Pancake Ride - 60 miles (longest ride to-date)

I've been hearing about this ride for the past couple of years, but never had the courage (or need) to go due to the distance. Of course, since my training plan called for a 3.5 hour bike I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to finally join in. I had been excited about the ride all week but, of course, the morning of I got a little anxious. I actually thought for a split second about not showing up at all, but then I remembered how guilty I've felt in the past when I've blown off a workout. Besides, even if I didn't show up to this particular ride, I still needed to somehow get that 3 1/2 hours in, and I thought the chance of that happening by myself - especially since there was rain in the forecast - were slim to none. More so none. So.... I got my happy a** out of bed and drove the 15 miles or so to meet the group out at Tom Sawyer. Before heading out I made the mistake of asking whether or not this course was hilly, and 100% of the feedback I got back was that, yes, it was in fact hilly. Very hilly. I believe the word "challenging" was even thrown in there. But, once again, I had to remind myself that these hills are going to help me during the actual IM race, so I took off feeling good about the upcoming ride. Not knowing where I'm going can be a bit of a mental struggle because I have no idea what to expect. I don't like surprises and feel that I can better prepare myself if I know what's next. For some reason, this didn't seem to be an issue on this ride - I just rolled with it (no pun intended). There were definitely some rollers on this course, but nothing too big and that I couldn't handle. Not having to get off the bike to walk my trusty steed up an incline was definitely a plus. About 20 miles in I asked Carlos how this course compared to IMLOU, and was told that it was very similar. Good - now I know what to expect. I've never been on the IM course before, so I was clueless as to what it actually looked like, and had only heard about the "dreaded hills." Having something that I have now survived to compare it to is actually kind of nice. Before I knew it we were pulling up to the small town of Eminence and dismounting our bikes to have a bit of a snack at the ol' Chat and Nibble. I had eaten a Nutri-Grain bar before the ride, and had been taking in some Clif Blok's as well as water and Infinit throughout the ride thus far, and although I could have eaten a big meal, I didn't want to take the chance on filling up only to have some major GI issues down the road. 30 miles is a long way to be feeling some crampage and poop-pains, so I opted for one scrambled egg and an order of toast with butter and jelly. Luckily this turned out to be a good choice, since I had none of the aforementioned issues arise. Thirty minutes or so later we all climbed back upon our saddles and pedaled off into the sunset (well, actually we pedaled off into the rain. We just wished there was some sun out.) The first ten miles or so were killer. The rain started to come down and the headwind had picked up. The temperature also felt as if it had dropped a bit and I was feeling a bit chilly. This was the first, and really only time during the ride that I was really hating life. Luckily the headwind didn't last long, and neither did the rain, as we trudged on. The pack was pretty broken up at this point but a guy named Ray had hung back and we began riding side by side, shooting the breeze. I must say, having someone to talk to pretty continuously definitely makes the ride go by faster, and this is probably what got me through that ride back more than anything. At one point when the group reconvened, I checked the Garmin to discover that we had just 15 more miles to go. What a happy girl I was when Carlos corrected me and said that we actually had more like 10. Sweet! The group took off yet again and we had just a few more rollers before we were crossing back over LaGrange road. I've never been so happy to see a place that I recognized before in my life, and realizing that we were just about done. A mile or so up and we heard a train, and thought we might get caught. Luckily, it was stopped just short of the road so Carlos and Jim crossed over while Rebecca and I brought up the rear. I had only a split second to realize that Rebecca had gone down, having slid on the slippery tracks before I myself ate the pavement as well. Luckily neither one of us was badly hurt - just some minor scrapes and bruises, but both our left handlebars got a little bent - guess I'll be calling Cyclesmith on Monday. Just up ahead there was another railroad crossing, but it was close enough that I opted to just walk my bike to, and across, it. I didn't want to take another chance on wiping out this soon after my last kerfuffle. Hopping on the bike one last time, we now had about 5 miles to go before the end was finally here. A few more turns, a small hill or two, and we were pulling back into the parking lot of Tom Sawyer - Wet, tired, chilly, and ready for a nap. Overall, I would say that this was a very good ride and route. My emotions never got the best of me, and although I'm still slow on the hills, I can feel myself getting stronger with each long ride (14.9mph average on this one). Even more amazing, as I sit here after my warm shower and comfy clothes have been placed on my somewhat sore body, I feel great - both mentally and physically. I was even thinking on the drive home that, if I had to do a half-marathon after that ride, I could have done it. This gives me hope that my Half Ironman in Muncie in two months is going to be a success. I know I have to get the mental part of it out of the way in order to get there, and it's rides like this that are going to help improve that. Huge shout out to Carlos, Ray, Jim and Rebecca for helping me bring up the back of the pack and keeping me going today. Closing thoughts - 1) I maybe should have worn my cycling bibs rather than tri shorts. I am SORE! 2) I think I'm finally getting the hang of this nutrition stuff.