Other RAIN thoughts . . .

• 160 miles, 160 people of significance . . . I had planned on praying for and meditating on a different person who made a significant impact on my life for every mile that I rode, to help the time go by more quickly. This lasted for about the first 35 miles, and then my brain went to mush and all I could think was push the pedals around, push, push, push. Or as a friend of mine mentioned, perhaps my prayer shifted to God helping me. Who knows. Just know that 35 people in my life were well prayed for at one point on Saturday.
• At mile 60 (my first wall), I though, "Wow! I am an athlete." At mile 100, I thought, "Wow! I am a super-mega athlete." At mile 110, I thought, "Dear God, don't let me die on the side of the road."
• The most un-beautiful site of the day, a middle aged man, slightly overweight in riding shorts that were split at the crack. Yes, literally split at the crack. Don't you feel a breeze back there buddy? What a trainwreck. Look away, I can't look away, look away! I pedaled as fast as I could to pass him.
• Man, I missed having my iPod. I assumed you were not allowed to ride with them; however, I did see a few riders with them. I now wonder if I had used it for the last final push if I would have made it. Who knows. One guy had a radio/digital music source with speakers on his bike. That was pretty cool.
• My cyclometer also measures calories burned. All impressed, I read the well over 3000 amount to Brian at my last stop. His reply? "Yep, that's one pound." My mom's response, "Maybe if you ride all of the way back across the state, you can lose two." Talk about taking the wind out of my sails.
• I ate more crap (by this I mean, higher sugar foods, white refined flour sources and stuff that has high fructose corn syrup) before, during, and as a result after the ride than I have in a very long time. I've really shyed away from processed foods for the last 7 1/2 months. But pretzels were really the only thing that sounded good and I super carb loaded @ Fazoli's the day before. Since Anna's birthday party was the day following, I continued my carb replacement with too much cake. I'm finally back on the straight and narrow but Tuesday I felt like crap, having not eaten that much white flour in a really long time.
• Last night I was back in the saddle at a Reaction Cycling class @ the gym. It felt good to pedal again. Tomorrow morning, early I plan to hit the road again for the first time since the ride. I definitely want to keep riding as a part of my fitness routine. I just don't know how often to balance it in with everything else. I had been riding in addition to my regular workout routine, meaning that some days I was getting close to 3 hours of cardio which really isn't that great for you. I need to strike a balance in there somewhere.
• When's the next event? Shh . . . Don't tell BLowe but I'm looking for another century styled event to ride in the fall. I don't really want to do the Hilly Hundred because I hate riding hills, but I'm starting to fish around for another distance ride. Even a 60-75 miler wouldn't be bad since it wouldn't take up the entire day, just half of a day.

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.