Finally!

With the summer not bailing out on us and life being a bit less hectic, I was finally able to get the training close to what I was doing when we were in Taiwan. When that happens, the good old happy Virginia comes back to life.

GEARs Wed. night ride.

Since CherylAnn and I usually do our climbing Fox Hollow and McBeth on Tuesdays, I decided to skip Hutch's women's ride on Wed. when they decided to do climbing. I thought going to GEARs' flat ride would be more relaxing given it was my 5th riding day in a row. It turned out to be quite the opposite. I was lucky that Jeff towed me pretty much the whole way but felt sorry that we just couldn't close the gap between the fast guys and us with only Jeff's effort. I was frustrated at first just like always knowing how competitive I am cut out to be. Luckily, I learned I was working hard looking at my Garmin data that night.

Me relaxing in our front yard in my Ironman Taiwan shirt Thursday afternoon.

Ginnie took Sean and me cherry picking Friday morning.

I worked on the floor at the bike shops Thursday morning and Friday afternoon on both my training days off. Sean and I got to go cherry picking with Ginnie Friday morning. I thought about the pre Blackberry bRamble ride on Saturday and still couldn't make up my mind whether I wanted to do the metric century or the century ride until Friday night. I thought having a run on the course before the event day was probably a good idea.

The pre ride began at 8:00, earlier than the usual GEARs rides on the weekends. I would probably prefer starting at 7 but 8 was fine. Seeing Bob first and Brad second was a relief. I thought I might try to stay with them to avoid being lost and/or exhausting myself. Everyone managed to disappear somewhere but Brad was nice to work on the pace so I had him to count on the whole way. Thanks, Brad!

Brad pretty much towed me the entire century. Thanks a million!!

The views along the way were just breathtaking! I had no idea what Brad was thinking, I know that I was having the time of my life seeing the most spectacular views, having the music Tim downloaded for me just for this long journey, and feeling probably nearly the best of my fitness level in a long time.

A hawk near the top left corner.

With a pit stop after 50 miles down the road before going on Vaughn Rd. definitely made the ride very accomplish-able. I was surprised when I saw the last incline on Royal going into Vern Ridge bike path. Home just after 2 pm and not feeling toast.

With a camera in my hand, I got to constantly remind myself not to ignore the surroundings. 

Kirk joined Brad and I for the last portion of the century.

Brad not only worked with my pace from the start to the end, he took care of my dropped chain too. Thank you!!

Tim waited till I got home before going out for his ride. I cannot believe how supportive he is with me on cycling, or just about anything all along. Thanks, Tim!

Tim getting ready for his ride after I got home.

I thought I would not skip my scheduled Sunday training even though I just did a century ride the day before; especially not when my legs were feeling okay. Not seeing Brad on the ride made me think that even a crazy strong guy like him would have days when he was tired. Ironically, not only was he not tired, he did another century ride with the Newman's group ride. That really got me thinking how I still have so much more to get my fitness level up. I am just way beyond being fit enough to do more. (SIGH!)

I was very happy the month finished on a good note!

Peter, Vikki, Paul and I decided to bail on the 58 miles ride. I didn't feel bad on cutting the ride short until of course when I saw how Brad did another century- the competitive part of me was chewing up on me.

Monday nighter with Hutch's has always been my favorite! I decided to wear my heart rate monitor which I had not been wearing for quite sometime just to see how hard I worked. I was very happy to see the results, I must say.

Finally I got to tell who is who a little better on the Monday nighter and just really had a blast riding with them. Eric has been one of the nicest people I met in Eugene who welcomed me to the ride from the very first time. 

Friendly Eric in red kit on the left in the front.

CherylAnn couldn't ride until 6:30 this Tuesday so instead doing our climbing we rode on the bike path to watch the OBRA Cat 1/ Cat 2 crit. It was just so much fun watching the race. It started to stir up the competitive part of me where I was thinking about racing again...

  

I should probably wait though.