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.