It All Starts With A Step: July 2009

I have been newly introduced to road biking...meaning I tried it for the first time 8 days before I was to ride from Draper to St. George. Here's the quick low-down...

I was invited by my boss to join his family and friends on a bike ride to St. George. I warned him that I had never touched a road bike and didn't have a clue what it was all about. He assured me that I would do fine. Trusting him, I agreed to join in and ride the 320 miles from Draper to St. George over a three day period.

I had a month or so to get ready...little did I know the details involved. First off, I didn't have a road bike. That was kind of a problem. But a sweet, trusting neighbor of mine said I could barrow his and that is was only a $1,500 bike if I crash...comforting. But I didn't get to try the bike out until 9 days before I was to leave for St. George. One of those days was a Sunday.

Over the next week I needed to get a lot of riding in and find the right gear that I would be comfortable in for a very long ride but didn't know what was going to work. It was like taking the brand new hiking boots out for a 50 miler... But I didn't have a choice because my time was very limited. I just hoped the expensive jersey and shoes and gear would work out.

Before the morning came of departure I had only ridden up to 40 miles a day. My body was still feeling okay but the first day of riding was 135 miles....I was way off knowing how I was going to feel. The night before I was to leave I was trying my new shoes for the first time. These special shoes clip into the pedals, so if you need your foot you have to release it first...I had never been clipped in before and fell over in the street while standing still, twice, and banged my elbow pretty good. I went over to Steve's house, (the neighbor who let me barrow his bike) and while trying to hold back bawling my eyes out, asked how on earth I was to use these stupid clips and survive this trip. He was encouraging but humored at the same time. I believe I heard a "told you so" once or twice because he had tried to warn me on how tough is was going to be.

I wanted to back out so badly!! But I had made the commitment to the other bikers and to myself that I would do it...(dang commitments). I was so worried that I didn't know what I was doing, that I wouldn't be able to keep up, that I wouldn't know a soul, that I would crash, and mostly that I would fall over at a stop light because I forgot I was clipped in and cause a domino effect of bike riders falling to the ground (yikes :0( ). But what's a victory with out a little challenge...right?? I didn't even know how to change a flat tire. Jeff had always been the one to fix anything on my bike.

After an emotional roller coaster of excitement and fear (more fear, lol) ,the morning came. I was up early getting everything ready and had my first experience putting on chamois cream, (A.K.A. butt cream to be applied to your biking shorts, that you are to wear commando, to avoid chaffing). My first thought was "Oh Yuuuuuck!!" It was a cold morning and a very cold, wet, mushy feeling as I pulled up the bike shorts... :0) Maybe a little TMI but that's what you get.

All packed up I jumped in the van and Jeff dropped me off at the starting point with all the complete strangers. Jeff drove away and left me to the wolves it felt like. They were all nice but what had I gotten myself into? Everyone was busy looking professional and intelligent, tinkering with their bikes and gear, and I was standing around gazing, dumbfounded. I would have offered to help if I had a clue on how to. As I stood there in a daze one of the riders walked past and asked if I was ready for this....my answer was honest and candid, and with a light hearted chuckle in my voice I replied, "no". He laughed along with me but little did he know that I was completely serious...!

So this is everyone packing up the support vehicles and such.

This is the whole group. I am in the middle-ish with a blue vest on.

We started off and in my head I kept repeating over and over, "you're clipped in, you're clipped in". There were lots of stops as we road out of town but I managed to keep up and not fall over!! Yay.

But all too soon the city was gone and we were rounding Utah lake and I found myself, as expected, bringing up the back of the group. And doing it so well that they were no longer in my sites. It was at least, a peaceful ride and the lake was beautiful. :0)

I expected to have our first stop any time. But they just kept riding, and riding, and riding... The computer on my bike that is supposed to keep track of mileage, in short, wasn't.... so I had no clue how far we had gone. I finally saw the support vehicle and they were meerly letting me know which way the group had gone... no break yet.

Finally a break! They had all stopped at some tiny gas station on the south end of Utah lake and I was ready for lunch! I hopped off the bike and asked how far we had gone.."54 miles" was hollered back at me. "Wow" I thought. I was told we were going to take breaks every 20-25 miles....they were off of that a bit. So I unclasped my helmet and went in the use the bathroom. When I got out they were already on their bikes...!! I didn't take that long! Apparently lunch was not coming and I hurried to refill my water bottles and bring up the rear of the group again.

It began pouring rain that hit so hard it hurt! I kept the group in my sights as I awkwardly tired to eat my cliff bars and other strange energy food they advised me to keep in my jersey. Lunch on the bike isn't what I had planned but it was going to have to do. Eating and drinking while biking is a skill that I didn't know I was going to learn, along with many, many other ones... lol

The rain and wind stayed but I kept going and going and going.... I heard from the support vehicle that we were to stop in Nephi to have lunch...NEPHI!! That's like 90 miles from Draper. We were stopping at the Subway there to regroup and eat and possibly dry off. I was feeling fine considering the trek thus far but my neck and shoulders were tired of looking up.

I saw the "Welcome to Nephi" sign and that Subway couldn't come soon enough... I wanted real food and mostly just a break longer than 2 minutes! But it wasn't coming....I rounded corner after corner and that stupid place wasn't showing up. Finally when you couldn't get more on the other end and still consider it Nephi, the Subway was waiting, along with the group who were all eating by now. I knew I was slow but I was pretty happy to have gotten this far. I got off the bike and felt the water squish out of my shoes. I was soaked to the bone.

Lunch was rushed as I was trying to keep up with the others. I hardly had time to call Jeff for the first time and tell him where I was. I scarfed the sandwich down as fast as possible and met the others in the trailer to try and warm back up. Everyone was shaking uncontrollably from freezing. It was okay while we were riding and the blood was pumping but now that we had stopped, it sucked. Getting back out there in the wind and rain was going to be that much harder. While people were discussing the next move and if we should continue, I took the opportunity to shortly change into some PJ pants and dry my shorts off over the heater in the motor home. I didn't have another jersey like everyone else so this was going to have to do.

And before I knew it they were getting ready to leave again... ! I was thinking "Wait, I'm not ready yet, these shorts aren't dry, I'm beat, and it's freaking cold out there!!" But voicing this would only lead to them advising me to stay in the motor home and I didn't want that. I was going to do this thing if it killed me. I had to make a choice, either to stay in the motor home and dry off a bit and get a short break, or jump out now and continue wet and cold. I knew I needed a break or I wasn't going to make it much further. So in order to have energy left for the next 2 days, I druggingly convinced the driver to let me ride in the couch for the next 15 miles and then let me out again. As I watched the others go on I was grateful for the break but at the same time anxious for my body to get rested already, so I could get back out there!

Here is the bike who became my new best friend. Always there to carry me and kept me company. Sounds about right, doesn't it?! It's waiting for me to get rested.

My shorts finally dried and I asked them to pull over as soon as they were. I reapplied the butt cream that I was now, so grateful for, and was on my way. The rain and wind were hitting like before and I squinted my eyes and held my head low to try and battle the headwind and semi trucks that would attempt to blow me off the road as they drove past.

I reached Gunnison and was able to see a familiar face which brightened the rainy day! My mom lives relatively near by and wanted to make sure she saw me on the way out. I stopped for a moment to greet her on the side of the road and it was so nice to chat for a moment and give hugs and tell her how it was going. But all too quickly I needed to be on my way so I wouldn't get too far behind the others. The five minutes with my mom were great but then it was back on the bike, waving as I rode on.

The next stop was Panguitch which is where we stayed for the night. And again, it was on the OTHER END OF TOWN! and the driveway was this massive stupid hill.... :0) We got all unloaded and checked in by about 7:00 pm. I was so grateful to be there! 120 miles were behind me!! Not too shabby. The hotel wasn't the greatest by any means but this was my room and my sweet little bike resting against the wall.

As I unpacked some things to shower I found little surprises all over the place. Sweet Jeff and the kids all wrote me something and picked a candy for me!! My smile was so big! I just love them and missed them so much!

We still needed to get dinner so I took the quickest shower, then met the others outside and headed across the street to some Mexican restaurant. I had a bad feeling about how much time we didn't have. I needed to get more rest time in if I was to be able to continue the next day. But options weren't open so I went with everyone instead of getting to bed early.

Getting our dinner took forever because we were such a big group. This is what I got, chicken enchiladas, but didn't have the stomach room to fit it all in.

Bed time came around 10:00 and I was looking forward to it. I was certain I would crash as soon as I hit the pillow....but I didn't. It was a long night of restlessness that wasn't welcome as I had another day of 96 miles to wake up to.

Here I am the next morning just getting things ready, refilling water bottles , checking tire pressure (which I had others do because I wasn't too keen on trusting my ability yet...well I could fill my own water bottle but not do the tire thing.. come on) and trying to eat something with no appetite. We were on the road again by 8:00 am.

I was able to stay with the group for a little while as we headed out of town but then I started to fall behind and feel the exhaustion. The miles were catching up with my inexperience and my energy was very low no matter what I ate or drank. Soon the group was out of sight and I had only gone about 30 miles. At this point I actually got a little lost ;0). Don't get me wrong, I knew where I was but didn't really know where I was going. :0) I called the support vehicle and they tried to explain where to go but I was about 5 miles behind the group and as I was trying to explain my surroundings and the street signs, they weren't able to clarify where I should go. I gave up and called Jeff to see if he could find me on Google map. He ended up just listening to my frustrations and dreaded exhaustion with tears pouring down... (I laugh at myself) The realization came to me then that I wasn't going to be able to pull all these miles no matter how much I wanted to. To be honest, it was a bit boring riding alone so much and I was beginning to get discouraged. But I had come this far and certainly didn't want to give up but I wasn't looking forward to so many more miles alone either.

After having some time to relieve some frustration and NOT finding where I was, I ended up turning back to where I knew was apart of the path and just kept heading down that road in hopes that I was going in the right direction. Luckily not far was the support vehicle coming back to check on me. I sadly got got in the car because my body, in biking terms, had hit the wall for the day. I was hoping that some time in the motor home resting would allow me to ride a bit later in the day. I road in the couch until the meeting point at lunch which was in Marysvale.

Here is everyone at a park for lunch.

After lunch I stayed with the motor home because I still wasn't feeling much energy coming back. I at least wanted to get in 50 miles that day. I ended up riding the last 20 miles into Salina. That is where we stayed for the second night. And let me tell you, that last 20 miles felt like 100 in itself!!! There was such a nasty head wind that I was traveling at 5 miles an hour going down hill!! I know that if I didn't have to work so hard then I could have made it further that day but I can't control the weather. I was only about a mile out when the support vehicle passed me and offered me a ride. I took it! The hotel was just around a few corners. It was some pathetic place that had the gall to charge $80 a night!

Anyway...while we were unloading luggage, a car showed up and muttered something about how to get somewhere, so I looked up and it was my SISTER!! I dropped my bags and with a huge smile on my face, ran over and gave her the biggest hug. It had been a pretty lonely trip by this point and I was so excited to have the time to visit with her for a sec. Then I noticed my mom drive up and that they had all the kids, mine included! I hugged everyone and was just thrilled that they were there. I got to go out to dinner with them and enjoy the evening relaxing and laughing. It felt so good. My sis just gets me :0)

It took forever to get all our food, take the kids potty a million different times...(oh, kids;0) and manage to find a place to eat that would fit everyone. That ended up to be the lawn of a church building. Whatever works right? It was a bit windy and all the 8 kids were saying they were cold so we parked the huge Excursion right next to the sidewalk to block the wind while we all ate on the curb. Dinner went by all too quickly and they needed to head home. It was hard saying goodbye but I just had to dig deep and move forward. I wanted to cry but I wouldn't let myself. I wandered around to the other side of the church where the rest of the bikers were eating....(lol, small town) and joined them for a bit until it was time to head back to the hotel and go to bed.

I didn't have a way to wash my clothes so both nights I washed them in the sink and dried them over the vent in the room. Here they are hanging over the table and chairs. You do what ya gotta do!

I didn't sleep well that night either but oh well. Here we all are getting ready to leave the next morning.

I road a little bit later in the day in hopes of resting a bit more. There were fat hills outside of Salina and I knew that if I battled them, they would be my last and I wouldn't make it into St. George. While riding in the couch I noticed how many small towns there were and that they prided themselves on antique stores filled with crap...anyone want a used, rusted, bed pan?..

After the major hills I got out and rode. It was still tough and raining lightly again but managable. One part was down a long mountainous canyon into Mt. Carmel and it was fun! My max speed hit about 35 mph and I was repeating in my mind again, "Don't crash, don't crash!" That will make the miles go by a lot quicker though!

Right before we hit Zions National Park, the rain came again and it was coming down hard. We had to all hop in the motorhome anyway to pass through Zions but we were in a hurry not to get soaked again! As we road up to the support vehicle it was a race against the rain so there were guys ready to grab our bikes for us and get them loaded and get us inside to eat a well deserved lunch!

But cramming 15 people into a motorhome with a table set in the middle of it was a real trick. You had to take turns eating and sitting.

As we drove through Zions the roads were so narrow that it was quite an accomplishment to get the train though (the motorhome and the two trailers it was pulling). The view was still great though through the large windows :o)

Here we are getting out in Springdale right outside of Zions and starting the last leg of the ride. St. Geroge was just about 40 miles away and I was excited. Jeff and my brother Burk were meeting me there.

The ride went well because I knew it was coming to an end soon. I found plenty of energy to get up and down the many hills on the way in. One hill my max speed hit 40 mph! Too fun!

As expected I came in last but Jeff and Burk were there at the gate. Yes, a litteral gate that went into a neighborhood...sounded offical though huh?! It was a great site to see them and I road as hard as I could with a huge grin on my face! But I coudn't stop yet...

After reaching the gate I still had to meet up with the others at the house so I had to ride up this nasty hill again...yuck. But here I am, digging in as hard as I could... :0) This picture doesn't do the hill justice

This one is a little better.

Smile!

Meandering through the neighborhood....

Finally there!!! The big hug I was waiting for!!

It felt great to be done and I was looking forward to a relaxing evening and not having any place to be except my bed!

Kisses!!

Jeff asked me how it felt to have ridden so far? My response was "Good I guess...every fear I had of coming on this trip came to fruition, I wasn't prepared, I was last, I rode by myself, and the strangers I came with are pretty much still strangers...but the silver lining is the important part....what I did learn is that even with my fears coming true, I still pulled it off :0)"

Fear can kiss my @$$ baby!!

Burk, Jeff and I had a great dinner at Chili's and then stayed at a Hampton Inn which was such a great relief compared to the other hotels!

Wait................! One more thing I forgot! It wasn't all bad, I didn't fall over being clipped in! (well at least didn't hit the gound)! Yee-HAW!

The next morning we took a leasurely drive though Mountain Meddows to see the monument and to take in a little bit of history. It was such a sureal feeling being there and trying to picture just what happened.