Udderly Tired

Okay. I'll stop the Udder jokes. Even though they still make me giggle.

As indicated by my earlier post (hooray! remembered how to blog from my phone), I rode the Udder Century in Union, Illinois this morning. After a much-too-early departure from the city and a much-needed caffeine injection courtesy of Starbucks, three of us met at ride headquarters in "Donley's Wild West Town" (nope. not kidding. that's what it was called). I was looking forward to the ride but had a few significant concerns... a forecast that included an 85% chance of rain and 2 riding partners who were much better trained than me. Thankfully the rain wasn't as bad as I'd expected and eventually yielded to clear skies. However, on the second point, much of the ride I felt like a little girl on a Huffy bike (with a banana seat, of course) pedaling furiously after her two older brothers while yelling "C'mon guys! Wait for me!!" :) Thankfully I didn't actually have to yell anything. One of them generally slowed down to wait for me if I fell too far behind.

I still had an udderly good time (sorry. couldn't help myself.). We had the option to follow a 31, 50, 62, 75 or 100 mile route; we elected to go with 75 miles. (Side note: what is up with route planners who think we need extra miles?... Final odometer total was just about 77 miles.) Despite the 2 extra miles and the surprise hill at mile 74.5 that nearly made me cry, the ride was a great tour through both rolling hills and flat roads. Our trip through the countryside included a few lessons (apparently drafting another rider in the rain not a good strategy... only really gets you a face full of water and mud; and no, Kiran, not all fields of green plants are corn fields), a few treats of not-so-lovely road kill and only-in-the-country smells (and yes, some of them did remind me of home), a couple stops at great rest areas courtesy of McHenry County Biking club (thanks for the gatorade, water, lemonade, cookies, PB&J, bananas and slippery oranges!!), and a short jaunt along the Wisconsin/Illinois State Line Road (which apparently neither state chooses to maintain).

I am a fan of the Udder Century. However... My. Legs. Are. Tired. As I think of future training after today's ride, I can think of a couple little tweaks that could be helpful: 1) Actually training more and 2) Replacing my office chair with a bike seat (I may or may not have tried to ride much of the last few miles standing).

Kudos to Dad for riding Tour de Kota today! And to Karla for getting out on the Lakefront with Pat yesterday (and maybe today too?) for a long ride on her new bike! Go Team CycLee!

Cheers,
Kris