Cindy dinner and ride reports!

[slinkedog]

Well, I'm incredibly disappointed that I didn't see ANYONE I knew on the ride, except for the gals I started out with. I saw CindySue at the Luna tent, but that was it.

Woke up in the middle of the night to the ungodly screaming of my 4 year old. Turns out the power was out and her room was dark. Daddy brought her in with us, and I got up and got my cell phone to find out what time it was. 4:30. Half an hour before I wanted to get up. Set the alarm on the cell phone and laid there for half an hour with my mind going 1,000,000 miles an hour. Got up. Got ready by flashlight.

Mountainpuddles came and got me and we stopped for food since I couldn't cook anything (darned electric stove) . Drove through the pouring rain to the start location. Registration was incredibly quick! Thanks VS folks! The field where we parked was a sodden, muddy mess, and by the time I had my bike ready to go, my feet were pretty wet. Thanks to my kind hubby for giving me his booties. My feet would have frozen otherwise.

Did someone already mention the wind? Oy. Started out not too bad. The early part of the ride was gorgeous and I was really enjoying myself. The first rest stop was fine and the food was great and everyone was incredibly friendly. Then it was off to Tesla and Cross Rd. Rain. Lots of rain. It was pouring down my face and streaming down my glasses. Wet tights and cold, achy knees. As I was climbing Cross, my glasses were fogging up because I was heating up, and then a welcome blast of wind would come and de-fog them for me. The descent was a drag because of the wind... kept me from going as fast as I would have liked, though I was nervous because I knew my brakes and rims were pretty wet.

Then the headwinds got pretty ferocious. The aforementioned skunk was just a lovely treat along the way. So was the dead rat the size of a house cat. Pedal FASTER!

The lunch stop was great... it was fun to see all the costumes. I saw a witch, lots of hula dancers, many feather boas and tiaras, and Lady Godiva even graced us with her presence. Headed out of the stop with Carimail and, did I happen to mention the wind? It was so bad at this point that I was in one of my granniest gears and going 6.2 mph, at which point (about 2 miles out from the rest stop) I realized I was cussing at the wind, my knees were hurting and was no longer having any fun whatsoever. I kept trying to get on someone's wheel but I just kept getting dropped. It was very frustrating and discouraging. I finally stopped, rode back to the rest stop and SAG'd back to the finish with Lady Godiva and some other frazzled souls. And there were a lot of them!! I think the line was 20 deep when I left. I made 42 miles total (on my bike, that is.)

Got back, ate yummy soup, looked at pictures, shopped and talked to some nice folks. Overall, I loved the ride and had a good time! Just wish someone could have turned off the wind. Feel fine today except for sore knees and shoulders... I was very tense in the wind.

Heard only about 1,000 ladies showed up yesterday. I thought the field looked pretty thin. Mountainpuddles and I drove home (she and Carimail both finished strong), and mp asked me to drive as she was pretty zonked.

Good day... glad I went. Would like to try it again next year if I can get a good weather guarantee!!

Edited to mention that we had two gals collide at some point... result was a broken ankle for one and broken collarbone for the other. Also saw a gal being attended by a whole bunch of emergency vehicles on May School rd. Anyone know how she's doing?