biking: Cinderella Classic 2007 - 65 miles and I still feel like $1M
That's me and my ALC6 friend Sandy, just before we set out to ride the Cinderella Classic -- I've been training for this for weeks, and writing about that periodically here. It's a 100K (65 mile) ride, run by a local bike club. It's "fully supported," which means they provide snacks at several rest stops along the way, lunch in the middle and then, well, lunch at the end (burning 3000+ calories in 5 hours, you need lots of food to keep going). They also have "sag support," in case you get injured or too tired, or your bike breaks down. Almost all of the support stuff is done by men, who are affectionately called "Prince Charmings" or "Cinderfellas." It's pretty sweet, seeing all these guys slicing pickles and handing out M&Ms. Of the many supported rides I've done, this was definitely the best organized and executed.
I had a GREAT ride, too -- it was actually fairly easy for me, as my training rides have been really hard (more and bigger hills, mostly). I averaged about 13mph, and starting around Mile 30, I think I had a 10-mile run where I was going quite a bit faster. I was the de facto ride leader for six women from my training ride group, and at the end, one of them said "You *have to* be a training ride leader next year!" It felt really good to hear that.
After the ride, I hung out for a bit with the training ride gang, ran into my old friend Rene (Hendrix), who I hadn't seen since she left Illinois several years ago.
Today was all about biking, too -- ALC6 had a bike expo in Golden Gate Park, so I biked up there and spent the day. Bought a bunch of stuff at deep discounts, and also got some good stuff for free. Yay! The energy there was great.... now I'm home, tired and sore and happy.