100 miles - Great friendship!

In late Spring, my best friend Lindsey saw a flyer for a 100 mile bike ride - she thought we could do it for our Girl's Weekend in September.  I just finally admitted to her that I did not think I could pull it off - I had confidence she could but me?  Nope.  But, because she had confidence, I had confidence.  She is that good of a friend, that if she believes in me - I believe in me!  Without her, I would never have even tried this!!

We made our plan to train all summer on the UT-Sylvania Trail in the early morning.  We started doing 12 miles at 5 am, two days a week and then a longer ones on Saturday.  By July we had invested in padding shorts and we were doing 60 miles.  We built up and did an 85 the first week of September - we were ready and really confident!  It was staying darker longer so we could not start until 6:30 am.  Every morning we saw lots of deer, had only one crash, and I was skunked by a small skunk!  Great laughs!

We drove up to Detroit on Friday night and it was raining!  Not a good sign!  We woke up to a lot of rain and wet ground.  We struggles to find something for breakfast but made it to the site at 7 ish.  We had hope to leave at 6:30 am but it was pitch black and raining.  It worked out perfect as we ended up leaving at 7:30 with the sun shining and the rain done but it was chilly!  We had three layers on top and our biking shorts and we knew right away that we were the newbies in this event.  It was pretty lowkey with not much fanfare but all the long distance racers were decked out in racing gear!

We started the race and thought we were doing a trail ride, so we jumped on the trail.  The trail was flooded in many places and we kept wondering what the guys with the skinning tires were going to do.  It was deep - way past our pedals deep in water.  By the time we got through the first six miles, we were freezing wet, exhausted, and worn out!  (Later we were told we were supposed to just stay on the street - we had figured it was a trail ride - safer?) We were clueless, we had no idea that this ride would be all street and all hills!  We had trained in Toledo where there are no hills!  Augh!

We went on - we were not willing to give up and made it to the 25 mile mark - we could not find the food stop so we ate what we had and drank our water!  We decided to keep going up the long 6 mile hill!  As we neared the top - we smelled pumpkins and apple cider!  I remember shouting out "do you smell that!" In front of us was a beautiful pumpkin farm - we were so excited!  We both say that Heavenly Father knew we would need that boost!  We stopped and took pictures, enjoyed the smells and even asked to get some dry socks (no luck!).  The owner cracked up when we told them we were on a 100 mile ride and we had to stop because it was so beautiful!!  We were still freezing (our toes were stiff) and exhausted but we were excited about the beautiful area we were biking in.

We took off again and kept trying, it was a rather solitude ride since we were street biking.  We were used to being able to chat along the way but there were too many cars to do that.  I mostly biked behind Lindsey and I was a nervous wreck as the cars went by her and I could see how close they were to her!  We had prayed that we our bikes would hold up, we would not be hit by a car, or crash into each other.  We didn't think to pray about staying warm or getting up all the HILLS.  We had a few rough patches where we were discouraged but neither one of us wanted to give up!

By the time we hit the 48 miles mark we were exhausted and still cold.  Again, the Lord blessed up with kind people who talked with us, fed us, cheered us on and were so kind.  The funnies part was how shocked everyone was that we were doing the 100 mile - me on my clunky mountain bike and the both of us looking more like Sunday bikers than racers.  It gave us drive and desire so there was no turning back.

We tackled Mast Drive - which we were told was the hardest part of the race!  It was, it was horrid, it was one small hill to a bigger, and bigger with no time to recover or build up power!!!  We were excited to get to lunch at 68 miles and then heading in the last 32 miles was exhilarating!  Don't get me wrong, we were exhausted and tired but after we ate lunch we had it in us!  When we finished we were spent but so excited, we chatted with some of the other bikers, ate some ice cream and walked around (the idea of getting in the car right away was not happy) and stretched!  By the time we got back to our hotel we were hungry and tired.  Our legs were tired but not bad, I think my knees were sore the most!  I was happy that my back did not hurt!  Our toes have recovered and they are all still intact! You would have thought we would have been more tired but we were in a rush!

The next morning, we headed back to the pumpkin patch for a donut and a pumpkin before heading back to Toledo.  We talked with two guys who had heard about our 100 mile bike ride and our stop the morning before!  A little embarrassing but this pumpkin patch was such a blessing!  We arrived home to our families in the afternoon!  I was only home a couple hours when our family took off for a bike ride at the bike - crazy but better to keep going!!

A couple days later, legs and back are great!  I am still getting the headaches some but I just eat and drink all throughout the day - they will go away!  But we DID it - 100 miles!  I am so thankful to Lindsey for believing that we could do it and for my hubby who encouraged me along the way!

What is up for next year??  I am thinking the Great Alleghany Passage but that is 150 miles and then how do we get back?  :)