Well, I guess it's my turn now! The five of us had a great ride. One week later though, and I'm sitting here on a very sore, raw bum! Can't wait for that to heal.

Somehow, we didn't leave the UW until 7:00. We had a great day, but didn't get to our room on the Guide Meridian until 6:00! We still can't figure out how we took eleven hrs.!!!! Averaged 14 mph. We hit every stop, but I didn't think we lingered. We had one flat to repair and luckily that was at a turf farm, nice soft grass to sit in. Needed that rest for the upcoming Chuckanut Hill. We were slow on hills for sure. We waited a few times for the our sore knee rider.

Loved the day one route. Well, didn't love the hills at the time, but did just fine on them. Mostly light traffic. These were the longest hills I've ever ridden, but not the steepest. Had a couple of nice compliments on the hill north of Arlington. One from my son who said: "Mom, you're really getting better at hills", the second from a gentleman who said: "Now I'm being passed by a midget!" (At least he didn't call me an old midget!).

Chuckanut was the highlight. We stopped for a photo op. Since we were so late in the day, we got to enjoy the late afternoon sun shining on the Sound. On a sunny day, there isn't anything much more beautiful than the Puget Sound and the islands. The best lemonade in the world and what a friendly group.

I must confess, since we were running so late, we cheated! We took a shortcut from Fairhaven to downtown and saved 3 miles. Then we swung by our apartment of 35 years ago (college days). We also took a short-cut to the hotel and saved a tad more.

After quick showers, we crawled next door to the Mexican restaurant and wondered how we would ever be able to find the strength to ride the next day! Dinner was followed by a soak in the hot tub, with interesting conversation from fellow RSVPers.

We were on the road late again, at 6:20! (DH was doing his best to remember, this was for the fun!) We cheated again! We went straight out of our hotel up the Guide Meridian to the border. When we arrived, there was one man in front of our group! We waited 35 min. for the border to open and were whisked right through.

Loved the the country-side riding of the first half on day two. None of us loved the urban riding of Vancouver (except the views from the bridges). I was cut off by a rider on a tight turn in a intersection and was barely able to avoid a near miss. That in conjunction with being a bit tired, seemed to zap my confidence for the remainder of the ride in all that traffic. I loved seeing downtown in the distance. I was missed the zombies when my fellow rider pointed them out! Darn.

We arrived around 1:30 or 2:00 and had a quick burger, picked up badges and ordered our t-shirts (arrived yesterday!). A burger never tasted better! We then hailed a couple of taxi vans. Took our bikes and us to the train station where we boxed them up and rode the train to Everett where we had family waiting to pick us up. The train was wonderful. The Bistro was two cars back where you could order overpriced beer, wine and food. We had plenty of all of them and enjoyed lively conversation from fellow riders. So nice to get up and walk around, use the restroom and relax. The border crossing didn't take more than 5 minutes. (Guess you could say we really scored both ways on the border crossings).

We did have one very scary moment, just north of the BG trail. We were riding single file, 6-10 of us. My DH was in the lead. A younger driver came along and suddenly hit the gas, squealed his tires and made a quick right turn right in from of him. Missed him by about 5 feet! No blinker, just a fast, unexpected turn. Since I'm not good with the middle finger, I may have given him a peace sign, but the people in back said we all flipped him off in unison! Very frightening! Not sure if he was spiteful or thought he had room and panicked. Either way, very inappropriate. I really wish we had thought to get his license plate number.

As far as the chafed bum, its actually my upper legs, mostly in the back. More on the left then the right (leg length disprepency?) I actually rubbed the skin raw. Its now like a big blister that has popped.

Putting my new PI shorts on, the sore spots match up to the seam of the chammy. I usually wear PIs one day and my LG shorts the second. The chammy is coming apart of the LGs and didn't want to risk a problem. Checking the seams, the LGs are much smoother. Guess I should have taken my chances with them. As the birthdays roll along, I have also noticed that my skin is getting more frail. Looking at old posts here, I think I'll be ordering some Laniseptic, per Susan O's recommendation. In the mean while, lots of ointments, gels, creams, antibiotics while I wait for it to heal!

I must say, when I signed up for this ride, I really didn't know if I could manage the hills. I did just fine. Never once felt like I couldn't finish one. Yes, I was tired at the end of day one. Felt pretty darn good at the end of day two! I have been making a point of hitting the hills all season and have worked on my mental attitude. I've gone from I suck at hills, to I'm looking forward to (more or less) the challenge of getting up the hills. What a difference. I have learned not to panic and it has really help to keep my heart rate down.

So, all and all a good ride. I'm proud of how well I did. We aren't sure that urban riding is for us. We think next year maybe we will look for a couple of centuries that are out in farm country and stay away from the big cities. But then again, who knows. The bug could bite again!