Now, I'll be Bold as Well as Strong. And Use My Head Alongside my Heart

Me in a gigantic chair on the corner of Big Bopper Ave. and Ritchie Valens Dr.

We had a great weekend in Clear Lake. Iowa. We stayed at the Hilltop Hotel, across the street from the Surf Ballroom.  It was such a great place and we loved hanging out at that side of town.

We got the rock and roll room. It was so kitschy cool!

We got into town on Friday evening. John did some messing around with the bikes, making sure they were ready to race for the weekend. We also wandered around the motel grounds and that area of town and checked-out the restaurants in the neighborhood.

  After we went down to the registration area to pick-up our numbers and say hi to the officials that were heading over to eat, we went to a place called Sips for some good food.

We got back to the motel and decided to go for a swim. It was a bit chilly for me, so we went to the game room/screened-in porch area. John kicked my butt in foosball, so we went out and played corn hole, where I handily kicked his butt. We decided to call it a draw and played ping pong without keeping score. It was a perfect evening.

The next morning, I woke-up to a migraine and couldn't race my time trial. I took my meds and went back to bed, while John went to his race. When he came home, I was feeling a little better, just tired and weak. We went to lunch and then he took a nap and I sat out in the courtyard reading my book. It was so pleasant. There were a few older gentleman smoking cigars and talking about sports and politics out in the center and kids running around and a family on the patio making lunch and playing a board game. It seemed like the best part of Summer..Until it got even better.

John woke up from his nap and got ready for his next race. I walked downtown and checked out the crit course and sat right by the lake and read some more of my book, while John warmed-up.  I walked over to the start to get his extra water bottle and see if there was anything else he needed before the race and ran into some women racers there.

John had a good, strong race. He got 6th, which I think is great for not training or racing much road this year.

We watched the rest of the races and then had a couple of appetizers and a drink on the outdoor patio at the Anchor Inn, across the street before going to bed.

I didn't have a migraine on Sunday when I awoke. Yea! John and I both got to do the 5.78 mile road race. It was a hot one. I still race the beginner category, since there are only 2 categories for women. There were a few first time racers, and the bonus for me with that, is that I get to try to help and make the new racers feel welcome. Bike racing can be pretty daunting. I got the riders form a paceline and tried to explain to the new racer why she didn't want to ride next to the paceline, and would use less energy drafting off another racer.

There was an extreme heat warning, so I was trying hard to make sure I took turns drinking from my water and my Gatorade bottle. Also, riding 50'ish miles that hard, means that I was burning about 1,000 calories an hour and needed to make up for some of that if I didn't want to bonk. I was doing pretty good at all of that, while trying not to get dropped, when one of the girls attacked, right as we were turning. It happened so fast, I didn't catch the jump, she slowed down and we all started to catch-up when she jumped again even faster and I was having a hard time catching on again. A girl came from behind me and I tried to jump on her wheel to see if she would bring me up to the pack, but I couldn't keep that pace long enough. I fell off and ended up riding the last half of the race by myself. It was just fine with me. I love riding my bike, and I still tried to go as hard as I could. I ended up riding that 50.78 miles in 2 hours and 43 minutes with an average pace of 18.6 MPH. I think that's the fastest I've gone that distance...And I did a good job of fueling and hydrating in that crazy hot weather.

We had a lovely weekend and the frosting on my pre birthday cake is that John found me a pair of bike shoes that are finally wide enough for my troll feet. They felt great!