Philosophical question of the day: How is it that you can ride a loop and yet 2/3 of it has a headwind?
I decided to do this ride at the last minute since Ready 2 Roll's ride was a loooooooong drive for me, and it was also more mileage than I wanted to commit to on the weekend before the MS 150.
There was the potential for rain, so I did an on-site sign-up. I actually have to say that it was super painless, and it was really cool because it was in Sun n Ski and they actually had the store open for business at 6am. So I was early and once I was signed up, I went shopping for (and purchased) a new trisuit! 2 birds, 1 stone, yay!
I chose the 36 mile route, again, because it is the weekend before the big weekend, and frankly, if my body isn't ready, killing it this weekend wasn't really going to help.
Well I killed it even on the 36. But I'll get to that.
Ride to the first rest stop was a little clustery for the first 5 miles or so, but then it opened up nicely. Mild headwind, no problem. First rest stop could have used more porta potties, but otherwise was fine.
Second leg was AWESOME!!! I had a tailwind and I was FLYING! It went by crazy fast and suddenly I was at the next rest stop and high on the sheer awesome.
But even at that rest stop I had a sneaking suspicion that we were looking at a headwind on the way back. Oh noooooo, I haaaaaaateses headwinds.
And I was right. That last leg was terrible. Awful. No good. Very bad. Soul sucking.
I have to say I got really ticked at this one lady, too. I'm not sure at what point she latched onto my draft (lol, hilarious, since I was going 10-12 mph, but it happened), but at some point I became aware by sounds that there was someone back there. And the road wasn't great so I was taking routes around holes and junk and she was following right on me. I'd barely glimpse her out of the corner of my eye when I was checking over my shoulder for traffic. She rode there for at least several MILES, never saying a word, just drafting off of me. I was in such a bad mental place I was wanting to scream into the wind. I was just soooooo frustrated with how HARD it was to go that SLOW. Finally at some point I just sat all the way up and was going about 9 when she popped out and flew by me, never saying a word. GRRRRRR. As I was explaining later to P, I just felt so used. There is a right way to use someone and a wrong way. The right way is to let them know you're there and chat them up a bit and help them through if they are having a rough time. The wrong way is to hide and quietly use them and then discard them when they are used up. Not cool. Not cool at all.
Anyways, I made it back but it was seriously sucky and I must say that my confidence took a hit, which isn't good leading into next weekend. But there it is. I need to just remember that second awesome leg and try to forget the rest. And cross my fingers that there isn't a headwind heading to Austin next weekend.
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