Tour de Mesa

This one is a long time in coming! Way back on April 14th Nick and I rode in the Tour de Mesa.  It is a 70 miler and I was lucky enough to rope my FIL into riding with me.  Sadly these are the only photos I got of the day:(

The good news is I was feeling pretty good after completing the 65 mile Chandler ride two weeks before.
The bad news is that the weather was miserable.  It was freezing and rainy and oh the wind! Luckily I threw my arm warmers in at the last minute or I would have been one sad cyclist.  Nick told me not to pack his and he was lucky his dad brought an extra jacket for him just in case.

We started out ok but within a few mile we were riding into a bad headwind and I was struggling.  At about mile 5-6 I gave up on trying to stay with Nick and just let him go.  Since Don was riding as a bandit (not registered) he said he didn't mind sticking with me.  After a few miles we changed direction and found a pretty good group to ride with.  I had a few mechanical issues with my shifters that plagued me for most of the ride.  Don cautioned another rider who almost ran into him while rubber necking at the sight of a down biker and got yelled at.  This guys was insane!  He came back multiple times to scream in Don's face.  It was kind of amusing that he got so upset over something so insignificant, but it was also kind of scary. We followed our usual tradition of giving everyone we rode near nicknames based on their appearance and we ate jelly beans:)  We took a long bathroom break at the 50 mile mark.  As a woman, wearing bib shorts makes it a huge pain to go to the bathroom.  Imagine wearing a swimming suit with clothes over it and having to get all the way undressed at every pit stop.  Add to that a jersey with full pockets to take off and hold in the small space of a portable toilet and you start to get the idea:)  After that came the Usery Pass climb.  It was a killer just like last year.  I kept busy reminding myself that I did this the previous year in super hot conditions while 5 months pregnant.  That and arguing with Don about the actual mileage of the climb pretty much occupied me and it passed faster than I though.  The rest of the ride was pretty uneventful.  I got kind of tired about 4 miles before the end and had to slow down my pace a bit.  Don took off right before the finish line and headed to work.  My time was a little disappointing, but considering the weather I wasn't too down on myself.  Nick even had a few hard patches this year!  Already looking forward to next year.  gotta work on my hills!