A Weekend to Remember

This weekend represented the epitome of cycling for me. From the best of weather to the worst, it was the capstone of a very successful week.

To start off, this week was the first in a while where I finished all of my scheduled rides, as scheduled (except for the surprise 90 mile sojourn). My powertap and computer are finally settled and everything seems to be working well (fingers crossed). Everything was coming together.

Friday I headed out with Lyndi, a teammate from Cru. I had a short interval to do and she was along for the pull. I felt great. Better than I had in weeks. I know a lot of that had to do with the warm weather, but Forest has honestly never been better. We came back into town just in time for the Cru Team meeting, and it was great to get all seven of us in the same place. With five returning veterans and two rookies things are looking very good for us and that combined with the warm weather had me excited.

The early morning view on the lake out by MMSF.

Saturday I was up early to hit Breakfast Club at Kilroy's with Arianna. After that we went out to work off the food and mimosas. I had a three hour ride scheduled so we did a few loops of Forest before heading in. While we were out I saw half of Bloomington it seemed. The IUCC men were out, as well as DG, Phi Delts, Forest, Wing It, DU and numerous others. As we were coming up cascades I saw a large group of Scholars Inn Bakehouse riders as well as some IUCC guys heading back out. Excited to see people I turned around and headed out with them. Possibly a big mistake, but the weather was so nice.

Arianna at the start of our second run through the forest.

I headed out for about 45 minutes with them before running out of water. I turned and headed for home, knowing that continuing to work as hard as I was without water was a bad idea. I reached the top of firehouse hill and headed inside the firehouse to fill up on water. Coming back outside I really did not want to stop riding. Again, the weather was so nice (see the trend). So I headed back out and linked up with the large group again to come back into town with them. So, what had ended up being a three hour scheduled ride, turned into five and a half. 90 miles, done.

Sunday was a whole other story. I had another three hour ride scheduled and the weather had turned to rain and 35 degree temperatures. My dad has always said that if you can't ride in it, you won't be able to race in it. With the collegiate season the way it is I have raced in snow, ice and sleet and I knew weather conditions like this were likely to occur at some point. I met up with the Bakehouse group and off we went. As we headed out of town there was a minor wreck in the back, but once that was settled we headed off again, maintaining a fairly high speed but nothing like the usual race pace that occurs.

The rain got hard, the conversation got quieter and the temperature plummeted. I have never been more thankful for the pulls of the stronger guys in the group (Paul and one of the SIBH men). We reached the flashers and turned back into the wind, all seven of us staying together. At this point the rain was even worse, and it was a struggle to see more than a few feet in front of where you were. As we hit the causeway the group split up with the stronger guys headed for home and AEPi waiting to collect one of their rookies who had been struggling. I continued home alone, constantly fighting to keep moving.

Sure, it may not have been the smartest decision but I am cozy, warm and well-fed now. Not only that but I have the knowledge that faced with those conditions in a race situation, I can handle it.