Really proud of myself! (Add yours!)

[crazycanuck]

Riding in not one but FOUR separate downpours today..when is this silly weather going to stop? SUmmer better be here soon!

My rain jacket saved me

Sure hope it's not like this for our mtb event next weekend

[dangpoet]

Thanks for all these stories, gals. It's so nice to know there are kindred spirits out there. It's hard to say these things to folks who don't know what it's like to feel that grit in your teeth an hour after you get off your bike...

This summer I completed two centuries: America's Most Beautiful Bike Ride around Lake Tahoe with Team-in-Training (Go Team!) and the Mid-Valley Covered Bridge Ride out of Albany, OR, and I'm commuting every day in September (14 miles each way) for the Portland commuter bike challenge. These have caught my imagination and given me my fire back (not to mention helped me overcome various physical challenges, not to mention aging).

It's so cool to be this lucky. Thanks for knowing this feeling.
Best,
-Kate

[Owlie]

I conquered my nemesis hill! It's not terribly steep, but it's long, and the pavement is awful. (Ohio's philosophy on road repair is to patch it until it becomes cost-ineffective, then repave it.) On the way up, I think my lungs wanted to remove themselves from my chest cavity and whack me upside the head, but I made it. BF had gone on ahead and was waiting for me at the stop sign at the top. He grinned and said "Well done!" I gave him a quizzical look, for I was too busy guzzling half of my water bottle to talk. Then he pointed to my chain wheels. I was still in the big ring! I seemed to have had a brain fart on the way up. No wonder I wanted to not move for a bit!

Rest of the ride went well, though.