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OK, I know it has been awhile since I have posted on this blog...my bad!  I wasn't sure if anyone was reading it...however, since I am only 9 days away from starting the ride, I will begin to ramp up my communication.

So much has happened since my last post...somewhere along the way, I became a legit cyclist!  I have been through more equipment, become an expert on Strava, learned about ride nutrition, and met many amazing people...

I am going to focus this post on the last training ride that I went on last week.  I was blessed to have the chance to ride in the Vermont Challenge with 4 of the people who are going across country with me.  Two of the riders actually have multiple myeloma!  It was one of the inspiring 3 days of my life.
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We all rode the 70 miles course the first day.  We also climbed around 3000 vertical feet.  I didn't pay attention to my power meter (cyclist lingo) and went out too hard.  By mile 50 I was cramping pretty bad...luckily, Kiel and Randi were there to help me get my nutrition in order and I made it through the ride.

We were supposed to ride 70 miles the next day as well, but the weather was horrible, so we decided to play hooky...we went into Manchester and I was able to show the group around town.  We ended the day with pizza from JJ Hapgoods.

The third day half the group rode 50 miles and the other half rode almost 70.  The climbing was crazy! Over 5000 feet.  Randi took a wrong turn and climbed an additional 1000 feet, earning her the nickname "mountain goat". It was a hard ride, but my nutrition was much better and I stayed within my numbers...I could have done more if I had to.

The best part about this ride was that we all got to know each other better and left feeling confident that we could get through this ride!  I shipped my bike out to California this past Monday, and will be training on my mountain or spin bike until I leave for the ride...


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