The ULCER is tomorrow!

I am so nervous . . . my big bike ride is tomorrow. When I get nervous, I get tired. Not a good combination for a 111 mile bike ride. At least my air conditioning is fixed so I can sleep well today. I really, really want to finish the ride and do the full 111 miles, but I'm not confident that I'm physically up for it. I've been training hard, but I'm not sure its enough. Oh well, what can I do but try my best! I have to keep thinking, I can do it, I can do it. Unfortunately, I have this nagging little voice in the back of my head saying, "are you sure? Maybe you can't!" Oh well . . . wish me luck.

On Wednesday, my friend Nicole and I went for a ride, trying to attempt finding the trail for this ride. We had a hilarious experience. The first part was fine, just funny because we couldn't read the map well enough to know if we were on the right path. We kept taking little dead end roads and then turning around and looking for a new trail. We turned around at about 13 miles, figuring we could get in a 25 to 30 mile ride, and a little more confident because the path was very flat. Somehow, instead of ending up at Thanksgiving Point, we ended up in Saratoga Springs at Redwood Road. Meanwhile, my kids keep calling . . . can Mitch play with this friend or this friend? Do I know where Maddy's tennis racket is? Can Maddy play with Alyssa? I'm starting to feel a little stressed about my kids and have no idea how to get home. A somewhat helpful girl at the Rite Aid said she thought there was a back road to Thanksgiving Point. Of course I chose the wrong one (my poor friend Nicole). Anyhow, it looked like it was going in the right direction, until it took a sharp turn back in the opposite way in which we wanted to go. That's when I saw the dirt road with a "Keep out" sign posted. Nicole and I decided we could plead our case--being mother's in a hurry to get back to our children. So we walked across this field, on a gravel path, that I didn't realize was chewing up my new toe clips. I've yet to decide whether I ought to just go buy new ones, but that's a separate matter. We finally reached a berm of trees and plantings. I thought the Thanksgiving Point Golf Course might be on the other side, and I knew it had a bridge over the Jordan River, a major obstacle to reaching our destination. Nicole saw the golf path on the other side, so we decided to go for it. We rode our bikes on the golf cart trails, until we came to a lawnmower, who told us we couldn't go any further until the Jr. Golf Championship golfers took their turns on the tee-box. Then he kindly showed us which way to go to get to the bridge and back into a neighborhood, so we could make our way back to Thanksgiving Point. One wrong right turn later, my fault again, we finally found the way back to Nicole's car!! It was a fun ride, 28 miles, and a memorable adventure. Nicole's a good sport and in great shape!! Good inspiration for an old lady like myself!!