Entries from Monday, February 26. 2007

There is a reason why they call it Chilly Hilly.  And now I know why.  Because it is about as cold and miserable as a person can get before frostbite hits and you have to start discussing chopping off appendages due to lack of oxygen.  And it is hilly, not Alpe D'Huez hilly, but this is a ride around the perimeter of an island so where did all the hills come from?  Sigh...

We started the morning with a ride from Richard's apartment to the ferry terminal.  There was no line at packet pick up so we had an hour to kill before we were supposed to meet friends.  It was tempting to take an earlier ferry and get started (I'm a get in, get out, get it done kinda girl) but since we were meeting people we kept ourselves reasonably warm and entertained.  We found a few friends, but a phone call to Bill later, realized we had been ditched and most of the friends riding at our speed were warm and asleep in bed.  Grrr...

We got of the ferry in Bainbridge Island and started the ride.  The first few miles were some fun up and down and it was fun to be riding somewhere new with beautiful views of Puget Sounds.  About mile 14 we enjoyed a rest stop and a hot dog - yum!  A few miles later we hit a cider stop and ran into some of our other speedy friends (Jim, Glenn, Bert, etc.).  From there we hit a major hill but I just took it easy and was proud that I stayed in the saddle the whole way up.  I was counting down the miles and happy there were only 4 left when I saw Richard half way up the next hill.  Why did he stop half way up, I thought?  Then I realized he had a flat. 

Richard Fixing His Flat

Fortunately he had all the tools and knew how to fix it, but I was amazed at how many support vehicles came by and made sure we were ok.  After the flat we had just a few more miles (and HILLS) to the finish.  We skipped the chili feed to hop the next ferry home to a hot tub and warm showers.  The clam chowder and beer on the ferry were the best ever and my couch made a welcome place to crash before falling asleep to recover from the exhausting day.

The thing that I am most proud of is that despite the elements and even a stong desire and discussion around taking the shortcut to the ferry at 20 miles, we did it - all 33 miles of Chilly Hilly!  This was my first cycling event and at the end of it I was ready to post the road bike on eBay.  But even veteran bikers have told me that this is a tough ride and if you can make it through Chilly Hilly other biking events won't be nearly as tough.  So, a day later I am just trying to image the warm sunny days of summer and look forward to long rides with friends as we train for STP.

Saturday night, 2/24/06 was the end to my 6 week session of volunteering to teach sit skiing with Outdoors For All.  I am both saddened and relieved by the end of the season.  For some reason, it's been a really tough year to drag myself up to the mountain every Saturday night this year.  What gets me out the door each week is thinking about the people I work with when I get up there and realizing that while this is a significant time committment, I am so blessed to have had my health for the first 33 years of my life.  It is truly a gift that I have the option to spend my time this way on Saturday nights.  Not only that, but for our participants, Saturday night marked the end of ski season for most of them because they are dependent on the amazing work of Outdoors For All for the equipment and volunteers necessary for the them to ski. For me, it was the end of my volunteering but not quite the end of my season on the snow.  A few highlights from this season of instruction include: (1) spending much of my time working with a 20 year veteran of ski instruction and learning a ton from his experience in addition to a few laughs, (2) watching the progress of a student over 3 weeks who initially fell at every turn and we got at least half way down before the he fell on the last run of our last night and (3) the love, joy and support of an entire family that came out with a student who was supposed to be a 1 timer who ended up joining us for 3 times, even after he did a pirouette in the ski getting him off the lift the first time!  He was non verbal but you could see in his eyes that he loved being out there with us and his family was so amazing and supportive and fun (they would ski with us and race us down) that it made me smile and reminded me why I started working with this program initially and why I come back year to year.  So here's to another great season!