Now that a few days have passed since my Ride for Heart, I think I'm able to give a bit better insight on what it was like for me.
The night before I ended up working until midnight which meant that when I got out of bed at 5am on Sunday, I had only slept for a little over two hours. I checked the weather and found that rain was still very much going to be a part of the 75kms.
On my way to the EX, one of the only concerns that kept nagging at me was if I would be warm enough. I decided to stick to my shorts, short sleeved wick shirt, long sleeve wick shirt, jersey and wind vest. It may sound like a lot but all the layers on top are thin and the temperature is all over the place.
I met up with the rest of my group at the gates and we made our way to the start for the 6:45am. The chatter was light and fun until about ten minutes until start time. The leader of our group conveyed the 2hr goal I had and everyone nodded their heads, gave me a pat and told me they would do whatever it took to make it happen. A brief shudder of fear welled up inside of me when thoughts of being the weakest link in the group flashed in my head. The thoughts quickly dissipated when I saw marshals starting to move out from the front of all the riders waiting for the go ahead.
There were many groups like ours that launched off the front and all had an agenda. We quickly formed our pace line and we were off. I made it a point to cover my speed, distance and time before leaving the house. All I was aware of was my cadence. The rain started shortly after the launch, died away and came back. Keeping the pace line was difficult as the rooster tales from the rider in front reduced almost all visibility.
I believe somewhere around the 45km mark I could feeling my strength starting to waiver. The leader of the group noticed and took me off of pulling duty for 6 turns while I ate and recharged. I was embarrassed for having to take a 'break' but as they all rotated around me they gave me words of empowerment and encouragement. My strength started to come back and soon I was back in proper rotation.
Within about 10km to go, the leader who was behind me in the line called out that an attack was happening and I was to chase it down.
'Rabbit loose!'
'Pedalman, chase him down and bring him in!'
The rabbit of course was him and I needed to get on his wheel. He shot past me and I launched my chase. As I cranked the pedals and started to speed away from the pace line keeping the rabbit in my cross hairs the group shouted words of encouragement to me.
I reached down and hit play on the Ipod. I had yet to turn it on and knew that I would need the extra motivation at this point. Moby's 'Lift Me Up' was like nitrous to my legs and I remember saying 'Got ya' before the song ended.
When we crossed the finish line, the last thing that was on my mind was if we had made it under my 2hr goal. The leader came up to me slapped me on the back and told me that maybe next year the goal should be changed a bit.
'1hr:57mins:41sec
He suggested the goal be changed to 1hr45mins next year. I can't repeat the suggestion I gave to him in response.
I want to thank all those that supported me on this ride. Without you guys in my corner, I wouldn't have had a shot.
Thank you my friends.
This little beauty has an attachment that you fasten to your seat rails. On it is a cleat that you slide and lock your bag onto. The bag has a velcro strap to stabilize the bag further to your seat post. Press a button to disengage and your bag is in hand. There is access to the bag through the two sides as well as the back. Inside is a clip for your keys and even a little pouch with a zipper for your change. This was definitely made by someone who understand that not all bikes are used for going from A to B without some stops on the way. I then found out they they have produced a smaller bag with the same construction for weekend road warriors. I put my order in for one.
