The thrill of victory and the agony of defeet, delegs and particularly, debutt.

Saturday, September 16,

Every good athlete knows(as do most people who have
ever watched them on TV) that it is essential to get a
good night's sleep and to be well fueled and hydrated
before a marathon event. Aware that these would be to
my best advantage, I knowingly spent the night in a
yurt with 16 third grade girl scouts and their moms.

A yurt? From the outside, looks like a round,
enclosed circus tent on a platform. From the inside,
filled with 16 little girls, not terribly different
than a circus tent. Well, it could have been much
worse... at least we were shielded from the torrential
downpours and had the use of 3" mats.

In the morning, I had a good stretch and enjoyed the
natural surroundings as I walked to the showers.
Thankfully, hot and cold running water made it
delightfully refreshing. It may be a good thing, but
I had to leave before breakfast to arrive at
the starting point on time.

Wow, I've never seen so many bikes in one place!!
And all those guys with the fancy shirts... and a
handful of women.
It took a while to figure out all the info and get my
gear to where it had to go. Surprise! we were not
going to come back to our cars filled with essentials
until the end of Sunday. Time to re-pack.

Well, due to the mix up and that tidbit of crucial
info, I was dead last out of the starting gates. In
fact, Nobody was even there to cheer or mark the path.
I was a bit disgruntled, but anger and roadblocks
always tend to stir up the fight in me and challenge
me to go beyond my sight-line. Others might call it
being a stubborn ass, but I guess you'd have to have a
touch of that to do most things I manage to do.

Starting out dead last has its advantages... you pass
many more people than if you were first. And passing
can be encouraging in itself. Think each person passed is
one step closer to the finish! It also really helped that
I had you rooting for me and taking a virtual ride with me
and no way we would let each other down, right?
It gave me strength.

Hills were rough as my three week old muscles were not
thoroughly prepared for the task and I was still quite
a bit unsure of the toe clips. I really, really did
not want to fall on my butt. I mean, I fell three
times and got only bruises. No breaks, no scratches,
no blood. How many times can you get that lucky?

Now, the real "tight in the sprocket" cyclists
wouldn't dream of walking up a hill, but I have feet
and I wasn't afraid to use them! Besides, it gave my
upper legs a break... Then I'd hop back on and soar
downhill.

First day, 53 miles and 6 hours on a bike.
I made it.
The course had us ride directly to the hotel where we
were staying... talk about working for a meal! A nice
barbecue, a nicer complimentary yard of beer, and a
much appreciated(and needed) shower were well
deserved.



Sunday, September 17:

Scrambled eggs for fuel... I hate scrambled eggs...
(actually, I'm pretty freaky about most buffet type
food) but it was the least of the evils and protein is
what I needed to run on as I am now a precision
cycling machine...(cough, cough).

Somehow, I missed the starting masses and went ahead
of the following masses. I was virtually "alone
again, naturally" but enjoying it. In my first mile a
pickup truck passed me, the driver honking and yelling in
much appreciated support, before he pulled over into
an office building driveway. I passed and waved.
Next thing I knew, he was driving beside me calling
out the window.

"Hey, remember me?"
(Oh boy, here goes...)
"I gave you directions in Ringwood." It's the guy
that helped navigate me through the awesome, glorious,
downhill speedway that I did on Labor Day on the 28
mile trek. When we spoke on that day, he said he
usually did the MS ride, but couldn't this year. Out
of 560 some riders... he finds me on his way to work,
some 20 miles from where we met. Imagine that! Add
one more to the cheering section.
(And one more rider to next years' roster)

The first rest stop seemed to come fast and well
before I needed it, but then right out of the parking
lot and up a brutal hill. I overheard a couple as
they slowly passed me complain, saying, "That's a
heart attack start."

The tour took us all over the place. I thought of
Ralph as I rode through his town on the main road. I
rode on the block behind Nancy's house at @ 9 am,
yelling "Nancy... I'm passing your house!" (Did your
neighbors complain?;-) Maybe I rode past your house
and never knew it.

The ride had its way too tough points and its way
awesome points. Shortly after a low of walking my
exhausted legs up a hill, I came upon(or was passed
by) a group of "shirts", a team of about 20 hard
drivers racing together. At that moment, we hit a
narrow downhill course that was more a bike path than
a road. Did I mention that though my "up" muscles are
pretty weak, my "down" muscles have got it going on?

I rode with the pack. In, tight. My wheel mere inches
to the left of the rear tire of a highly skilled
cyclist. I was there! We roared down the hill, whipping past(and
I do mean whipping past) less skilled(read less
insane) riders. As one breathing dragon from hell, we
leaned and banked left together and then right and
back and forth perilously close enough that one small
false move from any member of the group would send all
of us to certain disaster as the domino effect would
explode us into a twisted mass of bodies and bikes.
We took in air together. We breathed fire together.
It was my personal Tour De France moment that faded quickly as
we hit the next uphill.

Ecstatic!

There really aren't words to describe it. Try to
imagine the coolest TV shot of a bike race made into
the most exhilarating virtual ride at Disney and
you've merely skimmed the surface of the experience.

I, Sandie Reilly, of the three and a half weeks in
training, with the colorful butt, riding the same bike
used by the US racing team on the Tour De France,
having the bike attached firmly to my shoes, did ride with
the big boys!!!

And it was Spectacular!!!!!

There were many more hills and free falls and late in
the ride where I got enough confidence to stand in the pedals and
achieve similar hills to those that stumped me earlier.

When it got bad, I'd think of Eric and what he has to
go through to get dressed each day, and it would give me that
extra gumption for three, six, ten more pushes to get me to the
crest before my legs began to scream at me.

I felt more confident with the racing shoes and
clips(despite the blisters), and though I certainly
didn't want to go much further, I didn't want it to
end.

I didn't want to give the pumpkin back.

I started passing more people. Felt bad for a younger
woman in tears who was saying "I just can't go on!" as her
friend tried to convince her how close she was. The
group of strong, young, robust teens resting to catch
their breath. The people who couldn't turn it on
anymore, even in the flatlands... I was in pain but
still strong. And I felt the emotion try to grab me like the day
before... I did it... I really did it.

Against all odds. Against all probability. This old,
out of shape, untrained, occasionally compromised body
more than willed itself to the finish line to a
gallery of cheering volunteers and riders who have
become new friends and family. And I looked good.

69 miles. Seven hours.
Two day total: 112 miles. 13 hours.

I did it because I can. There are so many who
really can't. I am a-typical and consider myself
extremely lucky because I can still choose what I want
to do. Many people can't and others think they can't.

Once again, I have proven to myself that I can do
anything I set my mind to do. I am empowered...

"If you have the faith of a mustard seed you can move
mountains."

Eric, keep playing for us... I want to bring you with
me again next year.

Everyone else, will you get on a bike and ride with me next year?
Will you support me again next year?
If you wanted to pledge to the National MS Society, I
still have 3 weeks to get all pledges in, so there's
still time.

Love and hugs to each and every one of you,
you were part of the force that kept me going.
And I thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Sandie

PS if you missed any of the notes or just wanted to read again and comment, please go to SandieReilly.blogspot.com