Let me repeat myself. I LOVE WATER. And, I'm not talking about swimming.
Allow me to explain: today we rode 75 miles. We started at 9am and expected to be riding for 4-5 hours. Given the fact that we are all intelligent women (and one intelligent man) you would have thought that we would have anticipated just how hot it would be that late in the day. Well, how on Earth could we have known it was going to be 8 MILLION DEGREES (and, no, I am NOT exaggerating -- it was actually 8 million degrees!!!) To make matters worse, when TriGirl Liz and I had about 7-10 miles left, we ran out of water. That's right. We were actually riding in the temperature of Hell with not a drop of liquid to quench our thirst. The sweat dripping down my face tasted like I was made purely of salt. And, that's when my mood went South -- and fast. I was cursing at every car that was passing me simply because they had air conditioning and, most likely, water. One car drove by and they had all these little stuffed bears in the back window and I thought "I hate that stupid car with all those stupid freakin' bears. That's the stupidest freakin' idea I've ever heard of. Stupid damn bears in their stupid damn car. Who would be that stupid?" Clearly, I had instantly morphed into the "bike bitch". The good news is that we eventually made it back and I had packed a case of water in the car. Did I pack it in a cooler with ice? Uh, no. So TG Liz and I were forced to drink hot water and pour hot water over our bodies in a last ditch effort to cool down. I swear to God, hot as it was, I was never so happy to have water. I LOVE water.
The ride, on the other hand, was fantastic. I had never ridden in that much traffic so I was a little freaked at first but, in the end, I was quite proud that I had done it. Poor Derek blew out his tire -- twice! -- and had to hitch a ride to catch up with the rest of the TGirls. It turned out that he had a hole in his actual tire and TriGirl DB had the BRILLIANT idea that he should use a dollar bill to plug the hole so the tube wouldn't push through and blow out again. What a great idea!! Her idea worked and Derek managed to finish the rest of the ride. I got back a little ahead of the main group so I ran to 7-11 and bought all the cold water they had so I could operate as the official SAG wagon. As it turned out, it was a good idea because of lot of the riders had run out of water by the time I caught up with them (again, I LOVE water!)
So, what did I learn from today? Well, 1) I am a bitch when I'm hot and dehydrated; 2) a dollar bill can save a tire; 3) there's a reason people start riding at 5 a.m.; and 4) water is the best damn thing on the planet!!!
Oh, and I guess I owe that teddy bear car an apology. Sorry.
2 comments:
I know the girls all loved you for brining them COLD water. Lynn did the same thing for me! It makes such a difference.
Great ride. and tell Derek a $1 works just as well as a $20.
Hey - just think of it as really good practice for Eagleman's heat! Was great to ride with you - well to see you off in the distance anyway. And can't thank you enough for the best cold water I ever had at mile 60ish!
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