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Soooo..
yeah.
This day.
It happened.
Wow.
It was a day of triumph and agony! It was the biggest climb on this trip to date.
63 Miles.. The number 63 is not so bad.. We did 80 miles earlier that week. 63= okay.
BUT the number 63 + huge elevation changes is everything bad.
I am a woman who loves to ride my bike! I live in Norfolk, VA. We don't have mountains. We have a bridge (the Jordan bridge). We have parking garages. We have head wind. What we don't have is mountains.
On this day we had a team meeting the night before on what to expect. This meeting stirred my unsteady nerves to jello.
We woke the next day to a beautiful fog! The air was misty and cool! Perfect weather if you ask me.
I started the day with two lovely ladies! Debbie and Andrea. They are great riding buddies. We all go about the same speed except when it comes to climbing.. THE PLOT THICKENS!
We all stayed together to the first rest stop. I fueled up with a tuna packet and crackers. I felt ready as I looked up to the hilly horizon we were about to embark upon.
I wasn't ready.
ha ha
I am a girl that lives by the ocean... We have head wind not elevation.
As I may have said.. I am a slow climber.. Thus I get behind from the rest of the group. I don't mind too much but on this day the area was a little hard to navigate. I asked many locals many questions to confirm where I was and also if I was going in the right direction. Alone.. I was climbing this mini hill when a man comes up to me on his bike! A fellow biker who was headed to the same place I was going!
Enter in the scene my personal cycling guide to enter the blue ridge park way! The thing about this man that was interesting was this ride we were doing for the day was his normal training route. That blew my mind!!!!!!!!
So
The
Parkway.
yeah.
wow.
I started out great! I had a great mental state! legs felt strong! I felt strong!
I knew I wasn't too far behind the rest of the group! In my mind I thought I would catch up to someone.
I never did.
When I entered that parkway I was alone. Mile after mile, bend in the road after bend in the road, and I saw no one. My mind wandered from a happy place to a dark and stormy place of feeling endlessly alone.
Each bend in the road I hoped to see another person. On this day I would of been so so so great to have a person with you who was also going through the elevation change with you.
Climbing.
Climbing
MORE CLIMBING!
The view was incredible at some points! Post card worthy! I was not in a state to enjoy the view.
Then I drank all my water. So I stopped at a local home along the road. Two dogs greeted me with barks but I was met with open arms and water to spare. It was nice to not be on the bike for a few minutes. When I left, Pipper the dog followed me to the end of the road and watched me pedal away.
Back on the road.
Climbing!
Rain!
climbing!
Rain!
This was my combination of the day! This was character building at it's best.
I have massive character! The most! Alll thhhee CHARACTER!
But really it was a rough day.
I did it.
I. Did. It.
Our stop for that day was in a church at the bottom of this elevated day.
When I came to this stop I was angry. I felt like I did this big hard day all alone. So when I came up to the house I was not in a state to talk but the others congratulated me and told me that they also had a hard day.
We were all going through "the suck" together but I thought I was alone.
Dumb <-------ME.
I was given a swig of mason jar apple pie moon shine and was shown where the shower was to get cleaned up.
The day was over.
I did it.