just enough rest to get me to the end of the ride.

I pulled into the university dorm to be welcomed by some cookies and pink lemonade. I have never been happier to see store bought cookies in my entire life. After eating a little food I went up to the receptionist and asked for the closest masseuse. I called and set up a 90 minute appointment with, "the biggest, strongest, mountain dwelling masseuse you have on staff." I dont think the receptionist knew what to make of that, but she ensured me that I would enjoy my massage.

Well, its off to bed.

Until then,
-Ride Hard