Pre race photo, no caption needed. 106 miles on my two wheels....
What I thought would be a nice easy course was not so much. After 55 miles of steady rolling hills, there was a climb pretty much seemed to last forever. Mark says about 30 minutes. I say forever. I had made a friend, Jack, who was a cross between a creepy man and a creepy man. After telling me about how he was living with an old schizophrenic woman and about to move out, he made the frank observation on the climb that I was panting. Yes, thanks I hadn't realized. But he was talking to me, telling me about himself and his biking club, and what was I suppose to do....couldn't ride my bike faster to get the hell outta there!!....so he was trying to tell me how to ride out of the saddle....probably not so good to teach when I'm about to fall over as it is and literally well "panting." So no thanks maybe next time. Got over the climb to a small flat....hooooray. Then a section where my friend Jack pulled over to take a water break, I just sailed...in the right direction? I didn't honestly know the answer. Kept going till I saw Mark (he always passes me on the uphill till I wiz by him on the flats and downhills). Mark was at the top of old smokey mountain we just climbed. There were two options...go over the edge or ride down the even steeper desent. Wish I would have taken out my camera in my bike bag b/c the view from the top was magnificent. The desend was terrifying and very curvy. Jack told us to hold on to both brakes, take one off for a rest then the other, then both again. You'd be going 25 mph with both brakes...yup pretty much true. Tried taking my hands off both and cramps galore. My hands didn't work b/c of the death grip I'd been giving them for the last five minutes. Trying to grip tighter for the serious turns was painful. Men were walking their bikes down....too late for that b/c I literally couldn't even come close to a stopping pace. My face was wincing in pain and panic. Reaching the bottom with a short flat and then....oh great a highway! Well, at least it was a very low traffic one since we were in the middle of nowhere. When I got to the bottom, I stopped to shake my hands out and wait for Mark. Mark said he would kept his eyes shut if it would have been straight. Lunch time was next.
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The rest of the ride was less thrilling which I was happy about. Smaller rolling hills and some nice long downhills. To be honest, it flew by...but the end was a happy one. Next long ride will be in Panama City, here I come!!!!!!!!
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