PHASE TWO
DEB & LEE'S TRAINING

12 MAY 2012

65 OF 80 MILES

Get Ready, Get Set . . .

Debbie writes:

We are beefing up our training rides as we near our 8 June start of
ROLLING 4 RESCUE at the Colorado state line.

Lee & I did a Down Easy 80ish-mile training ride on Saturday.
Now if you believe that anything about riding 80ish miles is easy, whew.
It's not. We did have a beautiful day to go along
with the severe leg & back cramps that I had in the first 40.
One time they were so bad that I couldn't unclip from my bike.
I could barely pedal and I knew I was going to fall.
Another rider dismounted really quickly;
I rode toward him so that he could stop me and get me off of my bike.

If you're not familiar with road cycling,
let me share just a couple of facts with you.
We are riding with special shoes & pedals,
much like what you see professionals ride with.
Our shoes have clips on the bottom that fasten on to special pedals on our bikes.
You always need to be aware of when you may need to stop
or get your feet unhooked from the bike or you
are going to make contact with the pavement.
That's never fun and even less fun if someone
is riding next to you and you both go down.

The route was beautiful;
we saw an albino peacock & several albino peahens
who apparently were his harem. I wish I had gotten a picture of him.

We rode through North Carolina horse country;
it was so peaceful & serene.
I did get a picture of a green psychedelic horse.
Probably the only one of its kind.

We had a nice lunch
at the halfway point
in the Bell Tree Restaurant
in Southern Pines, NC;
then headed back
for the hilliest section
of NC that you could imagine.

The restaurant had an
outdoor patio;
they allowed us to
bring our bikes
on to the patio so
that we could keep
an eye on them.
This long line of bikes
is probably only about
a third of the bikes
on the trip.

Bikes are waiting . . .

These special bikes are very expensive -
each one costs thousands of dollars.
There were 24 of us on the ride;
probably half of them had bikes that were
newer and more expensive than mine.
That's a lot of money to leave outside unattended.

Fuel for the second 40 miles . . .

Just one more cuppa coffee . . .

Lee is ready . . .

More pictures are available HERE