I have finally found a new nemesis, the Fred Hartman Bridge.
I have finally found a new nemesis, the Fred Hartman Bridge.
For over a year and a half my nemesis had been our very first organized bike ride out in Sealy Texas. It was cold, rainy, windy and to our surprise incredibly hilly. Not too soon after that day I fell off my bike and was diagnosed with BPPV and to some degree I blamed the ride for the disorder. After I began to feel better much later that year I decided that I would go back to that same ride only this time I would be ready and I would conquer it. The ride was called Novemberfest and my husband and I did go back and finished it without much struggle. Now the Fred Hartman Bridge has taken its place in my heart.
The day of the Gator Ride turned out to be sunny and dry with a top temperature of about 70 degrees. Prior to the start Peter and I rubbed some sunscreen on to keep us from burning and then headed out towards the starting line. The first group, which we were in, was for the 62 milers who all started at 7:30am. Soon after at 8 am the 40 miles would head out and on down the line in thirty-minute increments. After about five miles into our ride our group and the 40-mile group began to climb the Fred Hartman Bridge. To the right, which you can’t see in this picture, the climb up the bridge began with what looked like a normal rolling hill. Soon after this warm up hill thousands of bicyclists began the quarter mile climb to the top. I honestly don’t know how a person could train for such a thing. At one point I slowed to 6 mph as I gasped for air, my legs burning the entire way up. In addition to dealing with my dizziness I also have a small dose of asthma and I suffer from allergies and all of these things seemed to kick in at once.
Again I thought about quitting but soon turned my thoughts to getting off my bike and walking up it. I have been known to be a very stubborn, yet determined woman and armed with those attributes in combination with the unstated cycling rule that you should never walk up a hill, no matter how unnatural it may be, I arrived at the top ten minutes later. Ten minutes may seem like a short period of time but it seems like an eternity if you are pedaling as hard as you can the whole way. The climb winded me and taxed my legs but at the top the view was spectacular and well worth the climb. On the way down Peter reached an amazing speed of 30mph. On a bike!
Our first rest stop was the Lynchburg Ferry, about 15 miles from our starting point. As we waited for our turn to be loaded onto the ferry, volunteers walked up and down the line offering food, drinks and garbage pick up. Peter estimated that between waiting and riding the ferry to the other side our little rest took about an hour. My legs and body had fully cooled down by the time we began riding again and I suffered for a bit afterwards before getting into my riding groove again. Normally on the flats Peter and I can stay together but all throughout the ride I would fall back and then catch up due to my allergies making something as simple as breathing a difficult task.
Rest stop 3 was a very muddy stop, because it had rained allot that week, but immediately upon dismounting our bikes some wonderful volunteers asked if we would like for them to hold our bikes. Now that is something I had never been asked during an organized ride and it felt like such an honor to have someone hold our bikes. I smiled at the gesture and handed over my bike a tiny bit reluctantly, like a mother handing over her small child. Peter will tell you that my bike has a life of its own and it even has a name and a gender. I like to call her Binkie and she was very pleased to have someone hold her while we recuperated. It was great!
This ride was our very first ride of anything greater than 40 miles and our goals were to simply complete the ride and to learn how our bodies reacted to the duration so that we could take note and plan better for our next ride. I always use a gel named GU when riding which is made up primarily of carbohydrates, with some vitamins including potassium in a gel form. When cycling carbs are your friend and if you don’t carb up you ‘bonk’. Bonking is when your body has used up all of its fuel, carbohydrates, and you basically become weak, disorientated and you either pass out or have to sit down for a really long time and wait for it to pass. I have bonked once and it wasn’t a pleasant experience. I had been using GU the entire ride along with eating a banana, orange and graham cracker at each stop and by the time we reached rest stop 4 my legs were feeling fairly strong again. At this point we were about 40 miles into our ride.
Rest stop 5 was next to a cemetery and by this time my feet, hands and neck hurt but my legs were still doing ok. After a brief rest Peter and I set back out on our way to the finish line. The ride was primarily a flat with exceptions to the brutal climb up the bridge and an evil little hill that laughed wickedly at our cold muscles right after the ferry ride. With a few miles to go we were routed through probably the only neighborhood around that had hills. It really wasn’t anything bad but we thought it was funny anyway.
Once we reached the finish line we were asked to sign in with our names, the routes we took and the time we had finished. We had been informed at the start that we would be doing this so that our teams would receive points of some sort. This went quickly and after we finished Peter and I rode up to the park where we had started, got off of our bikes and congratulated each other with a big hug. We had made it!
They had warm food waiting for us, which consisted of beans, rice, hot dogs with chili and cheese, nachos and soda. We went through the line and enjoyed our meal chatting with one of the ride marshals and a very nice lady who sat next to him. Soon after eating we crawled back onto our bikes and headed out to the truck, loaded out bikes and drove home. If the weather co-operates our ride next weekend will be the Continental Bike ride out in Montgomery. If you want some hill training this is the place to go. Our goal: 60 miles in the hills. I plan on brining plenty of GU and will be experimenting with my favorite carb filled cookie, Fruit Newtons. “But it’s not a cookie! It’s a fruit Newton!”
We will see you then!
