He was a great mentor and partner for this trip and he deserves a BIG THANK YOU as because of him, I made it!!! He also had a secret stash of "Espresso Love" which I used to get through the last segment of say one which was the hilliest and hardest by far! For those of you that do not know about Espresso Love, it is a wonderful gel like substance that you eat and gives you the boost you did not know you had. He uses this stuff for marathons. The best part of the day was the finish at Allegheny College in Meadeville. Joann and Jimmy were there to cheer us on the the finish line. It was so nice to have them there. What a relief for me that I did not know I needed! Day one celebration included lots of food, drink and massage therapy for the riders. Gary and I got a well deserved message after riding 81 miles. Then Joann took us out for an Italian dinner and a few more drinks. My son tucked me in bed before he left and he was so great taking care of his mother before they hit the road home.
Day 2 started out a little hectic. Gary and I planned to meet up for breakfast at 5:30 AM. We were both at breakfast but at separate dining halls. When I retrieved my bike from the gym, I asked the guard if he knew how many bikes were locked up. He said 2,700!!! Amazing.
The official start time was 7:30 AM. Both days there were volunteers at every intersection guiding the bikers and stopping traffic as needed. We decided to get an earlier start because of the heat. Yes, it was 90+ degrees day one however, there was some overcast so we felt that day one could have been a lot worse. We both did a good job hydrating throughout the day one. We carried water with us on our bikes and extra water in our back pockets of our shirt. We made sure we ate at least a bite of something at every rest stop and drank continuously!
OK, back to the early start. The volunteers did not start until 7:30 AM but they did have directional signs posted so we thought if we started early we could get a jump on the heat. Yes, what you're thinking happened. We got lost early on. One of the directional signs was missing and we missed a turn. Thank God we did not go to far before we realized that we had made a mistake. We got back on track and on with the day. Now day two leveled out and was shorter in mileage, only 69 miles. The rolling hills were much easier however, there was one segment that was extremely hard for me. The sun was shining and the wind was blowing and it felt like a 15 mile climb without relief. Again, Gary came to my aid with motivating words and songs! Just when we hit the last rest stop and I thought I was going to die, someone said only 9 more miles to go. I jumped up and said let's do this and finished STRONG! The last 9 miles were through town and beautiful. People were in there yards cheering us and the town posted signs welcoming us with mileage updates.
We ended in Conneaut, Ohio at Lake Erie! There was a huge party at the finish with music and food.
Oh ya, in the words of Gary, "I think I rubbed all the skin off my ass."
Nuff said.