Birthday bike ride

What a day! I've been in Dallas for a few days for work (sorry for not blogging more!). I stayed the weekend to join Barbara, Scott and Keith on Barbara's birthday bike ride. The three of them are big cyclists, and each year on their birthdays they bike their age.

Barbara graciously put off her birthday ride until I would be down for work, so we geared up for it today.

And when I say geared up, I really geared up. Thanks wholly to Debbie and Keith. They rented me a bike and outfitted me for the ride:

I was extremely nervous. The whole reason I fell in with this group is because I'm as unnaturally competitive as each of them are! I'm not a biker, and even though I think I'm in pretty good cardio shape, biking is a whole new set of muscles. I was embarrassed this morning at how nervous I was!

The good news was that the route we were taking was around a lake. Each loop was about 9 miles, so you could really bail out at the car at any point.

But last night, as the five of us shared several bottles of Conundrum, we decided since we were halfway between Barbara's birthday and my birthday, we'd just do MY birthday age - 30 miles.

That made me feel a whole bunch better, although I was still quite nervous this morning!

Can you tell?

The first loop the boys took it easy on us, and we went at a pretty slow (slow for them, manageable for me) pace. My legs and rear were fine (the rear due largely in part to the aforementioned -padded- gear). But my back and arms and hands were feeling it.

We did a quick banana and water break, and then off for the second lap. This time the boys got into a conversation between the two of them, and they were OFF. Barbara fell behind them, and I was WAY behind her. We had also moved from the park path to the road and this new route had a few more hills, and more cars.

I had my first (and thankfully only) bloodshed on this loop. We had to make a few really sharp turns to keep up on the route (we're talking almost 90 degrees here), and during one of them I rode off the sidewalk. Stayed on the bike, though! Rode the grass for a few seconds, then turned to get back up on the sidewalk. That didn't exactly work out the way I expected, one foot came off the pedals, and I almost spilled completely off.

I have no idea how I actually stayed on the bike, but I did! Banged my right leg against the pedal, and scratched it a little, but not bad at all.

Okay, it actually was a little worse than this picture implies. (At least, as bad as it needs to be to get your sympathy.)

In the process of my almost-fall, Keith was riding behind me and saw the whole thing. Since he's a cyclist, he has the special shoes that clip into his pedals. He saw me almost fall, and started to unclip his shoes to jump off because he was sure I was headed to the ground. Of course in that process, he almost fell off his bike, too.

Finished the second lap, and against my better judgement, I started the third.

There were a few points along that third lap that I really didn't think I'd finish! There may or may not have been several screamed f-bombs (Totally warranted - Keith and I went up this big hill, and I struggled so much. On the way down, a car passed us, and as we were starting to enjoy the downhill momentum, the car STOPS as it approaches a stop sign. Another car was coming in the opposite direction, so from our speeding down the hill we had to come to almost a complete stop.)

This is also the point at which I may or may not have become a little bit, um, cranky. I was unsteady on the bike, and couldn't fathom that others may not be. So when Scott and Keith thought it perfectly acceptable to ride really close side-by-side to talk, I really, really didn't want them to. So, I, well, told them. Quite loudly. And repeatedly.

But we finally finished the 30! There was no way I could have done another lap! The backside was still okay, but my back and shoulders and arms and oh my goodness. It's not natural to be on a bike that long!

Do we look exhausted?

And since we burned, like, 4,500 calories, I'm sure, we headed to an old haunt of Scott and Keith's - Barbec's diner. Where I indulged in an egg and bacon and cheese quesadilla, plus Barbec's "famous" beer biscuits. It just might have been the best meal of my life.

Back to the hotel, and a nap.

Maybe tomorrow after the soreness starts to lessen, I'll remember why I'm friends with these people.