Nate and I knew from the first time we saw this ride that we just had to do it! Being German, it's hard to pass up an opportunity to have good German food!
We have been working hard to ride as much as possible, and for as long of distances as possible, to work up our endurance for this ride. We've done 50 miles, 40 miles, and many rides 35 miles and less. Very rarely do we get out on the bike and "just don't feel like riding". Most of the time, we have found that once you get on the bike, the miles add up like they are nothing. Your body feels like you've just started and you've already rode 10 or 15 miles. And the hills!
Funny thing about hills... any one who has rode bikes as a kid or has rode a cheap mountain bike on the road will tell you how much they hate hills. Where I live (and it's where I grew up), you could actually ride your bike in a circle, including down hills, and feel like you don't have to go up any hills! Once Nate and I started riding, we rode up a few "smaller" hills. The first few times, you feel like your struggling to get up there. You are learning your gears and learning when to shift, how often to shift, and what gear to start out in. But, after you starting getting any one of those things down, the hills start getting easier. You learn what gear to shift into and at what point before starting the hill. The next thing you know, you're at the top of the hill, and you didn't struggle at all! Or, you made it just about clear to the top before you really "felt like" you were climbing! You still have those "oh crap" moments when you approach a new hill and it looks like a monster, but when you get to the top, you feel like the hill was only half as tall as what it looked!
Over all, I really enjoyed it! There were a few areas that I did not like, such as having to share a one lane gravel road with the runners (whom I'm going to guess were running a half marathon). I won't get into the details of my disappointment with that leg, other than that is the reason why I *always* stay as far over to the right as possible, not matter what I am riding on, when I bike and skate, other than to pass. Had both groups practiced this, there wouldn't have been any issues!
Most of the roads were very nice, and most of the first 50 miles were flat! We had to go up and over 30 a few different times, so there climbs here and there. There were a few iffy roads, such as the one that ran past the junk yard. We went through some neat areas, such as nice small towns and beautiful country roads!
On the map we had a small section that took us North, go over to the next road, and head South, then a straight stretch back to the fairgrounds. Then the hills started. They started out gradually and small. Up one side, then down the other with a straight stretch before the next. Then it got to the point where they were getting to be back to back. Then the monsters started, and this time I mean Monsters! Hills where you struggle to get up no matter how much you shifted! Then when you got to the top, you tucked in and rode it down because you were too exhausted! My average riding speed is around 13mph, and I think my fastest down one of these hills was around 28mph, and Nate's was 30+!
After riding 50 miles, you think to yourself that 15 more miles isn't that much. But then when you start getting into these hills back to back, 15 miles starts to feel like an eternity! After inline skating two half marathons, I've learned that as you get closer to the end, you push yourself harder because you know that it's almost over! And try as I might, I just didn't have the energy to do this. After 5 miles of these hills, I was starting to feel sick to my stomach and zero energy. I knew that if I were to get sick, then I'd feel better afterwords, so a few times I got off the bike and into a ditch hoping that I could get this over with, but to no avail. We rode a few more miles, usually up or down one or two sets of hills, then I'd have to stop and try to get sick. Why is it that when you I *want* to get sick, you can't??? The last 3-5 miles I struggled and my speed started dropping into single digits and I kept shifting into easier gears.
We finally hit the straight stretch back to the fair ground! While I still felt like I had to get sick, I had a glimmer of hope that it was almost over and I was trying to hold out as long as I could before I got off the bike. My odometer read 65 miles as we came up to a jog in the road and the SAG wagon was sitting on the corner and he told us that there was about 2 miles left! We stopped so that we could get a drink and I again tried to get sick. Nothing again, and knowing that I couldn't go any slower, I told Nate to go on and I'll get a ride back in the SAG. The guy came over and asked me a few questions and said it sounded like dehydration. Needless to say, as soon as Nate rode off and I went to walk my bike over to the van, I lost it! And I was right, all I needed to was to get it out of my system and I would be fine! It was like an instant relief! Although I felt like I could ride after that, I decided it best just to get a ride back.
The total distance ended up being 68.5 miles and I had to explain to Nate that it's hard to map something out like that down to a nice, round (and exact) mileage! I was amazed that on that 3 mile ride back how many people were stopped wanting to know how much further it was! So glad we weren't the only ones struggling that last section!
After we got the bikes loaded up and clothes changed, we drove to "downtown" to where the festival was so that we could get some brats! Brats didn't sound as good as I was hoping they would, but sauerkraut did! At one of the places that Nate ordered a brat from, the lady was nice enough to wrap up a little bit of sauerkraut in some tin foil for me!
Instead of jumping on 309 or 30 and heading back to the lake, we headed down to Columbus to see Dad. He was scheduled for Open Heart Surgery in a few days, so we stopped in to keep him company for a little bit! When we told he and Mom that we just got done riding 65 miles, they looked at us like we were crazy! And for a while I was starting to think that maybe we were!
After that, I know that I have a long ways to go before I'm ready to do 100 miles for this JDRF ride. And who knows, I may feel the same way after riding 100 miles on that ride, but I will do so with pride!
