Day 1: A major grind, grueling, eeer, both as a matter of fact

December 26, 2011

Man, this was a HARD day! It kicked my as...I mean butt. It didn't help that I was not in shape to begin with, though the 5000 feet of elevation gain could have something to do with it?

Ralph is kind of the leader of sorts on this ride. He has done it 43 times, since he was a teenager and racing; the ride itself was started by his parents back in the day. "You have to leave with the group," he insisted, even though I would have liked to leave early, knowing that all the little speed demons on their carbon fiber bikes would gobble me up come the first incline. And that's pretty much what happened...

...except I didn't die willingly. I fought hard to stay with the pack. I made it over some of the smaller hills, going into oxygen debt each time. It was only halfway through the day that I realized that was a HUGE mistake. It pretty much kicked my as...I mean butt, from the get go, and I really never recovered.

As a result suffered all day, and so did Ralph. He too is in sub-par form so we dragged ourselves up to Pine Valley together. Climb after climb, inching our way up, slowly, ever so slowly. At one point we saw a bus line and fantasized about it, "they take bikes" he said. But in the end we stuck to our guns and rode all the way up.

We made it just in time, as the sun was setting. We rode in with lights on and sunglasses off. My butt was killing me and so were my legs. Grrrrr!

It was so grueling I didn't really take many pictures, but here is what I have...

I do believe this is my first shadow shot on the new Trucker, which I have started to call "The Truckett", which is a more feminine pronunciation of "The Trucker". Don't you think?

We spent some time on the freeway. At least we could get a little pull when the trucks went by.

This is Ralph (in the lead) and Matt. Matt is 23 and just graduated from college. He wants to tour in the southern United States and write a book about college campuses as he goes. I wish him luck. He was a nice guy. Notice our long shadows. This was not long before sunset.

Today's ride: 59 miles (95 km)
Total: 59 miles (95 km)

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