Jan Lipson Memorial Ride

Lots of firsts for me. Today was my first organized bike ride, not a race thankfully. Today was also the furthest I have ever ridden my bike, and probably the most hills I have ever climbed as well.

The ride was a 25 mile course (this was the short option), I wasn't thinking I would do the entire 25 miles since I have a 5 mile run scheduled for tomorrow, but once we got there I realized the only way to shorten the ride would make it an 8 mile ride, which was kind of too short. So I trudged ahead to some serious pain. First off, props to my amazing husband who is more of a bike rider than myself for traveling at speeds of 3-4 mph with me while I used my very last gear to traverse the hills. At one point I yelled "why does it look like we are going downhill but it feels like we are going uphill!" Clearly delusional at many points along the way and a couple of points where I just wanted to cry. The SAG Wagon was amazing and was always around to tell us how much further and what the next hills were... really? More freaking hills. I do believe there was some cussing coming from me along the way. We for sure in the home stretch with 4 miles to go when I was told there were two more inclines to come. What? I was in brutal pain on the flat parts I didn't think there was anyway I could possibly make it back. My legs were cramping up and there was some frequent muscle spasms taking place. If I had any hope of running tomorrow or even next week, I had to throw my towel in. I officially rode 21 miles today, but the most important part is that I did it with friends and my hubby. Did I mention how excited Scott was for those last 4 miles and basically pushed it as hard as he could? He looks kind of hot going really fast on his bike.

At the top of the mountain, I'm smiling because I thought the next 9 miles would be easy. 

 

 

The pain on the drive home was miserable, there was no place that I could put my legs that was comfortable. As soon as I got home I took some Ibuprofen and used ice packs on my legs while Scott went to the store to get me a 20 pound bag of ice for my ice bath. The pain of stepping into the ice was probably worse than  the muscle pain I felt.

I'm not sure our nifty new whirlpool tub with lights was meant to be used as an ice tub

It still remains to be seen if any running is in my future for tomorrow. Currently waiting for my burger on a baguette with grilled corn. I'm sure it will make everything better.