I finished it! Yay! Long Post
Well, it's 6a.m. and try as I might to sleep in, my body is finally used to getting up early and biking. But, my butt is still protesting so I doubt that I'll ride for a week or so. (I have to go out of town for work next week as it is.) I will probably go for a walk to work the kinks out a little.
But, I did get through the Tour de Kota. I'm generally slowish anyway, and I pretty much rode at a pace that would be fairly standard for me if I were riding in similar conditions otherwise. So, by my standards I did well. I definately not at the front of the pack, but generally wasn't at the very tail end. So, it's all good.
I'll do a semi short synopsis. I'm going to blog about it too.
We camped Saturday night in the start town (Sioux Falls, SD). It stormed and rained. Even with my hubby camping with me, I got really cold and didn't sleep extremely well. A friend and I got going at about 6:30 a.m. and had a pleasant ride to Mitchell. There wasn't much wind, the rest stops were plentiful. Everyone was in good spirits. 71.82 miles, 13.6 mph Avg, 5:17:16 ride time, though we got in around 1:30 a.m.
In Mitchell the Culver's ice cream cart was set up. I didn't get any because I thought that there would be plenty of time. But they tore down after a couple hours. So, after dinner... no ice cream. :( Major bummer. The tour had the Maui Shower truck. It was nice, hot 6 minute showers. Granted a little longer would've been okay, the line moved quickly, they were clean and very private. I camped with a friend. Again, I got cold over night and a train went through at 4 a.m.
The next day we'd hoped to beat some of the wind. We got on the road at 6:30 after I ate a banana. We headed west to Chamberlain. As soon as we turned west, and it was a straight line for the rest of the 70 miles, we were greeted by a headwind that was fairly brisk already. Weather.com says it was over 20 mph, gusting to 25 or 27ish. I lost my friend very quickly. I rode with another gal. PAcelines were the only way to survive the day well, but they make me nervous. I really really didn't want to crash. So, I just plugged away. After 12 miles at the first stop, I inhaled two chocolate milks and a slice of breakfast pizza. And as I got going on the road, I soon discovered that my front wheel was flat. I rode back to the stop to get it fixed. I'd hoped that would be the answer to my slowness, but no. It still really sucked to ride that day.
So, I just worked my way pit stop to pit stop. At the next one, maybe another 12 ish miles away I was still prepared to go pit stop to pit stop all the way to Chamberlain. A lot of people were lining up for the SAG wagon by that point. I'm like, "BUt you have all day..." And yet, something in my head snapped between that and the next stop. I saw lots of cars passing with bikes on the back. I wanted very much to enjoy my time in Chamberlain and actually relax there a little bit. But, after doing the math it was taking me about 6 hours to get even half way. I decided it wasn't very much fun any more that day. Still, quitting isn't generally in my vocabulary and I was feeling very bad for considering it. That day was the optional century day, I had already decided to scrub those 25 miles anyway. I get to Plankington, the half way mark. I saw a bike nearly identical to mine right away (out of hundreds, or maybe dozens, there) and new that the friend I'd started the day with was there. So I was very very happy. She had been watching for me and was worried about me back there by myself. I said that I had been contemplating saging in and she said I should. She and two other ladies had discovered that there was actually a waiting list for the SAG wagon. So, they had met a local lady working at the lunch stop who said she would drive them if they paid for gas. There was room for me too. So, that was the end of that. I'm not generally big on the idea of 'fate' as a strict guideline for things. I couldn't really argue that that was as good of a sign as any to end my ride with 30 miles to go. The lady was really nice and fun to chat with during that last stretch into town.
Only 15 ish people completed the century that day. Alot of people bagged at least a portion of that ride. We got into town, there wasn't a line for the shower and we made a beer run. The chamber treated us to a complimentary taco dinner. And students from St. Joseph's Indian school demonstrated some dancing for us. We had a good time. 40 miles, 4:42:58 ride time, 8.5 mph average speed.
The friend that I started the last two days with had to go home. Her daughter is getting married this weekend. So, I met up with the other two ladies that got a ride in to Chamberlain with. We're glad that we saved our legs a bit for the hills that were on the route the next day. 55 miles with a constant uphill trend.
Here's the route and elevation diagram:
http://www.tourdekota.com/route08.html
There was a food stop with a chuck wagon serving breakfast. Generally during the tour it was a better idea to grab food before a person leaves. This time I actually was able to eat breakfast before I left, so I wasn't hungry for the fried potatos and eggs. Bummer. I did get a piece of cornbread. It was yummy.
That trip went without incident. We didn't walk our bikes at all. Though we were very glad to be into Highmore. One of my co-riders blew out her tire. I was able to start the process of changing the tire. I got the wheel off and the tire and tube off. Found the bad spot. Then a nice man stopped to help. I turned it over to him. I knew that I probably could've finished the job, but figured that he, and the guy that also stopped, could do it more quickly. By the time we got to the next stop, she got the tire switched out.
Highmore is a small town of less than 1,000 people. There were very good hosts. There is a wind farm south of town. Oh, the wind that day was from the SE, so a little cross/tailwind. I got my tent set up. The wind picked up, I thought that the tent was going to collapse on itself. Some people helped secure it a bit more. They had excellent pie. And they had a stuffed baked potato meal that night too. They also had a native american drum group and a couple dancers. Later, there was a band that played. That town gets two thumbs up. My tent didn't blow away, but it did rain fairly hard that night.
The next day the weather wasn't looking pretty. It was pretty much a sure bet that it would rain. We didn't know how long that would take. The rumor was the day would start with an eastern headwind, but switch to a west tail wind. My friends and I got on the road at 8a.m. And of course, it started raining promptly. It sucked. We were ready to turn back at mile 5. We formed a small paceline, but didn't follow really that closely. It did help break up the miles as we rotated. It was very hard to see anything. The wind blew water into our faces. We got 11 miles down the road to the first stop. They say that it was 11 more miles to the next town. We decided that we could make it there. It wasn't long and the rain let up and the grass wasn't blowing over so much. One lady had called her husband to meet her in town. He was going to be SAGing for her the rest of the trip. I decided that if I could get some food and dry off a bit, I could keep going. The third lady did too. A lot of people got a bus to the next overnight stop from that town. But, the rain had stopped and the wind fully switched to a tail wind.
We didn't get THAT far and the lady that I was riding with wiped out. The shoulder had turned to gravel, she moved her bike parallel to the road as she approached the paved road. Her tire caught the lip of the road and she spilled. I was right next to her and very nearly went down too, but I was able to veer left and miss. She was shaken, was able to collect herself and get up. It was very scary after the two accidents that I experienced last year. We were very lucky that there wasn't any traffic behind us. We were routed on a busy highway without much of a shoulder. The paved portion had rumble strips, so we had to ride the line. My friend got up and got back on the bike, but was very very sore across her chest. The other lady met us in the next town and was able to take Bonnie. I kept going. It took us like 3 hours to cover 24 miles (including a couple extended stops). I made it the next 45 or so in decent time. I got in around 3:30p.m. 71.94 miles, 5:38:48, 12.7 mph.
Huron was a good host too, they had a few really good bands playing and I got to set my tent up inside a building. That was the first night that I didn't get cold.
Huron to Brookings went without incident. It was a gorgeous day and we had a tail wind for a good portion of time still. The slated miles were 88 for the day, so we thought maybe we could do a century if we still felt good in town. My butt was hurting. We got to Brookings, I felt filthy. And decided to just go and get cleaned up. I stayed in the dorms. The showers were ice cold. BIg thumbs down. I guess it takes 10-20 minutes for the water to warm up. I biked back down town. The friend that I rode with was still working on her 100. When I saw her she was at 98 and finished. I was at 90, but wasn't interested in spending another hour on the bike. I didn't plan to do much more than bum around town. I looked around the local bike shop. My friend went to hang out with her husband and I didn't know where the other people that I knew were. SO, I got back othe bike and finished the last 10 in my street clothes. Which maybe wasn't the best idea, my butt hurt some more. The whole time there were huge clouds building. I got back to the dorm in time for a storm to hit. 88.73 miles, 6:39:58, 13.3 mph avg... 100 miles, 8:05:20, 12.4 mph avg (cruised around residential areas).
We'd heard rumors that there was going to be a west wind, a little south also. My friend wasn't sure if she was going to ride or not. When I got up I was super cranky. Not, "I'm a ***** cranky..." Just, "Wow, this week has been a physical and emotional challenge, I didn't sleep well last night, I'm tired and I miss my husband, I'm ready to go home..." kinda cranky. My friend called and said she would try to ride. She'd been waffling all morning. She asked her husband what he would do if he were her. He said he'd get dressed, go down the park and check things out, set out and see how it goes. But if it were him, he wouldn't ride probably. :D Though he does go for rides with her, I guess he's pretty strong... but just prefers nice weather.
We got going about 6:45. We had cross winds, they were probably above 20 mph early. We had to go west for a few stretches, that was hard. Going down a hill, if I stopped pedaling I'd top out at 8 mph. But, we got to the first stop at 23 miles. The line was long, so I ate the granola bar in my pocket and wanted to keep going. My friend had already eaten and we were both afraid that if we stopped we'd freeze up. AGain, I'm glad that I ate a good breakfast. It was rather dumb that the first opportunity for food was 23 miles in, well for a tour of that type. Considering how badly I didn't want to ride that morning, I warmed up to the idea and the stubborness in me came out. Our next goal was just to make it to the half way point. I thought the day was 70 miles, but I guess that it was posted as 68. We got to mile 35. We kept plugging away. More people had been caving, we saw more cars with bikes on the back. We eventually made it to Sioux Falls. I had given my mom the correct time for return, based on a 70 mile assumption. But we were still on the west side of town at mile 70, and had to get into the middle of town. They routed us in on the bike trail. 8 miles later, we were at the finish. It's not nice to lie about miles at the end like that. We were getting tired. My arms were getting fatigued from holding the bike on the road/path. My lips were even hurting, I think that I burned them a bit and they were chapped.
My mom had taken an extended lunch break. She'd already been waiting for me for a decent amount of time. So we got in, took some pictures and I had to leave right away so that my mom could get back to work. So, I felt like the end was a little anit-climatic (I butchered that spelling, my mind is drawing a blank. Sorry!). 77.75 miles, 6:59:30, 11.1 average, winds W 21 gusting to 30.
I had a good time and was very glad that I finished the whole day yesterday. A lot of people didn't. My friend and I wanted to finish for ourselves. Though we also felt bad that the other lady couldn't finish due to a crash and other friends had planned to ride but weren't able to due to scheduling issues.
Okay, so that wasn't a very brief synopsis. But, I could've written much more. :D If you got this far, thanks for reading!
I'm feeling pretty good today
I didn't take any ibuprofren last night. And I'm feeling better today, though if I use any stairs in my house, I can definately feel a bit of a burn in my thighs. Much better than I felt last night. Woo!
Everyone was so nice on the tour. Cyclists are great, honest people. People that I met briefly on my short stint of the tour last year remembered me this year. I will post a link to my blog here when I'm done. I put streamers on my handlebars and a cow squeaky horn on my bike (both were bachelorette party gifts from a friend last year). I thought that they should be a part of the tour. They definately got a lot of comments. People would ask if they increased my drag... And I'd tell them that they're actually propellers. :D And once a person learned my name, they'd see me on that bike and say hello as they passed.
Thanks for the comments!
