After we cheered Nate and Jason in from their 100 miles journey, we parked our bikes in the gym. There were a LOT of bikes.
Then, we all headed back to the room for a much needed shower. Now we were staying at Allegheny College. Yes in a dorm room. We were in a quad, meaning we all had our own bedroom and shared a living room. We brought our own pillows and blankets but the sheets and towels were provided.
I'm quite certain this only went around George's pinkie.
Ok kidding, kidding that's the wash cloth, but the towels really were small. We made do.
The first thing on my mind after my shower was food. We headed over to the dining hall and actually had a decent meal with a lot of choices. Again, kuddos to the MS people for setting up such a nice event.
After eating at the dining hall, we all headed to the Pella truck and partook (is that a word) in a frosty beverage or 5. I don't know how some people were throwing them back. I had a half a beer and that's only because Eric told me I looked stupid just sitting there. Ha!
I was literally in bed and asleep by 9:10 pm. I was beat. I slept pretty well too. I woke up early, but by then I'd been asleep quite awhile so it didn't matter.
I won't lie, the thought of getting on the bike the next day seemed painful. My butt bone/pelvis bone hurt so badly. It was just sore from sitting on the seat for so long. My legs felt decent, however, so I was feeling a little more confident on day 2.
Day two is 64 miles. There's no option to do any less, but the day is a LOT easier. There were only 2 categorized climbs (I say categorized because things they don't consider to be climbs are still climbs TO ME). Anyway, 2 climbs and one came early and one came at mile 27. I could handle that.
The next rest stop was at mile 27.1. I didn't even feel like eating, but felt like I should. I ate something small and we quickly got on our way.
After the 27 mile rest stop, I started to fade a little. I just couldn't keep up with the group. Everyone was riding in big groups and drafting and my little legs just couldn't keep up. I was still averaging almost 16 mph, but George told me they were averaging over 20.
George held up and waited for me a couple of times, so I wasn't all alone. In fact, Barb or George were with me at all times, so I was never alone.
Soon we were at mile 41.7 and the lunch stop. We didn't think we were going to have an actual lunch stop, so it was nice to see some "real food." Of course I ate. I had a bigger appetite at this point so I ate a sandwich and pasta salad (again).
After lunch, it was only 12 or so miles to the next rest stop where we all planned to wait for one another so the whole Pella Team could get a team photo and ride to the finish together. Those miles were slower for me and George held back to be with me.
We waited for the others to come in and then all started out for the last 10 miles. Just before the finish we stopped for our team photo.
The finish line was just around the corner from this photo. We had arrived. Day 2 wound up being 63.42 miles in 4:06 minutes averaging 15.5 mph. I wish the whole ride was like Day 2. Next year I say we just do that twice and call it good. Ha!
The view at the finish was amazing. I haven't been to Conneaut, OH Lake Erie since I was a little girl. It's pretty cool.
Congrats to Tracey, Nate and Jason...
to George (and myself)...
and to our AWESOME team Captain, Barb.
I think sometimes we forget, not everyone just goes out and rides 150 miles in two days. I'm gonna say it, WE ROCK!!!
Thank you to the MS society and the Pella team for an awesome first experience. George and I will definitely be back for more bling next year!
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