Monday, July 17, 2006

Feelin' groovy . . .

So I'm feeling back to 100% normal today! Woohoo, no lingering soreness and tonight I'll be hitting the gym for my regular Monday night Taste of Group Exercise class. I even think I've talked B into joining our normally all ladies group. It's not that we do "lady" exercises, unless you count jumping rope, doing push-ups, and running sprints as lady exercise. Just for some reason it seems that no guys are takers. Maybe BLowe will start a revolution - or perhaps he'll be that one weird guy working out with all of the girls.

Some thoughts from the RAIN ride:

- The website for RAIN describes the ride as traveling through the "gentle" rolling hills of IN. The hills in Putnam county are anything but gentle. I believe, "gentle, my a**" was the exact thought going through my mind.

- I went 29.1 mph at one point down a hill. What a rush!

- The fantastic cyclometer that the Ellis' got me as an encouragement gift was my saving grace. I would have given up much sooner had I not had that little sucker giving me hope (of how far I still had to go) and satisfaction (of knowing how far I had come).

- The 17th function of the computer, temperature, was not necessary. In fact, as it read 104.5, I wished I had left well enough alone and not discovered that little fact.

- Every little gas station in Vigo County and Clay County was making doughnuts as I rolled by in the early morning. mmmmm . . . doughnuts.

- On the other hand, not smelling so nice was the roadkill, disgusting smelly roadkill. Other not so pleasant smells - skunks, heavy aftershave on older male riders, farm animals, and the heat of the day.

- I'm still trying to decide if the heat was a major factor in me giving up the last 40 or so miles. I've told many that I think I could have finished but it would have ceased to be fun. Fun was what I was going for and there was no grand prize (except a commemorative key chain) at the end of the trail. Plus, Mindy told me she'd make me a key chain so I'm good with that.

It was such a huge experience in my life, that I have plenty more to share so probably you'll get to read more thoughts tomorrow.

4 comments:

Jules said...

tell me if BLowe takes that class. and take pictures. congrats! i am so proud of you!!

Philip said...

Wow, Cherie. I'm very impressed. I have a bike, and you remind me I need to ride a lot more, and do it consistently. Congratulations for setting a goal and going after it. I can't believe how little time you had to train and how well you did!

Cherie from the Queen of Free said...

Well even though I had very little "on the bike" training, I had been hitting the gym 6 days out of 7 in the last year (except for strangely this past week) so I think that's what carried me through. :) It was a lot of fun and hopefully I'll make it next year all the way across the great Hoosier state.

Philip said...

Well, after you tackle Indiana, come on down to Texas and take the trip from Shreveport to El Paso, a little over 800 miles.