45 miles and counting

If anyone had told me a few months ago that I would have ridden a bicycle from Farmington, CT to Seville Dam in Barkhamsted, CT; I would have told said person they were crazy.  However, 25 miles into our ride this Saturday I found myself standing next to the dam, munching on a power bar and a pb&j sandwich (thank you road angels!!).  It was a beautiful day.  The sun was shining bright, I had just climbed the biggest hill I had ever seen from a two wheeled perspective and come down the other side of that hill at over 40 mph.  :)

Now getting to that point was an adventure.  I have the honor of getting the first flat tire of the season.  Mile 15ish, out went my back tire.  I had missed the bike maintenance clinic, so very lucky for me, all 3 of my coaches stopped to help.  Even funnier is it took all three of them to fix it.  Coach Henry put my new tube in, Coach Dave pumped it up and promptly snapped off the top of the presta valve which I think may have broken the other coaches pump...and of course bye bye tire. Another new tube, tire all set, off we go.

Because I now have two busted tubes to carry back, my overfull bike bag that lives under my seat unzipped and out flies my bike tool.  Thank goodness it didn't topple Jen who was drafting behind me.  So poor Coach Henry stopped to pick up my tool.  At this point Jen and I keep going.  I pull out my water bottle (if I have learned anything  through this it is that hydration is important :)) and when I went to put it back in the cage it popped out and went flying across the road, and then promptly bounced back again into Jen.  Fun half mile let me tell you.

BUT!!! I made it.  And I made it in with the majority of my pack.  I was the last in, but only by a few minutes, which felt great.  Especially because I am still riding without bike shoes and clipless pedals.  Hopefully I can get those into the budget.  It would be a huge help on the hills.

This week is all about maintaining my training, took yesterday off with Easter travel and today did a ton of around the house work, plenty of stairs and cardio.  Great weather this week, should be back on the bike tomorrow!  Bike computer is back up and working, bike pump is loaded on the new bike, hopefully the new back bag that will hold a bit more gear will be in soon and complete the package.  Now that all of that is taken care of, need to focus on fundraising, which is starting to get scary!  Deep breath.  I can do this...