150 miles

ice baths are the bomb after any extreme effort! because of the ice bath, the morning after means very little soreness as opposed to barely being able to walk.

so, what was the extreme effort? yesterday, my buddy kay and i decided to ride 150miles in preparation for the heart of the south 200, april 4th (this is a 200mile ride that includes mt. cheaha -highest point in alabama- at mile 95). prep rides not only prepare your body for the effort, but give you so much valuable info. they show you areas of weakness as well as what works (like what short really work, is your bike fit right and what food/fuels work best).

we started the morning at 6 with abe and jim and rode easy(about 22miles) until about 7:20 when we met up with our bike shop (www.bikelinkbham.com) for their group ride. we rode with them for a fun 40miles from hoover to crestline. not enough can be said for the assistance/morale booster that riding with a group is. the talk/entertainment ;) is invaluable!

even one other rider can make all the difference! we ended the first loop back at my car to reload food/drinks and to pick up tom (got an added benefit and picked up todd, from the first ride, on his way home). we went back the way we came but, beyond to leeds.

we had one incident, beyond the usual horn blowing (what do those people think they're accomplishing? i'm gonna stop riding bc you blow your horn at me?!!) we were coming around a curve and a car was parked on the road, i could see the car coming up behind it, but couldn't believe when the guy came around on our side doing 40 in a neighborhood, on a curve! i don't know if he saw us before he came around but, because of how fast he was moving, he nearly hit kay! she slid and hit the ground, instead of hitting me or tom (thank you!). the guy stopped, but didn't even roll his window down and ask if we were ok! so, please use this as a lesson to watch for us annoying bikers!

kay hopped back on her bike (bc she's tough!) and we went on. when we got back to may car, we were about 12miles short of our goal so, we went on into kay's neighborhood to finish up. neither she or i can stand to stop short of a goal! we finished up 150miles in 10hrs(pedal time, 11hrs real time)--not fast, but not especially slow bc of the hilly terrain.

thanks to all our friends for helping/encouraging and to the hubs for letting us take to WHOLE DAY!