I had decided to do GH #2 and use it as a training ride and if my knee felt good I'd race it. I had overdressed and was glad to see some people taking clothing at the top of the first climb. I hesitated as I handed over my extra water bottle. They said they'd give it to me on Wilson Hill and at the time that sounded like a great idea with good intentions but as I descended the climb I knew I had made a mistake. I fell slowly into the head wind and hit the coast alone a straggler somewhere in between worlds. I had to laugh at the horrible song in my head "All by myself, don't want to be...all by myself anymore." and quickly changed my tune to Ben Harper's "Don't let them take the fight out of you."

I decided not to burn my matches getting nowhere fast in this wind and was soon caught by two guys behind me. One was a little perturbed when he asked me if I was Alexis and I replied that I was not. He quickly moved on to Marshall for water and I rode with a guy named Rich. I felt strong in my body but wanted to wait until I found my water bottle and then I had hoped to turn my legs on when I got to Bloomfield and Burnside. Wilson Hill came and went and I fantasized about these other people touching my water bottle in wanton ways and knew it was gone passed on to another, never to be mine again.

Riding along on Chileno Valley I had a mishap with Rich and crashed my bike hitting my head and later found I broke my helmet. I was bruised down my right side but I knew I was alright when my first reaction was anger. Rich was very helpful in making sure that I was okay and we rode on. He generously gave me his extra water bottle. Soon Heather caught up to us with two more and we worked in the wind. I was so happy to see her but my enthusiasm was muted by my pounding headache. At this point the jarring was just too much, my head and neck hurt with every bump and I wanted to be done. Up until this point I hadn't ridden very far or long above my threshold. I knew I was low on water and at the end of the day I wanted to be able to distinguish between fatigue and head injury so I opted to bail out. Heather rode with me to Bloomfield and my beautiful husband, Kevin came and got me. I should have listened to Paco my cat when he kept on pawing at me every time I tried to get out of bed.

-Jen

Photo Credit: Through My Eyes Photography