LIVESTRONG Philly (kind of)

Many of you already know that I chose not to drive to Philadelphia this weekend. A long and stressful week at work compounded by not being at home with my family on a weekend, and not being on call for almost 2 months, aided my decision. That and the thought of 22 hours of driving sandwiching 100+ miles of riding in 2 days sealed the deal . . . so instead I felt that it was only right to ride 100 miles this weekend for those that donated in honor of my mother.

To this end, I chose the Blue Ridge Breakaway ride. I figured that this would be a challenge and ideal preparation for the Shenandoah 100 in two weeks time. The ride started off with 50 miles of rolling terrain followed by a climb up to the Blue Ridge Parkway and then another 30 miles along the final stretch of the Parkway itself. So basically a 50 mile 'warmup' followed by 40 miles and over 5600' of climbing, followed by a 15 mile descent back to Lake Junaleska. Quite a challenging course, and an excellent event put on by Nancy!

Everything started out well for the first half of the ride, and as we hit the climb on 215 to the BRP my legs felt awesome. The group went from 40 to 2 very quickly, and myself and a rider, Baker, from Boone set a nice tempo to the top. This is when the RAIN started. Hard, cold, blinding rain. The rain intensified until we descended to the final climb of the day, when it gradually picked back up. Halfway up the climb, Baker throttled it down a bit, but I had to keep going, just to stay warm (aided by a trash bag shoved up my jersey!). The 80 degree temperatures had plummeted to the 60s and my legs and body weren't thrilled. This is when the SAG vehicle informed me that the Parkway was "being shut down" and I needed to "get in the car". Since he was driving a truck, I kept going. At the top the volunteers at the aid station waved and offered me drinks, so I figured I was fine. Descending into Maggie Valley was harrowing and once I hit the bottom I was welcomed by standing water of 3-4 inches on the road and waves of water from the passing vehicles. You read that correctly: waves. I watched the water slosh out of the holes on top of my shoes and pinched my face together to prevent the spray from blinding me as I drove on as fast as I could. The only thing slowing me were: the cracks in the pavement, stoplights, cars and trucks cutting me off, and the water itself. Never has once been so happy to see Granny's Chicken Shack and the finish banner!

I treated myself with a Coke and BBQ sandwich before I hightailed it home! A great training ride and an epic one at that in the books . . . thanks to all the volunteers out there braving the rain yesterday, it was a great event!

P.S. It's not too late to donate to LIVESTRONG in my mother's honor: https://www.kintera.org/faf/donorReg/donorPledge.asp?ievent=330113&supId=229913356