This year I decided to ride with some friends from Jersey who are also in my ski house. I was pretty good with my training, and since we decided to ride 66 rather than the 100 I knew I would be good to go.
So fast forward to Fri night - crazy weather reports- a tropical storm and 70 mile an hour winds scheduled to hit Montauk, the guys decide to bail and I'm standing in the rain volunteering with the ride set up crew loading bikes into a huge truck...(all so I could ride free on Sat - so worth it!). I have to say, I wanted to bail, but volunteering and seeing so many of the riders gave me the push I needed. I had made the decision that I would start out with the Century riders then bail out at the second rest stop which is the 50 mile mark. A perfect plan.
Ok, so Sat rolls around and the winds aren't so bad, but the rain is pretty heavy at times. I'm up at 5:30, thinking I am one crazy gal, but I also felt so dedicated which is quite the opposite from my normal self...so I head over to the start (which is less than a mile from my house...score!) and see some friends from the the Fri night volunteer detail and start pedaling. I'm feeling good, despite a strong headwind, my breaks are still working, despite the rain and I'm feeling OK, but I decide at the first rest stop to call it a day and pedal back. The rain was pretty rough and I felt good, but I also didn't want to chance anything happening so I pedaled back to Islip where I met my dad for some delish breakfast, sooo worth it!! In total I rode close to 40 miles....and the funny thing is that I desperately wanted to ride yesterday and would have had my cleats been dry!
And that my friends, is just the feeling I was hoping for! I am finally past the point of only training for events then ditching any additional activity, this is now turning into my life, and I kinda like it!
Some shots of my very dirty bike and the Corey Beach rest stop.
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