sunday is killer ride day..

It's been a long time since I've been on one of those rides, the ones where I know I'm out of my league the instant I arrive and the sole goal becomes survival. HR, watts, coach's instructions - all totally out the window, because holy crap, I'm in trouble.

I showed up at 6:30 this morning to find that I was the only girl, riding with 8 of the island's fastest roadies. Uh-oh. The triathletes were all at a little sprint that someone wouldn't let me do because of the band that must not be named.  I was told that it was circle-island day, starting with a climb over the Pali Highway. I almost hid in the bushes. I haven't ridden around Oahu since last fall, and that ended in a little broken helmet and swollen brain event. But I thought of Liz saying saying it's time to put on the big girl underpants, so I didn't hide. They started easy and the Pali climb was mellow, so I made small talk with some of the local cycling gods. This is the view coming out of the Pali tunnels.. not that I had time to look:

We rolled through Kaneohe town, and then two guys that I've only heard of got up front and it was on. For the next 75 min we blew through the windward coast and around the north point of the island holding 25 - 33 mph. I asked where the finish line was, but I don't think anyone had enough breath to answer. According to my PT, some of that time was spent in Zone 6. Is that like the twilight zone? It was a one-stop ride, and I have never ever in my life been so happy to see Pupukea's nasty beach bathrooms. Ten minutes of rest! Then on to the Pineapple Hills. It was a gorgeous day on the North Shore, Waimea Bay looked like a lake and no doubt the spinner dolphins were playing.. not that I had time to look. Or even eat. It's hard to even drink when you're hanging on for dear life. I was sad to leave country, but even sadder to be heading into 5 miles of climbing.

pretty Waimea

We lost our first on the way up Pineapple. Shortly thereafter I noticed I was a little bouncy, and sure enough I was losing air in the rear tire. While looking down to assess my tire's health I was dropped. I don't know my way home unless I'm on the freeway, so I have never been so happy to see a red light in my life. We refilled my tire and were off again. Along the way there were a few more casualties, and 88 miles and a little over 4 hours later, five of us rolled back through downtown Honolulu.

I haven't ridden like that in ages.. since pre-injury. I forgot how fun it was to get in there and just hold onnnnn! It was the perfect distraction from the little sprint I couldn't do.

This is a picture of unconditional love. I arrived home covered in salt. The cat kept trying to lick my legs. Wyatt called me disgusting. I had stopped smelling me hours ago, but no doubt I was not exactly a joy to be near. Sky helped me stretch anyway.