TWENTY MILES!!!

During the week we have regular training classes. But on Sundays we usually have an especially horrible, terrifying or embarrassing class. Today's debacle: ride our bikes 20 miles. On a major roadway. To and from downtown. With cars. All around. For twenty miles.

All told, I have ridden my bike maybe six times, and all of those have been in the controlled environment of a nice park with no cars. And I think we all remember The Post. Also, our longest ride has been something like six miles. So I was EXTREMELY dubious of my ability to pull this off.

However, I am please to announce that I MADE IT HOME ALIVE and successfully rode T-W-E-N-T-Y miles. And it wasn't awful.

I will admit, I kind of set myself up for failure. Yesterday I had a big lunch, so I didn't actually eat last night. And I kind of forgot to eat this morning. Lesson learned: you need to go ahead and eat sometime in the 16 hours prior to a long bike ride. I made it about ten miles and then I just BONKED. I got all dizzy and fatigued, which are not good qualities when biking on a major roadway with cars whizzing by.

I pulled over to decide what to do, and my coach appeared with a MIRACLE. May I introduce all of you to Amino Vital? Think super-fancy Power Aid, but it tastes better and doesn't leave you feeling all sloshy after you drink it. The next ten miles were a snap. I'm sure there's some amazing science behind how it works, but I frankly don't care. It is MAGIC. And you will all be receiving some for Christmas.

Another lesson learned...when I don't eat and then ride my bike, I get really stupid. For example, I put my bike ON my bike rack, but forgot to actually strap it TO the bike rack. I didn't notice for almost two miles, when I glanced in the rear view mirror and saw my brand-new-still-not-paid-for bike bouncing around on the rack. Doh. Also, I lost all ability to do math. I had a lot of trouble with 500 divided by 10. Jen, thanks for jumping and handling that one for me. I'm much smarter now.