65.04 (out of 101 mi) max 38.5 5:35.54 avg 11.6
Breakfast this morning was again at Minnie's. We biked from the high school down the hill, back to the center of town...that gave us all 3 before-breakfast bonus miles. We'd had a meeting the evening before, and Paula had told us that in addition to having a century (riding 100 miles) to complete, we'd be facing a nasty section of construction, a section of a four-lane highway with no shoulder, on an incline, and unforgiving traffic (read: stupid people with no business driving RVs). That would be followed by downhill with a shoulder with rumble strips all the way across, and random piles of sand, gravel, and glass. Knowing all this made the 45 minute wait for breakfast VERY frustrating, especially since I was among the last of the people to get into the restaurant. Fortunately, I train for speed-eating before school, so I had just about finished my meal by the time the waitress set my plate on the table. As usual, it wasn't long before I was the last rider.
We passed through Paradise today...no, really, we did! I even bought stamps at the post office in Paradise. At about 10:15, I waved at Alan when he passed me in his van. About fifteen minutes later, disaster struck. I heard this funny, regular clicking sound and thought to myself, I should really have Alan check that out tonight at camp. A few minutes later, there were several funny clicking sounds. I figured that I should have a look at it myself. Almost immediately, I saw the spoke hanging at a right angle to the other spokes on the wheel (see the picture above, the spoke is at about 3 o'clock). I spun the wheel, and sure enough, it was pretty badly out of true. Pulling my bike over to a flat rock, I pulled out my trusty cell phone and watched the service indicator go from 3 bars to 2 to analog, and cycle back through. Yeah for western Montana. I called one of the numbers on our list, but all that Paula could hear was that there was a female rider with a broken spoke. Without a name or a rider number, that information was practically useless...but every time I tried to say either my name or number, either my phone or hers would threaten to drop the call. So, I settled in to wait.
I know that I fell asleep for a while, mostly because of the puddle of drool that had collected on my knee. When I woke up, I realized that the vehicles would not be sweeping anymore because they were all involved in a portage around the 11 miles of construction. At least the spot that I'd chosen was on the Clark Fork River, with a hayfield and huge mountains as a backdrop. And there was the bus stop, too (surprisingly, in 2 1/2 hours, there were no buses that went by). A little past one, Mark pulled up in the van, and I got sagged 37 miles. Then, Alan became my hero-for-the-day by fixing my wheel. Deb waited for me, and we started off again.
It was a struggle. Deb is a strong climber, and was out of sight shortly. There really wasn't much shoulder, and traffic moved fast, although that didn't bother me as much as my inability to move faster than molasses uphill in January...I just can't seem to alter my pace. I was...am...afraid that I'd burn through my energy and have nothing left for the next 30 odd miles. I was frustrated that my bike had broken and that I had to be sagged. And my final frustration was looking at the Clark Fork River and seeing all kinds of whitewater and kayaking opportunities...and knowing that there was no way I'd be able to rent a kayak...since everything was closed for the Fourth of July. I am sending my dry top home.
I was barely holding myself together as I pulled into the dorm. I'd become lost (shocking, isn't it?) once I'd finally made it to campus. The girl who was supposed to hand me my key and meal card couldn't get into her office. Dinner would be closing in ten minutes. She told me to just go over to the cafeteria, and they'd take my name. When I stepped into the cafeteria, everyone started cheering...but then the checker needed my card which I didn't have...and that was the beginning of my meltdown. I explained the situation and the supervisor had to come over to have me sign in. As I approached the dinner tables, more cheering ensued and I just stood there and bawled. I wasn't happy with my performance that day, being last and then breaking a spoke and having to sag and spending forever on a hill with nasty traffic and getting lost and knowing that there'd be no kayaking. I know that everyone had really good intentions - DESPITE all that had happened I'd ridden into camp. It was definitely the toughest day so far.
No comments:
Post a Comment