When in doubt have some sangria...

                About a month ago I went out to Happy Hour with a good friend, Greg Flood.  Happy hour is always dangerous especially when there’s sangria involved.  I came home and got this crazy idea “I’m doing the Hilly Billy duo.”  Of course, the only person I could think of to sucker into this event was my partner for the 2 mountain bike races I did earlier this year…and he was probably one of the few people that wouldn’t leave me stranded on the course while I was walking up some of those hills… Jeff. 

                I knew I was going to have to find a bike with the biggest cassette possible because EVERYONE knows that I am not a climber.  Thankfully, I have awesome friends who let me borrow their gear.  So yesterday off I went with Stephanie Lamb’s wheels and Christine Lovejoy’s bike.  Carl swapped out the cassettes the day before so I could ride a 32.  Huge thanks to them for helping make this latest adventure possible!

                At the start line my HR was 130!  I think I was a little nervous.  I refused to look at the course prior to actually experiencing it or preride it when JR offered.  I figured it couldn’t be worse than it was in my mind.  I was spot on with the ridiculous hills, but I was not expecting the pools of water on Little Indian Creek.  They just made a perfect cool off spot as Jeff and I each fell into them.  Nothing wrong with getting a little muddy!!  The day was filled with a bunch of things I did not expect though… helping 2 people’s vehicles out of ditches, overturned car causing the road to close after aide station 1, and seeing people having a little too much fun in a field.

 

 
               

 I never doubted that I’d be able to finish.   After the first two hills though I was thinking “man this is going to be a long day if I’m going this slow on these hills”.  Jeff was nice enough to point out that I was still in my big ring!  I started going a little faster after that.

 

               

 

                It may have taken us 7+ hours riding time to finish and my Garmin may have autopaused on some of the hills because I was going so slow, but that was the best kind of pain!  It was a day filled with multiple laughs, awesome friends, crazy hills, bikes, and beer… I can’t think of a better combo or way to spend the first day of summer!