Crazy Saturday: Goldilocks

This past Saturday was the big day. The Goldilocks bike ride. The plan? To ride 60 miles. With, hopefully, a lot less pain than last summer. I woke up 30 minutes earlier than my alarm was set to go off. I made a good breakfast...but then had a hard time getting it down. Was I nervous? Hmm. Didn't expect that. I pulled all my stuff together:

Two water bottles: one with water, one with a sport drink.
kleenex
chapstick
sunblock
granola bar
2 packs sport beans
extra tire tube and tools
ibuprofin and bandaids
apple slices
sunglasses
cell phone
cash

Mylissa's husband strapped our bikes into the rack on top of the car and off we went. It's always rather exciting to get to an event and see so many bikers in one place. We met up with Mylissa's sister Rachel and her friend Michelle and began our journey.
I had some fears. Certainly we were so much more prepared to do this big ride than I was last year. I was better trained, more experienced than last summer, right? But I couldn't stop myself from worrying..what if? What if it's last year all over again? Last year, during the course of those 60 miles, I went from enjoyment, to endurance to sheer misery. What if the hills were ginormous and I couldn't hack it? What if the wind started blowing horribly? What if I just got so plain tired that sheer misery set in again? I was hoping for something better this time.
Funny thing...we did get some heavy duty hills. And we did get some serious head winds. But it didn't ever get too hard. Every time we got to a rest stop, I was amazed at how good I still felt. And not that I wasn't getting tired....because, honestly...60 miles? Of course you're going to get worn out. But I could hack it! I never hit sheer misery. I'm not even sure I got too far into plain old endurance. I enjoyed the great majority of that ride...tough hills, exhilarating downhills, headwinds, beautiful scenery, etc. Okay...maybe not the headwinds. Those are never fun. At one point we were heading up a mighty steep hill going north past Thanksgiving Point. I was switching my gears down to make my pedaling easier when half way up that ginormous hill my chain just completely fell off! Which left me pedaling but with no forward motion...on a hill! Being clipped in to my pedals, I thought for sure I was going down. I must have yelled out in my panic. And then somehow, somehow...clipped out in time to save myself from crashing. The ladies riding past me were shocked. "I've NEVER seen someone clip out that fast!" one of them said. "I thought for sure you were going over!" Luckily for me re-attaching my chain was not a big deal and we continued on our way.
At mile 55 Mylissa accidentally rode through a pile of shattered glass as she came around a corner and popped her back tire. Sigh....mile 55...so close! I'd changed a tire before. But only with copious, frustrated tears and lots of help from Bryan. And it was the front tire. The back tire is more complicated being attached to the gears. But between the 3 of us, we pooled our knowledge and experience and somehow got that tire fixed. It took us a half hour to do it... but still! And here we are at the end. Tired, dirty, sunburned and stinky. But happy!! 63 total miles completed with never having hit sheer misery! Honestly, it was like night and day difference from my 60 miles last summer and I was exhilarated! To celebrate, we stopped at Paradise Bakery on our way home and bought some cookies. Oh my. I don't think a chocolate chip cookie has ever tasted so good!
Next up... Little Red Riding Hood ride the first weekend in June. 100 miles. Here's hoping...

P.S. Just because everyone assumes or asks... Nope. My tail end does NOT hurt! Yay! I can sit just fine, thank you very much! (Last year I couldn't sit for 2 day afterwards so these questions are not without cause...)