I Survived the Big Ride

As I have written about previously, the "Is This The Last Hill?" ride is one of the toughest rides I have ridden thus far. It has routes that vary from 25-70 miles and goes through Boerne, Comfort, Sisterdale, and Waring-Welfare and is a ride for the really stout-of-heart. Although it is truly one of the hardest rides in the area, this route is also one of the most beautiful ones around.

My previous attempt at this ride a few weeks back was to do 45 miles. I ended up only managing to accomplish 35 miles (for which I was VERY grateful to do so). Yes, you can say it kicked my a--! At a time where I thought I was making such great progress in my bike training, this ride brought me to my humble knees and taught me that I wasn't even close to where I needed to be in order to handle the upcoming Lance Armstrong Challenge.

So, I was filled with great fervor when I saw this ride on last weekend's schedule...NOT! Instead, it was more like a love/hate/love kind of thing. You know when something is good for you, but you hate it when you are doing it and then love it when you are finished because you know it was good for you? Yep, its kind of like eating Brussel Sprouts.

As always, I got up early and I made sure that I ate a good breakfast, drank plenty of fluids and paced myself as well as possible. I have to admit, at 35 miles into the ride I was beginning to feel kind of like "This is not such a tough ride". I mean, yes the heat was rising but I still felt like I had more than enough left in my tank to finish 50 miles. At one point, the person I was riding with even stopped to take some photos of one of the river crossings we passed this day.

Yes, my confidence was high. That is... until the heat began to start taking its toll on me. With only about 10 miles to go, I began to feel like I was riding in a convection oven. Hill after Hill, I began to think to myself...not another freakin' hill! And just when I thought I was almost finished, there it was before me...a 600 ft. climb.

I made it about a forth of the way up and I felt my legs give out. I stopped to take a breath and tried to start again. Nope, I couldn't do it...I had just run out of gas. So, humbled again, I began to start walking up the last hill. I felt so humiliated. I was so disappointed in myself. How could I not have just one more hill in me? All the training, all the miles, and this is how it was going to end?

Then it happened. About 2/3's of the way up I stopped and got back in the saddle. I began to chant my mantra...LiveSTRONG, LiveSTRONG, LiveSTRONG. Before I knew it, I was climbing the hill and had made it to the top -YES! The last 6 miles into town were a piece of cake after this climb. :)

Anyhow, I am thrilled to say that I completed 51.7 miles of torturous hills this day (over 6,000 ft. of climbing) in 92 degree heat and wind. Next time? Maybe, I'll go for 70 miles!