100 Miles through Texas Hill Country...Done!

Before the team departs for Alaska, each rider must complete 100 miles in less than 10 hours. Yesterday, I finally became a member of the Century Club. I woke up at 5:50 a.m. in order to get to the departure point by 6:15 to copy down the directions. We were headed west to Johnson City—a 50 mile trip both ways. We left by 7 a.m. and were given until 5 p.m. to be back.

Before yesterday, the most I had ridden in one day was 80 miles. However, the team's last 80 mile route had been fairly flat and our ride yesterday was back-to-back hills. It felt like we climbed the entire way to Johnson City. We also faced a pretty strong head-wind on the way there. I rode with Daniel and Kate Petty the entire day—two of my favorite riding buddies. It was Kate's second time to do this route and I was happy she opted to do it again with me for my first time. And as for Daniel, having never ridden more than 55 miles in one day, he impressed me by not only finishing the ride with me, but having the energy to actually sing while climbing hills as I was cursing under my breath. We all had a great time together. There were five rest stops set up for us along the way. Because of our time limit, we had to be careful how much time we spent resting—we didn't stay at a stop for much longer than 10 minutes.

It was a beautiful ride. We were away from the city and there were green pastures and wildflowers everywhere. We would climb to the top of a hill and look out to see miles of rolling green hills. We were also lucky to have such beautiful weather! At mile 36, there was a low water bridge we had to cross. We had to get off our bikes, take off our shoes and socks, and wade through ankle deep water. It was cool and refreshing, but we had to be careful because some riders slipped and fell on the moss.

                                              Low water bridge, Fitzhugh Road

Around mile 85 or so, we turned onto Daniel's favorite road in Austin, Barton Creek Boulevard. It must be really neat for him to see his hometown from the vantage point of a bicycle (we also passed his high school and the road where his car once overheated). Barton Creek Boulevard is a wide, curvy, hilly, beautiful road. But at mile 90 we were faced with the biggest hill on the route. Had I not already ridden 90 miles, it would not have been quite as bad. But we were exhausted and that hill got the best of me. Other than that, the ride home was much nicer than the way there. We realized it felt like we had gone uphill the entire first 50 miles because we actually had been going uphill for the entire first 50 miles. We flew home, coasting downhill for long stretches at a time, with the wind at our backs. We got caught in traffic in downtown Austin when we were almost done and it took us much longer than it should have to get through the last five miles. However, we managed to make it back around 4:45 with about 15 minutes to spare. Every rider who finished the ride was able to do so in under the time requirement! I also thankfully avoided getting burned after 10 hours in the sun by using lots of sunscreen, but I do have some pretty sweet tan lines from my jersey sleeves, gloves, and sports watch.

We leave for Alaska in 6 weeks!!

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