Yay for my boyo!

[nwhiker]

I am SO proud of my spindly legged little boyo! He biked 40 miles on roads today, and did incredibly well!



Here he is before the ride, looking all spiffy!



We got up at 6am, but it took us about 90 minutes to get out of the house. Nobody was at their best. We got to the start not too late, though. Got our ride bibs, and pinned Perry's on him. He had a number all last year for racing at the velodrome, but this was his first ride one, ya know?

There was plenty of munchies and Perry ate as many as he could. He had Gatorade in his Camelback. All in all, I suspect he ingested close to 2000 calories during the ride. After, he ate more, and then devoured a 12 in Subway sandwich. That boy scares me.

Turns out the technical jersey's they were selling for $10 were real nice. We'd gotten one for Perry, but decided if they had extras, we'd get one too.

Forty miles. Which means we did most of the ride with the people doing 60, with a little bit of overlap with the 20 milers. We started out, and each time we were passed by someone, they called out nice things for Perry. Yay. That always feels good. What was also nice? We didn't get passed all that much.

The Skagit Valley is beautiful. My dream house is there, an old Victorian with a view on Mt Baker and the Cascades. I was not able to stop for photos, but imagine farm lands, green most everywhere, with the occasional brilliance of tulips or the cheerfullness of daffodils, a perfect blue sky, cute fluffy clouds, and Mt Baker's white snow cone over it all. Spectacular.

So away we went, making really good time. Perry, unlike last year, rides a paceline really well, and was able to tuck nicely behind dh. He isn't random any longer, bouncing between us, he rides steadily and carefully. Maturity, and work at the Velodrome I'm sure. Anyhow, it worked well, except for the ass who decided, without asking, to tuck in behind me, making it harder for dh. Grr.

At the first rest stop, Perry ate and drank. We weren't in a real hurry, so while we didn't dwaddle, we also didn't rush.

After the rest stop, I went in first. We went back on the other side of the road from the way we came in on... Wait.

This is the ride route and elevation: 31st Annual Tulip Pedal 40 mile Route.

The next part of the route was closer to the actual tulips. We rode by a few fields. It was crowded, and in the end, we were glad to get out to less travelled roads.

The next rest stop was shared by the people who were doing the 20 miles. More kids!

Leaving there, we flew for a while, passing a bunch of people. We also started to get a sense of "our group". There are the people you see over and over on a ride, because they're doing the same distance as you, and at about the same speed. It's fun.

Josh Wilson road. Straight into a headwind, which means that we weren't going too fast at the bottom of the hill already. I mean... look at that elevation.

Mr Track-Bikes-Have-No-Gears,-Who-Needs-Gears? does not know to gear down. Me, I had, but when he stalled right in front of me, at the beginning of the hill, I had to stop too... And considering how steep the slope was, there was no getting back on the bike. Perry and I walked it. This too is part of bike rides, at least for people like me.

At the top of the hill, we got back on our bikes and zipped down towards Padilla Bay. Then, give or take some really nasty bits with a strong headwind, it was straight on in. The last few miles? We passed quite a few groups because we were on flat, with a tailwind, and almost done: our speeds during that time were between 16 and 19mph. Not bad.

Back to LaConnor, having completed the ride in 3h12minutes, 40 whole miles, at an average of 12.6mph. Not bad!

Tulip Pedal has been one of our traditional "check point" rides. I think we're good. 40 miles was a challenge, but never felt overwhelming, and we found some issues that we'll need to iron out before the next few big rides.

Back at the Start/Finish, dh and I bought shirts, Perry ate, and we relaxed and stretched.

Perry refused to smile, but here he is after 40 miles, with me. The things on my shoulder are dh and my new shirts!



We stopped for lunch on the way home, dh got a burger and fries, and Perry and I opted for Subway. Perry ate a foot long all by himself. Hee.

All in all, a good day. I am SO SO proud of him. Just so proud. He did so well, and never complained at all, and was altogether a good riding companion. This was both his longest ride, and a major jump in road riding distance. He was responsible, careful, and rode in control.

So yay Perry!

Comments

[camelsamba.livejournal.com]

So awesome!

I had to laugh about stalling at the bottom of the hill - same thing has happened to me, riding behind T or Z on the way to school. Very minor ride in comparison :^)