Monday, April 10, 2006

Chappell Hill

Friday I was supposed to have my new bike rack. Didn't get it. They were confused and told me mine was in, but actually it was someone else's. Guess that is what happens when you special order and do not just buy what they have in the store. I will hopefully get it sometime in the next couple of days.

Back to the more important stuff – my bike ride!

Saturday it was out to Chappell Hill for 50 miles of hill country. And there were a lot of them. It is always wonderful getting to a top of a hill and then seeing the tops of several more you have climb!

The first indication that the day was not going to be perfect was waking up at 6:20 with the ride start planned for 7:30, and it is an hour drive to Chappell Hill. I thought I had slept through my alarm, but come to find out I set it for 5:30 PM not AM!! Ditz! I jumped out of bed and quickly got ready and left the apartment 20 minutes later. I called one of the coaches to let them know I would be late and they waited for me. I arrived just in time for the group picture!!

We set out and all was good. We were headed into the wind which was a good thing because that would mean it would be at our backs on the way back. The day was gorgeous, a little chilly at first but I put on a t-shirt which helped. The country side was beautiful and there were fields and fields of bluebonnets. An awesome day for riding.

Somewhere around mile 30 was our second rest stop. I refilled my bottles, used the "loo", and rested a bit before I took off for the return trip. Eventually I headed back and after a couple miles I notice a tad too much road noise coming from my front wheel – my second indication that my day wasn't going to be the greatest. It wasn't quite a flat, but the tire pressure was going down. I thought I might be able to make it a bit further before I had to change it so I pedaled on. Then something happened – not sure what – but I went off the shoulder – all five inches of it – lost control because of the tire and fell. OUCH!! Might not have been so bad if I fell on the grass, but I fell on my left side instead. On the blacktop. Skinned my elbow, scraped up my calf a little and hit my left hip pretty hard. I am a bit sore and bruised, but I will survive. Not much damage to the bike – just a few scrapes and the left gear/brake lever got knocked out of place, which was easy enough to fix.

I proceeded to change my tire and was eventually on my way. One of the coaches rode with me for awhile to make sure I was okay, which I appreciated because I was feeling pretty sorry for myself at that point! Whoa is me!! One of my team mates said I deserved the most bumps and bruises award! What is it with me and falling?!!

Anyway, the ride back was great and with the wind at my back I was able to get up to 37.5 mph on a downhill!! THRILLING!!

Chappell Hill was holding its annual Bluebonnet Festival this past weekend so there were tons of people and cars when we got back into town. The riding was a little tough watching for everyone, but we eventually made it back to the parking lot. I quickly put my stuff away, changed shirts and shoes and walked into town to check it out. Tons of booths had been set up with all sorts of things for sale. Some junk, some interesting. I walked out of there with an extra lemony, fresh squeezed lemonade – YUM YUM YUM – and a bag of kettle corn – just a so so yum – I have had better!

After that it was back to the parking lot to wait for the other riders. Then it was off to the Chappell Hill Sausage Company for lunch where I had a jalapeno sausage on a bun!! Scrumpdillyicious!! After that it was home where I rested up for the Space Race on Sunday. I will blog about that later. This post is a tad long!

1 comment:

KBGee said...

I just love the way you celebrate after a good workout. Also, I'm sorry to hear about your crash...glad you and the bike are ok.