Travel With Mel

Over the weekend we rode in the Skagit Spring Classic, sponsored by the Skagit Bicycle Club.  STP is only a couple months away and I've done very little to prepare, so when this ride came up I decided I needed the challenge of extending the distance beyond my comfort zone and it would be best to do this on an organized ride.  I'm proud to say I successfully completed my first 62 mile bike ride!  I have to admit, one of the things I'm enjoying about cycling is having 'firsts' again.  I've been running for so long, my first 15 or 20 miler was years ago, so I had forgotten the excitement of meeting new physical challenges.

The ride was beautiful as we basically biked through Skagit farm country, then up to Bellingham on Chuckanaut Drive (hilly but the water views made it worth it) and back down into Skagit with a section along the water before we finished.  It was also a very well supported ride with 3 rest stops complete with fruit, snacks and COOKIES and a spaghetti dinner at the end.  The start/finish/dinner were at an elementary school so we were served in plastic school lunch trays that brought back memories of our childhood!  Our group also completed the ride w/o incident (good thing since Rachele and Jim both had bike crashes last week), except for me falling over at the finish.  Those darn clip in pedals! 

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.