Longest ride of my entire life!

Today was the longest day of my entire life..in a good way, of course! My longest ride this summer was less than 30 miles, and my longest ride ever was 56 miles. I rode 98.6 miles according to the cue sheet, but some people clocked over 100! I was struggling as usual in the morning, and I forgot to grab my gps watch...whoops! I'll be sure to bring it tomorrow because we'll be going over the continental divide, which is about 6500 feet! It'll be neat to see the elevation gain...yes, the watch is quite nifty. :)

So, this morning I woke up at 4:45 am! It was kind of a rough start. It was raining, and I thought my back tire was flat because it wouldn't inflate. One of the guys came to save the day and used my hand pump. It turns out that the stem on my tube was just too short. I rolled out at 6...without my jacket. I was sure it was going to warm up. Right before we got on the freeway Todd offered me his extra windbreaker, which was much appreciated. Sometimes I'm not all that smart- Everyone was wearing a jacket and they've been riding for the past week, so they know what to do. I should follow suit, but I'm just stubborn. I thought it would warm up quickly. Nope, it stayed pretty chilly all morning. I was also borrowing Janet's cycling gloves, another opportunity for an awesome tan line! Yess! But basically I'm a poor lost child that has to borrow everything. Struggle. :p

The first 70 miles were AWESOME. I was riding with a bunch of different people, and I ended up riding by myself for a while, which was actually really nice. It's so pretty here...I can't even begin to describe it. I just would not do it justice. I'll try and figure out how to post pictures. Then, I started to fade around mile 70. Sue and George were great and helped pull me, but then I let them go ahead and rode by myself again. I was the third person to make it to camp, so I got stuck with setting up the group tent and unloading the truck duty. It actually was not too bad.

A local cafe catered pasta and lots and lots of pie for dinner. Yummy yummy in my tummy! Isang gave me a massage, which was quite painful but will hopefully help me feel better tomorrow. It's before 8, and I'm pooped!

Lots of love from Montana!
Suzanne

(51) fruit salad (52) climbing trees (53) jokes on Laffy Taffy wrappers (54) apple pie a la mode (55) movie premieres (56) winning the lottery (57) Camelbak water bottles (58) waking up before your alarm and realizing you have a few more minutes to sleep (59) stepping on crunchy leaves in the fall (60) cardigans (61) pearls (62) finding the perfect Christmas tree (63) holiday decorations (64) going to new places (65) my mom's pasta (66) my dad's famous twice a week chicken (67) pen pals (68) the third pancake of a batch being the first good one (69) no line for the restroom (70) no expiration date (71) games with jump ropes (72) singing in my car (73) hot, gooey chocolate chip cookies (74) wearing fluffy slippers and making applesauce (75) not being too grown up for anything