I finished it! Yay! Long Post

[Hammer]

Really the hardest part, especially the last day was just getting on the bike. And I think that everyone really inspired each other to keep going. A person gets into a 'We're all in this together' kind of mode. Everyone looks after each other. It was nice.

It is important to keep in mind how your own body is feeling. But, on the hard days we just set small goals and then re-evaluated the situation to see if we should continue. Fortunately on the rain day the wind shifted and the rain stopped. And on the really bad windy day that was ALL headwind, I'm glad that I could see that everyone was having trouble and sometimes it is okay to quit. In fact it's sometimes stupid not to.

There's a fine line between stuborness and stupidity, I find.

I did walk over several railroad tracks this year. There were a few that were angled like the ones that I crashed on last year.

Tuckerville: Good for you for making the 40 miles! Playing in the water exhausts me too. There's a 16 year old kid/guy that bikes with our group on organized rides. He's into triathalons. We did a 70 mile day Monday and he's like, "I should go swimming or running or something." It was about enough to make me puke. Good for him though.

[short cut sally]

WOW...i read your post and thought, if only I could do that.. I am not sure I could do more than 2 days in a row. YOU DO ROCK...

[Tuckervill]

At one point, about 5 miles from the finish, I said, "If I have pedal one more stroke, I'll kill myself." And I'd been pedaling hard for miles and miles without stopping, keeping up a 14 mph average, and I never stopped pedaling. It's amazing how disconnected your conscious mind can be from your body. (Or maybe my conscious and subconscious minds were disconnected and my subconscious mind was controlling my legs.)

Karen

[rebran]

wow...thanks for taking the time write a report on your ride. . .I am inspired. . .I rode the Highmore to Huron route (my first time participating in an organized ride) and had a blast despite the terrible weather. . .

I agree. . . youROCK!

Becca

[NoNo]

What an amazing feat! Congratulations on sticking it out. I can't imagine riding 70 miles in one day, let alone every day for a week. Very inspirational. I also agree with what you said about cyclists being friendly. Two weeks ago my cousin rode with us in the MS50 here. It was her first 50 miler and she was on a kind of junky bike. But she was plugging along doing her best. We'd ride out ahead and wait at intersections, but for the most part she was on her own. When we met at one of the rest stops she said "Some guy was riding with me for like 5 miles. He was really nice and talking me along. I don't think he was even part of the ride!"