Everyone: Thanks for your replies...you can probably tell I kind of need the encouragement! I really appreciate your reading through my long report.

Veronica: Yes, I am seriously crazy. Yesterday, even though Seattle had beautiful sunshine, our weather was cold, gray and crummy. It does make me crazy. Nice day today, thankfully.

Mimi: No, I think that was now the 3rd time up the Ridge for me. And, you know, I do almost all my riding alone. There is a really nice group of riders over here, but they are all seriously fast. Hawaiian Iron People and so forth. But, I have decided that this fall and winter, when the season is over, I am going to start riding with them, no matter what. Even if I can only hang for 5 minutes, maybe I will get faster over time.

Also, about doing it alone...I harbor a little dream someday of doing STP in one day. My hope is that if I do up to 100 mile hilly routes alone, even though I'm not that fast, maybe if I find a little group of 3 women or so to paceline with, maybe I'd be strong enough to do 200 flat miles in one day.