REINVENTING MY LIFE.....AGAIN: I LEFT MY BUTT....

....on the saddle today. Not, the equine kind, rather the cycling kind. I went on a ride with the group, though this was a mixture of the two groups I ride with. Because of the holiday, there was 100mi ride, the Firecracker 100 and the reduced version, the Ladyfingers 50. Although the shorter ride was put together mostly for the ladies (hence the name), a lot of the guys also did it, probably because the longer one would have taken the majority of the day (about 7 hrs.).

This being the desert, we started promptly at 7 AM. SInce I got sick last weekend from the heat, I was hoping today wasn't going to be as hot, and obviously I was right....it was not only just as freaking hot but windy to boot. Somehow I made it to the first stop, about 18 mi up the road. Almost everybody, except the few guys doing the 100 ride, was huffing and puffing, fighting the heat, the wind and the terrain which was rather hilly, sounds like fun uh? We ate and drank about 100 gallons of water before starting back up. We were supposed to go up to the 25 mile mark and turn around, but then a bunch of guys decided that there wasn't much difference between 25 or 22 miles, and I wholeheartedly agreed. Knowing we still had a long way back to our cars, we turned around and made another pit stop at the market, before heading back.

The guys started arguing about the best way to get back, you know, everybody knows a shortcut. In the end, we split up and I went with three other guys back the same way we came until we picked up the aqueduct and rode it all the way back. It was so freaking hot and windy and we were all running low on water.

This is what the aqueduct looks like

Since I didn't want to get sick again, I took a dip in the water. It felt heavenly. One of the guys jumped in as well, it was great. The rest of the ride back was much more pleasurable. After 4 hrs. on the bike, I was ready to get in my car and head home as fast as possible. Unfortunately, the rest of my body and especially my butt was not as fast. Once I got home, I could barely walk, mostly because a large part of my behind was still on the seat. Cycling is fun, but I gotta find a way to keep all my body parts when I get off the bike. Hopefully, you all had a restful and cool 4th of July!