Finally, the post you have been waiting for… le Tour de Femme recap! I have been having so much fun biking that I was dying to go on another organized ride. So I made a little trip to Raleigh earlier this month to take part in this awesome women only ride.Before I get started with the actual ride, let me tell you a little something about topography. I live at the beach and constantly ride on flat land, like really flat land. The only “hill” I have ever been on while riding is a highway overpass during the Elizabeth City ride. I think I have used two gears since I have owned my road bike… literally the highest point in Virginia Beach is a grassy mountain (hill) made out of trash (Mount Trashmore, google it!). So I’ve made quite a few trips to Raleigh, and I know it is soooo hilly there (remember this is coming from the girl who thinks a mountain is a grassy bump made of trash). Let’s just say I was a tad nervous to learn how to actually use my gears on the open roads of Cary.
Anyways back to the ride. The night before we all went out to the ladies night at the bike shop to pick up our packets. That was a fun time, cupcakes hello! Enough about the bike stuff… let’s talk about the cupcakes… chai vanilla and some kind of Guinness chocolate… yes please! Alright focus, the ladies night was fun, but we didn’t stay too long. They had some contortionist girls that were kinda freaking me out! We also had to stop by Target so I could get some extra layers because all I brought was a sleeveless jersey… I guess I forgot that it is fall and it is cold in the morning. Opps!
So the next morning we get out to Cary, grab some coffee and get ready. After an almost deadly safety pin incident, (I will never let my sister pin my number on again!) we made our way to the start. This was very exciting; you could feel the positive energy flowing as we waited to start. The ride was for an awesome cause that is close to my heart, so it was great to see all the ladies that support cancer research.
After the hard-core 60 milers take off, we were on! Let me tell you, the start of the ride included police escorts that allowed us to go through stoplights. Awesomeness! I felt so cool. I could see the pissed look on the car drivers that had to wait for us…. Haha! Love it! Well once we get out of town, I was feeling good, riding a nice pace and all in all feeling awesome. And then. We arrive at our first mountain.
Holy moly, my thighs have never burned so much and I have never seen my speedometer hit single digits while putting forth so much effort. I felt like I was moving in slow motion, women were grunting, and some even stopped to walk. Oy vey, it was ugly! Then to make things even better… the photographer drives by and takes pictures of us. Greatttt, I’m sure those photos looked awesome! Well after what felt like an eternity, I made it to the top. Woohoo! But then there is something that I didn’t even think about when it came to these hills.
Yes it was difficult to go up the hill, but there is another side to that hill... that is a decline. Well for most that sounds great, go down a hill really fast and give your legs a break. Yea that’s fine unless you have never hurled yourself down a hill on a little bike going a million miles per hour! Oh my goodness that was terrifying!! I felt like such a baby, but the whole time I kept thinking “OMG I’M GOING TO DIE, I’M GOING TO HIT A BUMP AND GO FLYING! AHHHHHH!” Well obviously, I did not die going down the hill, but it was definitely scary! It’s going to take me a while to get used to that.
The first half really felt great, I was getting used to the hills and having a lot of fun. We had a rest stop at 15 miles which included Gatorade, Luna Bars, PB sandwiches, and a porta potty with hand sanitizer station next to it (can you tell this is a ladies only ride?) Then we set off for the rest of the ride.
The second half was just as fun… the weather was awesome and I was feeling good. Then all of a sudden, I just notice I was going really slow… like slow motion again. I was so confused, I felt like I was working hard, but not going anywhere and I wasn't going up a mountain. I also notice that my sister is not going much faster than I am, so I’m like what is going on? This is when I was introduced to the gradual hill. Probably worse than a mountain because the pain lasts a really long time! I mean really, come on… gradual hills go one forevvver and are now my archnemesis. Again, once we got over that I was feeling good again.
After a short trip through Apex (got a little scared that we took a wrong turn when I saw we were in Apex, but I trusted my leader Jen) and headed back through Cary to the finish. Coming around the corner to finish was awesome… cowbells ringing, people cheering… it was awesome! Far cry from the Elizabeth City ride where there was no one but my parents and grandparents at the finish, and the actual finish was a spray painted circle on the ground, bummer!
After we finished, I managed to get myself a nice little massage (my shoulders were a bit tense after hanging on for dear life going down those hills) while the sister got some acupuncture. We then proceeded to eat our weight in Greek food (mmmmm hummus and pita) and enjoy a beer. O don’t forget the cake.
All in all the ride was AMAZING! I learned how to use more than two gears and ride up hills (and go down them), it was awesomely organized and the people were amazing. I had so much fun and cannot wait to do it again next year!
