Rainy Day Ride

On Tuesday, our training was a 7 hr ride followed by a 30 min run. This was our longest training day so far. As I'm driving to meet Karen, Michelle, and Robin at 6:30 am, it is raining. But no one ever questions if we are going to ride (well maybe Michelle). The forecast predicted rain all day but no one said a word as we unloaded our bikes and geared up to ride in the rain. Moving the ride to another day was not even an option. So off we went for seven hours on our bike in the rain. We all got texts from our husbands basically saying the same thing, "surely you are not on your bike" but we were. Since we would be out all day, we all got someone to take our kids to school and pick them up. Yes, it was a very long day. I got a call from Sarah Williams (she was picking Lauren up from school for me and taking her to swim practice) saying her daughter was sick so did I want to pick Lauren up from school. Many times in her message she said, "I know you are not on your bike." But to everyone's amazement we were on our bikes. Bailing was never an option, we had to do it. Seven hours on a bike in the rain is great training for mental toughness. We were sooo tired of being wet, dirty, cold, and just yuck!! But we did it and actually laughed a LOT.

At mile 80, Karen had a flat tire and when we stopped to change it we saw a piece of metal stuck in her tire. But we weren't giving in and calling anyone to come get her. No way, we had to get in our 130 miles. Everytime her tire got low we just keep putting air in it until we could get to a store and buy some super glue. We hoped we could put super glue over the puncture of her tubular and it would hold for the remainder of the ride. When we finished that 130 mile ride we were soooo "done"! But we put on our running shoes and off we went. I just pray it doesn't rain for Ironman.