Tour de Cave Ride Report

My 45 mile bike ride through the Kentucky countryside was a success.  I had a wonderful time and saw some of the most breathtaking scenery.  From gorgeous fields of golden wheat, to charming old houses with bright splashes of color in their gardens, to the lush greenery of the Mammoth Cave National Park, it was an amazing ride.  I felt pretty good most of the way, although my bum, back and shoulders got tired a few times.

I ended up riding near a couple and an older man, and while we did not speak much, we rode together companionably.  They kept a better pace than I did until we hit a hill and then I was usually the first to the top.  My average speed for the ride was 13.3 mph, and that was pleasing to this novice rider.  I have a lot of work to do, and I am in the process of planning out weekly rides and actually working on improvement this year.  I'd like to get to where I can hold a 15 mph minimum speed for my entire ride (maybe faster for the shorter ones).  I have my eyes set on a half-ironman one day, but I need to get considerably more efficient on my bike before I attempt that. 

On this ride I loved my surroundings.  For most of the morning there was a cool breeze and plenty of shade, so the heat did not bother me much.  I passed a dear munching on a bush and she just looked at me as I rode by.  There were plenty of hills, but they were gradual and rolling.  There was one horrific hill and I did not realize just how steep it was until I was in the midst of climbing.  I should have known by the frowny face in front of the words "big hill" spray painted on the road that this was not your average hill, but I powered up as hard as I could.  I was standing on my bike, legs pumping, lungs heaving, determined to get to the top without getting off my bike.  I made it most of the way before a car drove up behind me.  I wasn't super steady on my bike and so I couldn't really stay to the right and let them by.  Eventually, I conceded and hopped off.  I walked it up the remainder of the hill thinking, "I will be back for you next year...."

Shortly after the hill, there was another warning spray painted on the road that read "Dogs Ahead."  I did not see any, but I stayed alert.  Sure enough, I heard two hound dogs begin to bark off to my left, and as I turned to look at them, I saw them begin their pursuit.  I peddled as hard as I could go, and started laughing, which did not help matters.  It just seemed so comical to be peddling like that with two dogs chasing me.  I could hear them in the tall grass beside my bike when a car drove passed and they stopped their chase.  I was kind of relieved because my legs were still burning from that hill.

The rest of the ride was pretty uneventful.  At mile 21.5, I stopped at the aid station and ate a piece of watermelon and half of a banana.  I noticed the bowls of M&Ms, but decided against them - a decision I regretted soon after.  I was running low on steam, and watermelon and banana did not cut it.  I had some honeystinger gummies in my back pocket and so I very expertly (in my opinion) dug them out, opened them and ate four, all while riding.  I felt like I was some sort of accomplished rider for the next few miles, and then when the gummies reached my system, I felt great!

I hit another low around mile 40 and I started day dreaming about those M&Ms again.  The last 5 miles felt long, and by that time, my back and shoulders were extremely tired.  When I reached mile 45 on my speedometer,  I looked around at the corn fields surrounding me and said to no one, "I am at mile 45 and I am supposed to be done now..."  It was only 2 more miles to the school where we started, but they too seemed like an eternity.  When I got off my bike, I gingerly stretched out my aching back and slowly put my bike on the back of the 4Runner before heading over to the tables with snacks and water.  AND M&Ms!  I refilled my water bottle with cool, fresh water and got a handful of M&Ms.  I sat and chatted with the other riders until Jason rode up, completing his 70 mile ride. 

On the way home we compared stories and I was amazed at how normal I felt.  Once I moved around a little and loosened up my muscles, I felt totally fine.  It had taken me 3 and a half hours to complete the 47 miles, and it felt nothing like running for that long. I had a great day and thought to myself that I just might get the hang of this cycling thing before too long.  And I welcome the experience of getting there.

Tour de Cave and Training

This time last year Jason headed to Kentucky for the Tour de Cave Metric Century bike ride and I headed with Mom to the middle of nowhere to do the Cahaba River Ramble 10 Mile Trail (and river) Run.  Both of us had a great time on our little adventures, especially Jason who enjoyed his first foray into cycling events of this sort. 

This year we will both be heading to Kentucky for the Tour de Cave.  Jason will be doing the full metric century (70 miles) and I will be attempting the 45 mile distance.  I'm pretty sure I can make it, but it has been a while (year-ish) since I have attempted this kind of distance on my bike.  I've been riding about 10 miles twice a week and I have really enjoyed it.  If such a thing is possible, I feel more settled into it this second time around and I am enjoying it more than I did when I first started riding last year.  So we shall see what is in store for me tomorrow.

It would be really nice to have a buddy, but even without one the scenery is usually beautiful on these country rides providing plenty to see and admire.  The solitude is peaceful and I usually take advantage of that time alone to think and pray while I'm riding.  So despite my novice-hood, I'm looking forward to it. 

Jason has recently begun training for his second Ironman coming up in September, and so this 70 mile ride will be just what he needs to get him ready for the long Ironman distances.  As usual, he will run beforehand.  While I understand what kind of training is required to prepare for an Ironman, I still find myself amazed and impressed by what Jason does each day, and I'm often encouraged to push myself a little more in my own endeavors. 

Speaking of which, now that Cotton Row is over, I'm allowing myself to focus on fitness for a while instead of any sort of particular training.  I may consider another ultra in the fall, but for now I think I'd like to repeat last summer and participate in a few triathlons, attend century rides with Jason, and steer myself toward yoga and bootcamp as a means of strengthening the muscles that rarely get any attention.  The bootcamp class I am taking at the YMCA with my sister starts next week. I am excited and a little nervous.  I've been impatient to get started ever since I signed up and I am ready to see some positive changes in my upper body and core muscles.  But it is going to be hard, no doubt about that!

But for now, the Tour de Cave in the gorgeous Kentucky countryside.  And, if you visit the website linked above, you may notice that the handsome rider featured on the homepage is non other than my very own husband, Jason Reneau. 

Deep Thoughts of a Lone Cyclist

When Jason and I travel hither and yon to participate in long, organized bike rides, I often find myself riding alone.  We don't really have a group to ride with, so once we get going it is usually just me and Red Sass on the open road.  Most of the time this is fine, but after a while I get a tad bit bored.  Sometimes my boredom leads to silliness, talking or singing to myself, and sometimes it leads to deep (ish), pensive thoughts about all kinds of things.  And sometimes I can enjoy the wind on my face and the beautiful surroundings in which I find myself.

This past Saturday, Jason and I participated in the W.C. Handy 3 State Bike Ride, although I think I stayed in one state while Jason rode through parts of Alabama, Mississippi, and Tennessee.  I rode the 40 mile portion and Jason did the 100 mile.  He tried to start with me but I told him he couldn't.  He rides a tri-bike and rides WAY more than I do, so I refused to hold him back for the first 20 miles.  It is more peaceful for me to feel that I can do my thing at no inconvenience to him.  After sending him on his way, I settled in for a long, quiet ride through the country.

And what a beautiful country it was!  As we rode out, we had nothing but shade so the temperature felt cool and comfortable. There were fields of corn and some other crop on both sides of the road, and when I was high on a hill, I could see all the crops below and the mountains behind them.  It was lovely.  The air was so fresh and green-smelling that I could not get enough of it.  I saw some of the biggest butterflies I have ever seen and they were everywhere. 

The hills were gentle and rolling, and before I knew it I had reached the rest stop that was also my turn around.  I was excited by the prospect.  My shoulders, neck, and girly bits were a little weary of the ride, but the rest reinvigorated me, along with the fact I got to head back.  I refilled my water bottle, munched 3 pretzels and headed on my way.

At one point in the ride, I contemplated my shadow.  Shadows, in my opinion, are always more attractive than the person to which they belong. Blue-ish in tint, my cycling shadow looked long and lean - much longer and leaner than I am or will ever be.  I was at peace with that, however.  It was, after all, my shadow and it was okay if I imagined, during this ride, that it was an exact reflection of myself.

There were also moments when I was struck with such awe at the beauty around me and so grateful to be out in it riding my bike, I was almost brought to tears.  I was thankful to be outside, glad to be spending my morning riding through the countryside surrounded by the songs of the birds and cicadas, and I gave full credit and praise to the Creator of it all. 

And then there were moments when I really wished my shoulders and neck would get used to my cycling position and give me a break. 

When I had about 10 miles left of my ride, a lady named Amanda caught up to me.  She said hello as she rode past and I said, "HEY THERE!" as if she were my long lost best friend.  I was pretty tired of my own company by then so I picked up my pace to stay with her.  We chatted about riding, where we'd traveled from, the heat, and whatever else came to mind. 

Once we reached our starting point, we stopped and chatted some more as I ate a banana and she had an orange.  She and her party were staying at the same hotel we were so I followed her on the bike over to the hotel.  There was a huge hill we had to climb to get there and we both groaned at having to climb it after 40 miles of riding. 

I had a while before Jason would show up, so I decided to eat something and then run a few miles while I waited for him.  I looked down at myself and thought, "where do I start?"  I was soaked with sweat and covered in grease.  And when I say covered, I mean covered.  I had it all over my legs, all over my cycling outfit, on my hands and face, it looked as if I'd rolled around in it.  Obviously my bike needed to be cleaned. 

I stripped off my wet clothes, wiped myself down with a rag, put on a t-shirt and watched a little of 27 Dresses while I ate a peanut butter and jelly bagel. I then packed up all of our belongings, put on my running digs and drove back over to the park to begin my run.  I had planned to do 5-10 miles, but once out in the heat, that quickly shrunk down to 3.5.  It was 97 degrees and not a sign of shade to be had. 

I waited and waited to see Jason ride by. He told me it would take him about 6 hours to do the ride.  I assumed this included rest stops.  It did not.  So when 6 hours past and then 6 and a half and then 7, I began to get nervous.  I tried to call his phone, but it went straight to voice mail.  When an ambulance drove by with its sirens blaring, I hopped in my car and went to find him. 

He was fine, of course. I found him about 6 miles out and so I rode ahead, parked and waved him by, repeating this all the way to the finish.  He said seeing me gave him the boost he needed to finish the ride.  His ride had taken him 5 hours and 55 minutes, but that did NOT include rest stops.  Good to know for future reference.

We headed home, stopping to pick up our pup and some well-earned BBQ on the way.  I was so glad to be clean, in my comfies, sitting on my couch with a plate of BBQ in my lap.

It was a good day.  The thoughts of this lone cyclist were probably not as deep as the title might lead you to believe, but I thought it was a good title so...there you go.  I think I prefer running as my all time favorite activity, followed closely by the triathlon.  But there is something wonderful all the same about a long, lone bike ride through the countryside and I was grateful for that.

I Closed Down Georgia 400!

That is what the t-shirt says, anyway.  In truth, we (Jason, myself, and a ton of other cyclists) only closed down a mile of it for about 30 minutes.  Still.  It is a big highway. 

Jason and I are on a streak.  It is the event-every-weekend-streak.  It started out as an accident, but once I realized what we'd done, I told Jason we should see how long we could hold it.  So he did a little searching online and found an event for us to do.  We entered the Hospitality Highway Century in Roswell, Georgia.  I would be doing the metric and Jason was doing the full 100 mile ride. 

This was kind of big for me since the most I had ridden before the metric was 21 miles.  Jason had never ridden 100 miles in one day, but he had ridden 70 so that was close.  Plus, he rides about 40+ miles 3 times a week.  I currently ride about 12 miles, twice a week.

I was a bit apprehensive, but mostly excited to be going on a new sort of adventure and trying something totally different than anything else I'd ever done. 

Jason got up at 4:00 a.m. (3:00 a.m. our time) and ran 10 miles before the ride.  I got up at 5:00 a.m. (4:00 a.m. our time) and tried to eat a cinnamon roll.  The night before, Jason and I were standing at Panera ordering sandwhiches when I asked him how long he thought it would take me to ride 63 miles.  He said about 4 hours give or take some.  I said, "So it is like running a marathon."  He said, "Yeah, something like that."  I said, "I'm getting a cinnamon roll for breakfast then."  I hadn't thought about just how long I'd be riding and I wasn't sure how 4+ hours on the bike was going to feel.   

When we walked out of our hotel a little before 6:00, it was still dark.  We got our t-shirts, tossed them in our car and joined the masses as we waited for Highway 400 to be clear.   Once it had been cleared, all the riders began to move forward and we were off.  The morning was surprisingly cool and it stayed that way for most of my ride. 

Jason rode with me for the first 28 miles.  At that point the 100 milers would turn off and the 63 milers would go straight.  I told Jason he didn't have to ride with me, that I wanted him to get all he wanted from this event.  I ride a good bit slower than him, and I didn't want to hold him back.  He never acts as if I do, but I still worried about it all the same.  While I enjoyed his company, I was a little relieved when we parted ways.  I wanted to be able to slow down if I got tired and not worry about holding him back. 

We hadn't stopped at the first two rest stops, so I decided when I got to the next one I would stop.  I rode and rode and rode, and there was no rest stop.  I was getting tired and thirsty.  I'd taken sips here and there as we stopped at red lights, but I hadn't really gotten off the bike, and by mile 35 I REALLY wanted to get off the bike. 

I finally took my own short break to drink and give my aching shoulders and numb bum a rest before riding on.  Around mile 40 I finally arrived at a rest stop.  I stopped, refilled one of my water bottles, ate half a banana, and visited the restroom. I was ready for the rest of the ride after that.

There were some tough hills all along the course, but most of them were gradual and not overly long.  Around mile 47 that changed.  I hit a hill so steep that I had to hop off my bike to walk up it.  I didn't feel so bad when all the other cyclists with me did the same.  After that we entered a neighborhood that was insane with hills.  Up and down, up and down.  Flying downhill was fun until it was time to go back up again.  I walked one more hill, and then I was weary of getting on and off my bike.  I decided to hit the next hills hard.  By that point I only had 10 or so miles to go and I figured any energy I had left could be used.

The next hill was a doozie, but I decided I was staying on my bike.  I pumped until I couldn't pump anymore and then I stood up.  There was another guy with me who was zig-zagging up the hill.  He asked me if I had done this ride the previous year.  I let out a very out-of-breath, "No."  He said he had, but that he didn't remember the hills being like this.  I wanted to say, " I AM NOT A CYCLIST AND THIS IS INSANE" but there was not enough breath to be wasted on such.  I just kept pumping.

There were several more hills like that.  I was getting tired, but what else could I do but get over them?  I could tell the other riders around me were getting tired too. Usually, they would get way ahead of me after red lights, but toward the end, they were staying with me. 

At the VERY end of the ride there was a long one.  I heard other cyclists talking about it at the rest stops, but I tuned them out.  I did not want to know about it until I got to it.  But I knew when I saw it that it was "the hill." I powered up like a champ - legs burning, lungs heaving.  I think the true motivation was the fact that I knew I just had to get to the top and turn left and I'd be DONE!  I was exhilarated by the fact that I'd completed 65 miles and I still felt okay!

The ride overall was beautiful.  If we weren't riding through gorgeous neighborhoods with the biggest houses I'd ever seen, we were out in the lush, green countryside.  It smelled so good out there, and despite the heat that showed up later in the day, there was a ton of shade and a few breezes as well. 

There were about 3 or 4 drivers that were really ugly when they passed cyclists.  That shocked and unnerved me even though it probably should not have.  The first was when I was still riding with Jason.  She tapped her horn at our group consistently, and I wasn't sure where she wanted us to go.  We weren't in the middle of the road, and she was able to go by, albeit more slowly than if no cyclists were there.  The second driver passed when I was with other cyclists and we were spread out in a long line.  This driver sat on his horn as he passed all of us and it scared me to death.  I got over as far as I could and prayed that he wasn't going to hit me.  I didn't understand why drivers had to act like that.  As a runner I haven't come across that too often and I imagine cyclists get more used to it since they are usually sharing the road with drivers.  But wow.  A little patience could have gone a long way there.

Still, once my heart stopped racing at the loud horn honking, I was able to get back to my peaceful ride and enjoy my surroundings. 

The ride finish was not like all the race finishes I'd experienced.  There was no finish line, no crowd of athletes, no cheering.  Just a row of tables with some food and water and a few volunteers milling about.  I grabbed a water and a peanut butter and jelly square and went to the hotel.  It was a little anti-climactic.  I laid on the bed for a second, feeling amazed at what I'd just done, then hopped up to change my pants (I had to get out of the sweaty diaper shorts) and grabbed my camera to go wait for Jason to finish.

I called Mom to tell her what I'd done and we talked until I saw Jason make the turn after the long hill.  He looked good and strong as well.  I think we were both a little surprised and pleased to feel so...normal after riding all those miles.

Being clean and showered was heavenly.  We treated ourselves to Olive Garden, which is one of my favorite places, but I only eat there after major, calorie burning events.  According to my little bike computer, I rode 65 miles, with a 13.8 mph average pace, burning 3,481 calories.  I felt like I had earned my salad, bread sticks, and chicken marsala.

I had a great time on the ride, but I still think running is my all time favorite.  Still, I could be talked into another metric.  Maybe sooner rather than later...