Chilly Hilly!

We had an action packed tiring weekend. Saturday morning we ran just over 6 miles, along lake Sammamish. Overall it went pretty well - although I think its time for a re-adjustment of my running shoes (or new ones) as my left leg is starting to hurt a bit now. The Boomer dog came with us the whole way, and afterwards, even had enough energy for some playing and swimming in the dog park. I don't see how he got so fit.

THEN Sunday, three of us headed down to the Seattle Ferry and rode Chilly Hilly. I'm pretty sure none of us really knew what we were getting into. While the sun did come out during our ride, making it not so chilly, it was definitely hilly!

I got off to a rough start - near the beginning of the ride, a few miles in, we came to our first steepish hill. We were still in a somewhat crowded pack of riders, since it was early on, and as people got off bikes to walk, they got yelled at, since they would suddenly stop in front of other bikers. I was careful to not do this, however as I went to downshift to an easier gear, suddenly I couldn't pedal! I almost fall off, as I'm clipped in, and surrounded by hordes of other angry bikers (mad I'm in their way). I make it to the side of the road, and discover my bake tire somehow slipped over, so it was pressed against the frame, making it not spin. I fiddled around with the quick release, and think I got it fixed, but that definitely make me nervous for the rest of the ride - as I didn't want that to happen again!

Luckily my tire seemed to stay put for the whole ride. I ended up having to walk a few of the super long, and steep hills. Being clipped in made it a little scary to get off! as I had to unclip while pedaling fast (in a low gear) up the hill and dodge other riders.

About 20 miles into the ride, we came around a corner, and where back on the east side of the island. It was slightly down hill, and I saw the ferry to our right, and thought that The ride must be almost over. I thought to myself how it really wasn't so bad, and I'm not that tired etc, and it was almost fun... Then I keep biking, and biking, and biking and after what felt like a long time, and a few more hills, the ferry went out of view, and I saw a 5 miles left sign... Ugh.

Those last 5 miles where the hardest part of the ride. While the hills where not the steepest of the ride, and were not THAT long, after the previous 25 miles of hills, they felt hard! I pushed myself to not get off, and keep biking. Mile 5 went by not so badly - in about 4/5 minutes... then mile 4 somehow took me like 20 minutes. and was super painful, tiring, and I really just wanted to be done. I swear it must have been signed wrong. Somewhere in mile 4 was a relatively long hill, though not too steep - I was pushing myself to not get off and walk, when I suddenly realized my legs where shaking! So I got off and ate some clif bar - I hadn't eaten anything in during the previous two hours of biking - that may have helped!

When we finally came around the corner to the finish line I was very excited.

So now I have done chilly hilly. I'm not sure if I'll do it again next year. I have to say I overall found just chilly hilly harder than the entire triathlon last year! I think I need to bike more :)

I slept really well saturday and sunday nights .