b2b

Here's all that remains of my 7th Harpoon Brewery to Brewery ride: One lonely beer ticket unused, dog-eared  and now expired. How did I let that happen?
As I woke up today watching the rain, I though how lucky we were one week ago  to have
bright blue skies and sunny warm weather for our journey of 900 + riders to VT.  It's a 19 + hour day for me crammed full of adventure starting at 3:30 AM and ending with McDonald's hot and salty fries and a creamy vanilla shake reward stop before reaching home at 10:30 PM.

I'd be lying if I didn't say I felt pretty trashed for most of last week hinged heavily on the solid lack of
desire to even look at my bike. I worked hard and probably the hardest I have for any of these rides
I have done. It wasn't my intention but the specimens who I rode with kept me honest and many
times, hanging on for dear life.   Specimen A, I rode with last year. One should never assume that
a year's prior performance is a clear testament of what to expect the next year.  Brian came undone
last year at the 126 mile aid station and I left him for dead to finish. Nice of me eh?  This year
we rode together again, and I could barely share the duty of pulling  and continually got blown off
the back on any longish grinding climbs which exceeded my ability to count in total.  One minute I was happy buzzing along with my group, the next counting cows in a field whining because my happy place/draft zone was all but a memory.

It didn't last  long though and before I knew it, I got zapped back into a good place whether it be catching a new group to suck wheel off of or zipping ( ok.. maybe not zipping.. but crawling) into the next aid station and my core group ride posse was there to scoop me back up, Brian and Steve x2,
ready to carry on freshly invigorated with fuel.

Here's the thing about the b2b. The party doesn't get started until the 90 mile mark and if your
not careful and pace yourself,  the hills of VT will bite you in the ass and leave you well... like this:

Numbers don't lie and they are far from impressive but for a long day in the  saddle barring no
major calamity, here's what Mr. Garmin said:
 Distance:147.52 miles 
 Time:8:30:32
 Avg Speed:17.4 mph
 Elevation Gain:7,305 ft
 Whining %: 48.3




In less than 2 weeks I'll be laughing at this elevation gain in the mountains of France. The summer
theme suddenly went from **The Crappy Hill Climber ** to
**She's Not Ashamed Of The Triple Chain**

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Ready, Set, Go!

I used to be so good about updating my blog but lately I'm hopelessly distracted and I'm betting other bloggers can attest to this as well. I remember BEFORE Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram, I scoured my blog roll DAILY hoping for a new update on one of my homies and was vigilant about keeping my own the same way.   


 In any case, I've been busy. Who isn't, right??? 


 The b2b is rapidly closing in (2 weeks away) and I'm trying to get some mileage in while video blogging my way through the process via Ibex and Harpoon.
I drag around a Go-Pro video camera and try to capture training moments, minus anything
graphic as to not scare away future b2b'rs. It's been fun and Evan Kay @ Ibex is doing a great
job putting together a short video showcasing us (3 athletes) preparing for the ride.  We just send him our memory cards and voila! He does his video editing magic and comes up with a short little clip about what we are doing in hopes to not bore the audience to tears.  He's yet to include my pole dancing routine that I use as cross training for the b2b and there's only ONE MORE VIDEO to come out. Fingers crossed! 
  Brian and Patrick, the other two riders have never done the b2b and are puttin' in a lot more training hours than I and Patrick is a HAND CYCLIST. Frankly he is the Bomb and I wish him lots of luck in the hills of cow lovin' VT.  This is my 7th ride and I know how the day goes and what I need to do to prepare in order to get to the start line fresh and ready for a long day in the saddle.  It's not a race and my goal pretty much every year is to get to VT in one piece minus torn shorts, road rash, a broken derailleur and a sag wagon pick up.  Oh.. it happens and every year I'm thankful it is NOT ME and I didn't get taken down by a squirrely rider, a dropped water bottle that can launch you into the ditch or some mechanical calamity that can't be fixed road side.


On another note I have some EXCITING news for July. 


Ready?  


I'm going to FRANCE.  Yup. I'm going to the mountains ( Remember the theme this year) Hills Hills and OH JOY more HILLS!!! Think Alp d' huez  and I will be pedaling my bike up those mountains guided by my host Jimmy Riccitello.   MUCH more
later to come on that!  


Thanks for stopping by!!