11 hours of traveling can take it out of you, especially when you are on a bike. My total cycling time today was 7 hours and 20 minutes, but we took rest stops and two lunches making for a long 11 hour day. I'm so sleepy now and can't wait to sleep a full 9 hours hopefully.
The morning took up through the serene countryside of Wisconsin. There were gorgeous scenic overlooks as we biked through farmlands. What we weren't expecting were the hills. The hills started in the morning and only got worse as the day went on. We arrived at lunch around 9:00, so we had lots of time ahead of us. It often seems like the hardest part of the day during very long rides, is between first and second lunch; today was like that. I couldn't muster the energy to move my bike forward and the hills didn't help.
Less than a mile from second lunch we hit a huge hill and as I climbed I could feel my blood sugar dropping. I stopped and downed a gel packet and a bit of energy bar. I was getting shaky but I was so close to the top. At the summit, I came upon second lunch and gorged myself on pb+j, chocolate, an apple, dry cereal, cookies, leftover Thai food, and some rice pilaf. The amount of food we eat is ridiculous and it's hard to get used to.
During the last part of the ride we all struggled to find the will power to keep biking. It began to get hot as the rain clouds that threatened us this morning moved away. We stopped to take breaks, one of which was under a huge willow tree by a little creek. I got some awesome pictures of a snake that was curled up on a stick in the creek. While we were sitting there the woman in the house nearby came over to let her dog out, which was the cutest Beagle. I loved petting it...being away from my dogs is super hard; I just want to snuggle with them.
Just when we thought we were getting pretty close, we hit a 2-3 mile incline, which was not steep but relentless. Finally we reached the top and biked along the ride of the hills through apple orchards overlooking the Wisconsin landscapes. The one thing you know when you climb hills, is that you must come down eventually and we hit that decline toward the very end. It was a super steep grade that curved down the mini mountain. The speed limit was 15 mph for cars...I was gripping my breaks so hard I probably wore through them terribly.
The last part of the ride was difficult, but it reminded me a lot of southern Ohio. It smelled like Appalachians of Ohio and the rolling hills resembed the roads around our farms. I enjoyed thinking that I could be biking in Ohio.
Tonight we are staying at a K-12 school in a tiny town of 500 people. In their lobby there are tons of stuffed animals (birds and mammals). Tomorrow we have a 5:00 wake up and only a 63 mile ride...piece of cake after today (though I hear there are terrible climbs unfortunately).
P.S. Bike and Build has become so normal for me that I probably graze over simple things that we do that the real world may want to know about. So, if you have a question about our trip or how we do things, let me know! I'll answer them in my next post if I can.
I presumed that a century ride would mean flat terrain--but the combination of such distance AND elevation sounds so challenging. Good thing you hit this once you all had gotten in such good condition. You have only two more 100 mileage and one more 90 mileage day on the entire trip. When you had these hard climbs in the East, I said that your ride would be flat until Wisconsin. I remember this beautiful rolling country. I looked on maps but these three towns you are staying in are not on any of them! Small. Nice to have everyone in the group going through it together. I am surprised you took blogging time after such a day. Sweet dreams. Mom
ReplyDeleteI don't think you'll ever drive a car up a hill again without realizing how much energy it is actually using. I wish every speedy, wasteful driver would have to pedal their cars for added energy on hills.
ReplyDeleteThis is possibly the biggest thing you've ever done - possibly even more impacting than going to college. Adventures are always full of challenges, highs and lows. Somehow,we only remember the highs. For example, most of the soldiers from the Civil War that I'm reading about actually missed it when it ended even though it was miserable most of the time.