mission accomplished

well the morning started off pretty chilly and i was glad to have my new riding vest on to keep my core warm. i ended up wearing my too-big TNT jersey so i could have the extra pocket room for the added "stuff" i was carrying around. i planned pretty well on the nutrition front, but later learned i hit nowhere near the mark in utilizing that plan - more on the "not so much" of it all later. i brought along two water bottles - one filled with about 220 kcals of HEED and whey protein, the other filled with ice water - my "yammie" baggie, an extra baggie of 110 kcal HEED/whey mixture, 4 vanilla bean GU's and 2 berry Roctane GU's. the group consisted of Mary, Don, Elaine, Gia, Tina, Dana, Mikey and some of the other girls training for IMAZ. my ride out was spent with one member or another of the group where as my ride back was pretty much solely on my own and i didn't mind either way a bit. it was the perfect mixture of time spent with others and time spent with my self to internalize all the shit i've had on my mind as of late. on the nutrition side, i was still really full from breakfast so i ended up not taking in any nutrition for the first hour or so - well, until we hit the little shop up in Oceanside - that's when i started to get the first batch of liquid nutrition in me and up we went. the first 40 miles out were great - no cars, hardly any riders, nice semi flat course. as we hit Pendelton, i was wishing i had followed Mary's lead and worn a tank top because it was pretty damn hot but we kept it at about an 18 mph average pace, especially towards the end of the 40 and i felt great. great until Gia decided to take me on some "really fun ups and downs" in the back neighborhoods of San Clemente, ending at the community center where we regrouped, refueled and i remembered that i was going to be hitting unknown territory pretty quickly. the "really fun ups and downs" we just tackled were probably the worst course of action i had taken all day as i my legs were already starting to feel a little jelly like and although the descents gave a strong push through the many ascents, it was still precious energy and leg power wasted where it wasn't necessarily needed had i stuck to El Camino Real. but its me and what would one of my rides be without a little extra "nonsense" and "shenanigans" to boot. boring that's what. so i was glad to have done it and was ready to tackle the path towards salvation - T's Cafe. the best damn salad i have eaten to date. the California Spring Salad. in a word - delightful. oh just the thought of its yumminess hitting my taste buds made the whole ride worth while (too bad it was closed when i finally moseyed my tired and blood sugar depleted ass over there! had a bridge been near by, i would have thought seriously about jumping off of it!!!).

the ride back was also (sadly) pretty uneventful except for mile 70. i was 10 miles past the longest ride of my life when i started to feel a little loopy. loopy and dehydrated and maybe a little nutrient deficient (did i mention that i had forgotten to bring salt tabs along with?!). unbeknownst to me, i was swerving. not a lot. just a little, but enough so that i was riding pretty close to the white line, if not on it at times when a ginormo truck almost clipped me. that woke me from my stupor and i immediately took a GU and prayed it stayed down, as i had been feeling slightly ill a couple of seconds prior. thankfully, all went well and my loopiness left with the influx of yummy vanilla bean sugar. i silently thanked the truck for the near side swipe and forcing me to take a closer look at my nutrition or lack there of. finally making it back to the car was GLORIOUS! and knowing i had done all 80 miles without any major malfunctions made the victory of the day that much sweeter. Iris, Melinda and John just so happened to be there to greet me and stroke my ego (not that i needed it, i was already on cloud 9) with great conversation and some much needed clarification on the pressing issues that are sort of drowning me at the moment thrown into the mix. i ended up doing 81 miles, 16.8 mph average in 4 hours 49 min, with 600 actual kcals ingested during the trip (i think those were the stats) which did not include my HUGE breakfast and although i would have sworn it was at least 18 mph average, i'll take it and put another milestone notch on the bed post. Coach Brian was not impressed with my lack of nutritional intake and i could hear his disappointment through the text message. it must have been the heat getting to my brain because as i was calculating it on my way to get food and texting him my stats, i actually thought i had maybe over done it. wrong. wronger than wrong. oops. but on the bright side, it got done and i'm not in too bad of shape today. i feel decent, a little run down and mega sore but i just jumped from 60 to 80, what do you expect ;)

well done kid, you've gone and made your ol' self proud.