Red Eye Ride

I sit here on Saturday night, almost shocked by the miles we've covered in the last 24 hours.

Yesterday, I kidnapped Jay from work and hour before close to make a bee line for Cable, WI by dark. We got up to Lakewoods in time for a beer, a soak, and some silly times watching Doug, Lance, Hwood, and Mr. Grand Stay waz out on Buck Hunter for hours! Sure, arcade games are not my typical race prep routine, but no one could deny how much fun it was to see Doug, AKA Dan's Brother, spaz out over shooting a doe, and Hwood enforce the "Nuge" rules in our first 'smoking' bar in months.

First thing this AM, we rolled out of our comfy bed to register for the Cable Off Road Classic, only to find the GS Three hacking away at Extreme Hunter yet again. Jay signed up for the full 23, while I got registered for the 18 mile course. This was my second time out (Jay's 100th or so), so I had an idea of what to expect. As I did last year, I brought out the Baloney Pony for some Single Speed action, but Jay was sweet enough to upgrade my bike with a suspension fork. It paid off huge over the rocky terrain and I'm still grateful to this moment!

The course was pretty gnarly, with a number of trees we actually had to dismount to get by. I figured it was the perfect venue to test my CX skills, but my remounts were a little rusty. My 32-16 was sweet as I danced on the pedals up the hills time and time again - I love that bike. And it was a total trip meeting a gal who reads my blog! Thanks for saying Hi, Heather! You did awesome, Wookie! :O) And thanks for reading.

Again, my goal was to beat my time from last year, so I pushed myself as hard as I could. With 3 miles to go, I got stuck in some mud and went down, bashing my knee into my handle bar on the way. I did everything I could to keep my food in and focus on breathing. I got back on my bike after I tried to walk it off for a few feet, and was able to push past it by the time we hit the mile mark.

Knowing we've got a TT tomorrow, I tucked into a smaller position, lightened my hands on the bars, and TT'd it all the way home. Picking off geared men one after another fueled my ride the entire way. Then, I crossed the finish as I saw my topless Hwood cheering at the top of his lungs! Unfortnately, my time was actually 27 minutes slower than last year, but it seemed as though those results spread far across the board.

I ended up taking 10th in the women, and 2nd in my age group! Jay finished 17th overall - Way to go my love!!!! We hit the road the second I got my fabulous award and headed home.Jay and I traded naps for driving....Almost exactly 24 hours later, we walked through the front door and straight into bed. Now, a couple of ibu's and ice packs later, we've finally risen from bed just in time to grab some grub before the midnight USELESS show at the Uptown Bar and Grill. Get out and rock!

Running on empty,
Kristy Kreme