When I say it was difficult to get up at 4am after the Michael Franti concert on Friday night and drive myself to Madison (3 hours) to ride two loops with Vision Quest and then run and hour, "difficult" is a slight understatement.
Ultimately I knew that the VQ SAG support was ending at 1:30pm and I wouldn't be done by then but that I'd take advantage of what I could until then. I thought it was ride how the check in gal was badgering everyone to get checked in quickly and sign in and weigh in (this is to insure you don't lose too much hydration during the ride- they make you weigh in when done too) and get lines up to get started. Why I even needed to sign the waiver, I have no idea, it wasn't like they called me to insure u wasn't hurt, broken down or injured when I finished after them...
Anyway, I started off with the last group and was rightly worried about my bike. It had been shifting badly and difficultly- even in Muncie- and there weren't even hills there. In the first 25 miles, I dropped my chain 4 times and it was incredibly frustrating. This meant, I had to dismount from my bike, get the chain back on, and start peddling again. The most frustrating was that it kept dropping on the uphill portions!!
I'll save you all the details on this one, but my chain dropped over the course of the entire ride (85 miles) nine times. That basically means that every 10 miles, I had to unclip, fix my chain, get my new manicure ruined with lube/grease and get my chain back in place before starting again. One time during the ride I had to stop to pee as well. I did stop at both SAG areas for snacks (coke & bananas) and felt fine afterwards which is a good thing...
Ultimately 7:15 with all those stops, a late night and an early morning= me being totally satisfied with my time. It could have been more efficient for sure but all in all, I was glad to complete two loops again.
The other lesson I learned was the power of good nutrition despite technical set backs or cooler (almost perfect) weather. I really wasn't consuming my own food in the bike (my liquid "diet" CarboPro) as regularly as I should have so when I got off the bike I was just not okay. The workout plan called for an hour run. About 15 minutes in, I was "bonking" and knew that my screw up on the bike nutrition was confirmed. Rather than punish myself for it and continuing to run- and possibly being detrimental to my training, I jogged and walked for a half hour and then called it quits.
This was the first time that I headed back to Jenny's after meeting Polly for some Himal Chuli dinner (yeah! Nepalese food) and just allowed myself to completely relax in their empty house (they were at a BBQ) and go to bed early. It was going to be another long shower Sunday as it was my cousin Ian's wedding shower the next day in Wheeling, IL at noon.
