Today was Rackman day, getting all my stuff ready I was actually a little nervous and curious how the game was going to go. I was hoping that I wouldn't bonk early on the ride and that we could really move as fast as possible and put my new cycling skills to the test and feel the good burn in my legs after peddling really hard. Before we got on the bikes we had breakfast at D2, one of the schools dining halls, which was a treat, it was all you can eat and they had every breakfast food you could think of, waffles, omelet bar where the big hits for us. Before we left Cam, Hayden and I filled up our bottles with milk just a little disgusted by an entire bottle of milk. After everyone was on the road we just sat around in anticipation watching the timer count down from 8 minutes until it hit 0 and we tore out of there like mad men with fire in our eyes, Cam started in the front then me then Hayden. Cam is much smaller than us so we told him to stay out of his drops so we could tuck in and get a draft off of him, it worked pretty well and he pulled us until we got through the city. After that it opened up to the same scenery we have seen the last few days, gorgeous hills and mountains covered in thick forest and our little two lane road weaving through them. When I looked down at about 3 miles we already had an average of over 22 mph including the stop and go through the city. We were getting anxious to see our first pace line, every time we turned a corner we were hoping to see the backs of some cyclists. Finally we turned a corner into a small downhill and saw the first one just barely ahead of us and we started screaming and yelling, it was so awesome, the pace line was Sam, Stassi and Max, we passed them at mile 6.3 so we were feeling pretty good. The next pace line we saw a ways ahead of us at mile 13, we could see them on the road on the other side of an open field so we started doing some short, minute long pulls so we could get our speed up. Finally we close the gap and as we are getting closer we turn a corner and see Dean and TJ right in front of the pace line we were chasing from the beginning. We passed Dean and TJ without a problem but once Jake, Joe, and Brentley noticed we were close behind they started breaking away and it turned into an epic probably 5 mile chase to pass them, we were putting everything we had into a sprint, I took lead and finally we got going at 34 mph on a flat to finally pass them, later Cam told me they were going 30 mph when we passed them, it was an awesome fight between the two pace lines, definitely the best one all day. After that we had 1 more pace line to catch and we knew the last two were pretty fast guys so we hauled it. Unfortunately climbing a small hill Hayden popped his chain off which set us back a little but we recovered as best we could and kept moving. At a little more than 10 miles out we were pretty worried, hadn’t seen another pace line for a while until we come screaming down a hill and at the very bottom we turn a corner and see a long strait away and Hayden yells from the back, “there they are!” and at the end of the strait away we could see their blinking rear lights. That gave me a second wind and we kept moving as fast as we could but I was worried because I knew we had to be getting close to the city which means turns, lights, and stop signs which could go either way for us. We closed the gap a ton in the next 5 miles but the worst happened, they were right in front of us at the bottom of a small hill that we had a turn on and their pace line barely squeezed through the light and we got stuck at the red and were set back a ton from that. From there we went as hard as we could but kept getting caught at lights and then as we get to the top of a hill we see them again just barely in front of us but they happened to get a chance to make a left off the highway and we got to the turn and had to wait for a break in traffic. Just after that, one of the vans passed us screaming “you lost” both the last pace lines on the road had made it to lodging. We came rolling in just after the last one and not too far behind the first pace line either. It was a tough loss to take but it was just so much fun that I couldn’t be mad, it was an awesome battle of the pace lines and I was happy with how we did on the road and happy with my performance and how good I felt at the end, we had an average speed of 21.3 mph, impressive for how much climbing and rolling hills we had. I felt like I could have probably ridden even faster and gone another 10-15 miles at the same pace, this ride got me really excited to race, especially with a team of cyclists as good or better than me. I gave all the guys that made it a high five, they really went hard today which was very cool.
Because we let two pace lines make it to lodging we had to do the gallon challenge which was absolutely awful, all three of us drank up and were just trying to get it over with as soon as possible. Cam finished most of his first and couldn’t hold it in and puked up mostly milk. I was second and Hayden was last and did the dragon and flapped his arms as he was puking, absolutely hilarious. The milk was not enjoyable at all though and left me very uncomfortable for the rest of the day.
After some free time we headed to dinner and friendship visit which was a very unique one. It was with the Down Syndrome Association of Roanoke which helps families by hosting activities and services. They rented out an entire Zoo for our visit at the top of a mountain. It was so fun to run around the zoo with the kids and families, there were these three little girls that were obsessed with us and taught us all a cheer routine. Two best parts of the zoo were the mini train that they had that went around the perimeter of the zoo and you could see a bunch of the animals from the train plus a gorgeous view looking down on the hills and mountains. The second best part was the Red Panda exhibit, they are my new favorite animal I think, so cute, they look like big cats and act like them too they were just hanging out and wondering around on the trees and sleeping, I loved them. The families were so thankful and meeting them was very fun, this organization has really built a strong support network for parents and families to come together. On our way out we stopped by the Roanoke Star on top of the mountain, the star has a live camera that we found ourselves on, Brandon and I and before we left we got to see it light up.
Once we got back a few of us including TJ the newest 21 year old went to the Mexican restaurant next to our motel to get us our first margaritas. We just had one and some chips then headed back to the motel to do laundry and relax.
Tomorrow we have a day off and have no programming until dinner so we are going to the mall to do some shopping for our gag gifts. Ryan noticed on the ride today that we actually crossed the Appalachian Trail at the top of one of the climbs toward the end and it happens to be the most photographed point on the AT and it is only a 8 mile round trip hike from the parking lot so we are making time to hike it tomorrow before our friendship visit. I am really excited about that, I read a book by Bill Bryson about the AT which has made me want to hike it really bad so having this chance so unexpectedly is great.
No comments:
Post a Comment