Saturday April 24th we rode 65 miles from Berryville VA. The forecast was rain. The trip was an hour and a half. The meet time was 7:30AM. I woke up at 5:30, when I left home the sun was just coming up.
Everyone agreed that it was a hard day to get out of bed. After the really hard week before, it was hard to look forward to the ride, even though it's one of the team's favorites.
Turns out that I rode for most of the day with one of our coaches, Bill, and a pack of other riders. He coached and encouraged me through the ride and since he's a coach he, yelled at us not to give up one the hills. Yelling is part of coaching so it was all good. In the end, I was faster and stronger that I'd been all season, and I didn't ride alone. I think part of it was moving my weekday ride to Tuesday, I felt good when I started off, and part of it was eating more at the beginning of the ride. By the second rest stop at about 40 miles, I was starting to flag - not sure if it was nerves or the result of having been pushing pretty hard up to then. Probably both. Anyway, by about 10 miles from the end I perked up and ended strong. When Bill congratulated me and called me a strong rider, I felt awesome. He (and this ride) made a difference in my confidence.
Coach Bill is wearing a yellow helmet in the middle of this picture.
I spoke to an alum last night at a fundraiser who said that while the training for Tahoe was tough, the ride itself was great and she felt totally ready. I hope that's the case for me too.
This week I went on a Tuesday Ride from Conte's with Velo Bella, a women's riding group, short but hilly and again, felt pretty good.
This week, we're riding up in Thurmont Maryland. About last week's distance, 65, but I'm guessing a bit more hilly, although everyone denies that it is.
Supposed to be warm and sunny this week - for the first Saturday since we started!
Thanks to all who donated this week - GO TEAM!
No comments:
Post a Comment