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Ride with Goldilocks

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By marydalene

So, here’s the story of Goldilocks.

It started with an invitation on Facebook in March from a friend and former co-worker to be on her team. I took a look, figuratively shrugged my shoulders, asked Jared, and said sure.

And that’s where I found myself signed up for a 40-mile bike ride. Jared must have thought I was a little crazy, but I wanted a new challenge, and my husband supported me.

After some encouragement from another friend, instead of trying to ride it on my mountain bike, I found a used road bike that was just right, as Goldilocks would say. (Ironically, I purchased it from a man; most used bikes by women I found were too small. Thank you, 36-inch inseam.)

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I had a bike, now I had to learn how to use it. Eventually I figured it out, and I only had to learn how to use my clip in shoes. I will admit, I fell over. A few times. And Jared was very annoyed to see my scrapes and bruises from my falls. So, by no means am I an expert.

May 10 rolled around. And of course, the weekend before was sunny, bright and lovely. May 10 was windy, rainy (and hailing, although I never saw it) and cold. Here’s most of our team, pre-race. Some of us rode 60 miles, some 40 and some 20.

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I rode 40 miles and I survived. With a smile!

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And here I am at the finish line.

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I finished with a time of 2:44:24. I’m not sure where that puts me overall, as the site doesn’t allow for those kind of results. I rode a lot of the course alone, especially near the end. Since this was my first road race, I just tried to push myself as much as I could. There were several spots where it was a “just keep peddling” kind of mentality. But it was still fun, and I am pleased with myself for what I was able to accomplish.

This 40-mile race was perfect for an introduction to me. I really like this new sport of road biking. I think I may want to try for a century this year.

Anyone want to join me? I’ll even be on your team.

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Comments

  1. Jocelyn the elderJune 20, 2014 at 7:05 AM

    I am so impressed. A wonderful accomplishment. Afraid I only do exercycle - but have 110,000 miles

    ReplyDelete

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