LRRH News Feed

[Trekhawk]

Sandbagger reporting in.
I had a fabulous time at LRRH and it was great meeting everyone. A big thank you goes out to Jobob for making my first hundred a whole lot easier.
Jo is great company and I came away having learnt a few things more about cycling which is always good.

Glad everyone agrees that we did ride 100 miles because my stinky computer says we only rode 155 kms. All the metric girls out there would know that this does not convert to 100 miles you need to see 164.15 on your screen for that. I have had my suspicions about the accuracy of my computer for a while but now I think I can safely say its off a tad. So all sandbagging claims need to be aimed at my computer.

I have included some pictures but I have no idea how to get the names under them so you girls will just have to figure out who is who.

TE ladies that were at the ride - thanks for making the day fun and for all your encouragment.
TE ladies that I am yet to meet - thanks for all your great advice and support over the last year.

Yipee I made it.

[Trekhawk]

Glad everyone agrees that we did ride 100 miles because my stinky computer says we only rode 155 kms. All the metric girls out there would know that this does not convert to 100 miles you need to see 164.15 on your screen for that. I have had my suspicions about the accuracy of my computer for a while but now I think I can safely say its off a tad. So all sandbagging claims need to be aimed at my computer.

Ok Im blaming all those miles on my bike - yikes I hate correcting myself but 100 miles is not 164.15 its more like 160.9. My apologies to all you conversion gurus that just freaked about my terrible conversion skills

[bikerz]

Way to go Leslie! Remember how nervous you were about the 30 mile Lodi ride - and look at you now!!!!

[Lise]

I just assumed that I didn't know how to do conversions!


What does "sandbagger" mean?

Trekhawk, I am so glad to hear your story. I've never done an imperial century, but am planning to do one in the fall. I hope beta, maybe fuji, maybe other Chicago area TE'ers will do it with me. Sort of an LRRH o'the east!

[yellow]

What does "sandbagger" mean?

sand·bag n.

v. intr. Slang
To downplay or misrepresent one's ability in order to deceive someone, especially in gambling.

[jobob]

sand·bag n.

v. intr. Slang
To downplay or misrepresent one's ability in order to deceive someone, especially in gambling.

Eh, I prefer to think of it as keeping expectations low, so that when you do succeed, everyone is pleasantly surprised.
Including yourself.

[CyclaSutra]

Girls, I had a fantastic time. It was great to meet so many of you during dinner and the ride. Glad you liked the stickers! I had to e-mail the dude from Laramie three times before he finally mailed them to me... I would have picked them up, but Laramie is 7 hours east of here.

What great energy from all the women! Someone told me 1,050 women registered before ride day.

I was pretty cranky about not getting on the road until 8:40, but I met up with like-speeded riders soon enough (and almost followed the 65 milers straight at one point, but Bikerhen and Marty helped me figure it out). Then I rode with them for quite a ways before trying to hook up with some fast gravy trains.

But I got in trouble, leaving the wrong way for the 100 right after lunch with some girls, and then when one got a flat (not my friends, not planned ride partners, and Little Red Riding Hood was there to help change it!) I kept going in pursuit of the ladybug team. Missed the top loop altogether so was at the metric length (65ish) at the final rest stop, which was supposed to be 17 miles from the finish. Yikes! I was 23 miles short! So I created my own loop by going left and around the bottom loop again, all by myself. So it sort of stunk being alone for the last 30 miles of a group ride, but I ride by myself a lot.

I couldn't believe that my average heart rate for the day was 150! I've never been able to hold that for 6.5 hours. I believe my average speed was 14.9.

Next year, I'm appointing a navigator, or at least getting one of those stupid $5 map holders so I will actually read the map.

Only 363 more days until LRRH 2007!

[jobob]

Random thoughts while the morning coffee kicks in.

TH, I love the photos you posted. I'm glad we have a picture of the whole group before we went off on our merry ways. And the look of joy (and relief!!) on our faces at the end says it all.

It was so fun riding into the finish with Trekhawk and CindySue. Bubba as well as Trekhawk's husband and her three adorable little boys were there at the side of the road cheering us on. TH's boys were too funny. One of them took off at a run and followed his mom to the tent, and the other two and dad caught up momentarily. They were soooo cute.

I overheard snippets of conversation among TH and her boys at breakfast earlier that morning and the words of encouragement they were offering her made me crack up. Can't remember verbatim but one of them said something about coming out to get her and towing her back with a a bungie cord if she needed it.

The AV jerseys really stood out. Although the six of us (me, Trekhawk, CindySue, aka_kim, SK and yellow) managed to ride together a great deal, more often than not the other four would soon be way ahead of me & Trekhawk. Which was fine, TH and I were very happy going at our own pace and she was great company. Then we'd round a bend and waaaay off in the distance we'd see a bunch of bright red jerseys, with the distinctive green off-center chainring logo, standing off to the side of the road. Yep, must be another flat! So TH and I would like to thank the rest of you for having flats at strategic locations so you never got very far ahead of us

There was a nice breeze to keep us cool, which was great since I was worried it would be awfully hot - which it wasn't. The breeze did pick up some as the day progressed, but it looked like we'd have a nice tailwind for the ride back.

So when we did the 90 degree turn at mile ~ 75 which pointed us back towards the start, we had a lovely tailwind and we were cruising along at 18-20 mph with almost no effort. "Sweeeet!" I thought. "We'll be finished in way under 2 hours, and fresh as a daisy!". Silly me. About 5 miles later the wind did an abrupt about-face and we suddenly found ourselves riding into a headwind. Trekhawk mentioned something about learning things from me but she neglected to mention much of it was new swear words. The headwind wasn't that bad, and ordinarily the hills in the last 20 miles would not have been much effort at all, but truth be told I was getting tired. Many thanks to TH and CindySue for the words of encouragement and the occasional windblock!

Funny moment: We're chugging along and a gust picks up. CindySue's clear, lovely voice rings out "AGAIN WITH THE HEADWIND?!?!" It was hilarious.

What a great weekend.

[Trekhawk]

Way to go Leslie! Remember how nervous you were about the 30 mile Lodi ride - and look at you now!!!!

Thanks bikerz and all you great girls - I have been thinking back over the last year and I really feel like I have learnt so much and Im pleased to say 99 percent of it is from you great ladies here at TE. I would never even be out at organized rides if you girls had not encouraged me all the way. See Bikerz look what you started with encouraging me to do the Lodi ride last November. My husband says that you have all created a cycling monster.