Cyclists Do It Wet

Alternative Title: Julie And CoCo, Off The Beaten Path

Ok... let's get this out there because it needs to be known... meeting the girls was fabulous. I already knew that, but the sparkle added when you get to see the words spoken instead of written just makes it better. It was AWESOME to finally meet them. And I'm sorry if I broke the "company is coming to town" rule. I was completely comfortable to be my normal crass self, immediately.

So the drive down to Texas was fun... I had a list of all this stuff I had to deal with before I even got out of Tulsa... eat lunch, buy water bottles, buy extra tubes for the tires (all at Mid-Town Bicycles, which might take over from Lee's as my new fave bike shop... they were really nice!), run to the bank for work, run to the bank for me, put gas in the car, get sudafed (which has to be bought in the pharmacy here in Oklahoma now, because I guess some component of Sudafed is used to make meth), get sun screen, buy a pop, get some candy and GOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! I listened to a lot of music... thought about listening to one of my books on my iPod (can't hardly call it a book on tape anymore), but I kept with the music.

If I have any room to complain about driving (in any state) it is this: Pick a speed and go. I hate people who go 80, then 75, then 70, then realize someone is tailing them, bump it back up to 80, lather, rinse, repeat. And if I see you coming up on me fast, I really will try to get out of your way... so give me a damn minute. Don't just whip around me. That scares the shit out of me and it should scare the shit out of you too. And if you rearend me with my bike back there and ruin it, you're buying me an even better bike, mkay? Cause I'd probably take the payout for getting my junker of a car totalled and buy a really sweet ride.

So I got to Plano later than I wanted... I had planned to be there by four, do some laps in the pool, get cleaned up and meet some the girls for dinner. I got there at about 5:45, with time to throw my bike in the room, go to the bathroom, glance around the hotel to see if the pool was indoor (for after dinner usage, it was not) and head out to meet the girls for dinner. The best laid plans....

Dinner was hilarious... loved all the girls and it was seriously like I had already met everyone. They were so welcoming and friendly and it was awesome.

I explored Addison a little (not much as I had specific directions to and from specific places and I didn't feel like getting lost) and headed on back to the hotel to hit the hay with a wakeup call called in and my alarm set for 5:45.

About midnight I hear it... splashing water. And I see it... lightning. I rolled over and went back to sleep... all night long this continues... and I kept thinking... I heard it will be over by morning, by morning, by... morn... zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

I looked at the clock at 5:44... my phone had already turned 5:45 and had some cryptic message that the alarm time had already passed it would ring tomorrow, but not today? Whatever... I was awake, but I was laying there in anticipation of the wake up call... that never came... so I got myself up out of bed, washed my face, brushed my teeth, put my gear on... all to the steady sound of rain.

Loaded my bike... loaded myself... this would have been a good time for a checklist... because I thought I locked my keys in my car right after I had loaded my bike.... but then found them, had to go back for a towel, had to go back for my Garmin, had to go back for the directions... I drove out of the parking lot four times before I really got on the road. Checklist next time!

Arrived at the event which was the WildRide! Bike Rally. We had decided on Friday night that we were going to do the 16 mile course.

I sat in my car waiting for everyone to get there... and thought... hmmm... this is kind of crazy... it's pouring out there. But I got my bike out, aired up my tires, got dressed and went in search of the other girls... who knew it would be so hard to find them... we laughed when I called and Courtney said she was the one with the bike, next to the tree.

This is before I was totally soaked...

So we head out... and I'm not going to lie... it was wet. And a little bit scary to be riding in the wet. I've been sprinkled on, but I've never ridden in the rain... but rest assured, we didn't fall! And once we actually got out and everything reached saturation level... it was, actually, not that bad to ride in the rain. I wish I could have stopped and rung out my socks... they seems to retain the most liquid... and my jersey, the back pockets felt like they were starting to fill up.

Courtney and I somehow split from Alana and Drea, but it was great riding and talking... we were just chit chatting, comparing race schedules, talking about all things tri having a ball... when we finally look up and notice... no rally signs.anywhere, no bikers.anywhere. She thought there was a rest stop about mile 9 at an elementary school... and we rode along and found one... but it wasn't the one. So we turned around and started looking for cyclists. As we were headed back into the rain, I mentioned, I don't know whether to be pissed or laugh! How in the world did we miss.the.turn.

So we're heading back the direction we came from... and notice a line of cyclists crossing a road we had breezed on by earlier (and we almost got a car up the crack because the police officers motioned us through and the car went instead)... and we started cracking up... I tried to see a sign that said turn, but never could find it... and we saw the other two girls coming, so we had to be on the right track.

Neither of us ever figured out where we missed the turn... and it must have been marked somewhere because most of the other riders seemed to have made it... (but we did see a few other random stragglers who did the same thing we did)... but we missed the rest stop where there were apparently cookies and oranges... and I was sad to not have been involved with that.

But... we made it back... all four of us crossing the finish line... and we had to take a picture, you know? (I just noticed my eyes were closed, but hey! I'm smiling!)
And it was a good course, a couple of hills, a few gradual inclines... I'm glad we didn't do the 40 miles... especially in that weather... but now.. I don't know... for some reason, I hadn't been considering myself a real cyclist... but after that ride in the hot mess of the rain, I decided, yup, I'm a cyclist. And I didn't come all the way to Texas to pack up my bike and not do it. So I'm proud of us... we did it. And even the detour was pretty funny (after the fact).

Notes to self:
*know the route
*carry a map of the route, maybe I'll finally to listen
*if it rains, decide to play in it, it's like being a little kid again
*start thinking about that century ride I'd like to complete next year

I would say my first organized bike ride was a success!