Tour de Meers

Jesse's birthday is next week, and it is a big one.  She is moving to OKC next week, too.  That must be why when she said, "Hey, lets do the Tour de Meers," we said, "Okay."  What a bunch of goobers!  I've been out on my bike twice this spring.  Toby and Jes ride quite a bit, but mostly in eight to ten mile increments.  So when they decided that they could do the 57 miles, I was sure to say, "Haaale no!"  I chose the 30 mile ride.  What was I thinking?!

So we were up at 5 AM and off to the Wichita Mountains.  The morning started off with some cloud cover, which was great.  Still, it was soon 95 degrees with winds around 22 mph and gusting to 30 mph.  You can do the math - if you are a plodder like me who averages about 10 to 12 mph up and down the hills, what happens to your speed when you head into the wind which is blowing at 20 to 30 mph?  There were times when I knew I was peddling, but didn't seem to be going anywhere.  On the 30 mile ride, we peddled out 15 miles and turned around and came back the same way.  The last few miles to the turnaround, were great - downhill and with a tailwind.  I was happy. I thought I had found my second wind. I was smilin' and talkin' to folks.  Then we turned around and headed into the wind - up hill.  Dang!  It was the third wind that did me in. There were a few times when I started thinking about killing Jesse and Toby for getting me into another fine mess and a few times when I was whiny.  But I put a stop to that sort of thinking.  It gets you nowhere when you really just need to get back.  That is the problem with such sports - they get you way out in the middle of nowhere, tire you out, and then you have to get back to where you started.  It is why I prefer volleyball or softball.

I did make it back, and I did it very well. Yep, I'm proud of myself. I might even say that I am glad Toby and Jesse made me do this, but maybe not.  Now and then I need to step out of my comfort zone - that means getting off my keester. After I finished, I had some time to wait on Toby and Jesse.  About an hour in to that wait, I got a text from Jes saying something about "he is tired and cramping up - will get a ride or maybe ride in"  What?  I texted back and asked if he was okay.  She answered that he was just tired and at rest stop, which told me nothing.  I then decided to text Toby directly and bypass Jesse's vague texts.  Unfortunately as soon as I hit send, Toby's phone beeped in the truck where I was waiting.  Great. He left his phone.  Now what should I do?  Should I go after him? What if he was already being carted back in a SAG wagon. What was he expecting me to do?  What if he was riding in and had a heart attack?  At that point, I opted to load up and go find him.  When got to the first (last actually) rest stop, I was asked to SAG a lady back to the start - she had wrecked on her bike and was a bit upset.  Since I really had no idea where Toby was and I had passed a SAG wagon with lots of bikes in the back (Toby could be looking for me now), I decided to take the lady back and see if Toby was already there. But when I got back, he was not there and neither was Jesse. I decided to stay put, but the mother/wife in me was worried - more about what to do or not do.  You've heard of WWJD. Well, I was asking myself, WWTD.  With that thought, I had a beer with the guys parked next to me.

One thing is for sure, there was some beautiful scenery.  The artist in me stopped and took a few photos and will have to go back for more later - in a car.

Eventually, Toby showed up.  He had caught a ride with a rest stop attendee.  Jesse showed up a few minutes later having ridden the entire 57 miles.  They were both worn out.  So we loaded up and went to Lawton for a late lunch.  Once you stop moving, the bones and muscles fall apart.  We became noodles. By the time we got home, it was all I could do to take a shower and fall into bed for a nap. Now we are sitting around being very lazy.  I'd post pics, but it would be ugly.