Non-Cooking: Mountains of Misery Ride Report

So a little more than a month ago (Memorial Day Weekend), I biked 102 miles around Blacksburg, VA. This ride wasn't just any ride, it was the Mountains of Misery ride. What made those 102 miles miserable? What made it stand out from other century rides I have done? Oh you know, just a major 2ish mile climb around mile 58 as a warmup, then a 4 mile mountain climb to the finish. What was I thinking?! Why do I sign up for these things?! These are just a few of the questions I asked myself before, during, and after the race. I am actually happy I haven't had time to write up my ride report because I am pretty sure it will be much different/more accurate now with the perspective of time. 

Asking myself why at the start of the ride

While this ride may have just been one day, it guided all of my training decisions through the winter. When I had first heard of this race when I joined the Team, I thought "HELL NO" I could never do that. Well, becoming an Ironman has changed my perspective. The real game changer though was surviving the Garrett County Gran Fondo, which Mary informed me was more feet per climbing than Mountains of Misery, and where I proved I was a BADASS. She convinced me if I could do that, I could do Mountains. I figured with the Ironman training, if I was going to do this ride, this was the year. Luckily a ton of my friends felt the same way. Little did we know we had the winter of hell in front of us, with winter storms ruining chances of outdoor riding through March. We spent most of April/May scrambling to ride hilly courses that would prepare us for this ride. Luckily there was a solid group of us committed to getting it done.

The ride was on Sunday, but I headed down Friday in order to make it as much of a true 4 day weekend/holiday as I could. Friday night, I had dinner with Coach Ed (later joined by Jordan), and then Saturday I had the morning to myself before my friends arrived. I went on the easy 4 mile Cascade Falls hike and really enjoyed the time to myself. With all the training and work I find myself constantly surrounded by (wonderful) people and I really needed a break. I brought a book and enjoyed reading it next to the waterfall.

After the hike, I enjoyed some delicious BBQ then waited for the others to arrive. John mentioned he enjoyed rereading my old blog posts from training for Wisconsin, so I spent the afternoon going through those. Memories! Once John and Aileen got to the hotel, we headed to packet pickup and then on to Team dinner. I will say, before the dinner I was feeling calm about the ride. Mary sent out some great tips, and I was treating it as just another ride. We have survived tough rides before, and I knew no matter what we would get through it. I got my heart rate zones tested during the week and planned on staying within Zone 2 (easy pace you can ride all day) as long as possible. However, my friends were FREAKING out about it and started really stressing me out. We planned on just taking it real slow and getting each other through it (patience!). Poor John's wife got to listen to us saying the same thing over and over for 4 hours. She is a saint!  Despite the stress, I can't overstate how great it felt to have a pact with John and Aileen that no matter what, we would stick together. I always have a fear I am holding people back (hills and I are not the best of friends when it comes to speed), but this ride (and many others) have proven I don't need to worry about asking us to slow down. My friends will be there for me no matter what. 

Race morning arrived and we headed to the start of the race. Everyone had that nervous energy as we waited for the start.

John and Aileen dropping their gear bag

John

Kathy! She is FAST

We started off and soon John, Aileen, and I found ourselves at the back of the race as we stuck to our plan to keep it slow. I am so proud we were able to hold back! The first 58 miles of the ride went smoothly, and we enjoyed the well stocked rest stops (PB&J and Pickles!) along the way. The one particular highlight was when John informed Aileen and I that if we tell him we are in "Zone 1" he might have to tell us to "Shut the F*** Up." Given John's usually chipper/encouraging attitude, I found that hilarious. And I have made sure to inform him when I am in "Zone 1" (mostly jokingly) on other rides, particularly while climbing long hills!

Joel and Aileen are all smiles early

Linda!

<3

Well stocked!

Gorgeous

Then we hit our first major challenge of the day, a 2ish mile STEEP climb that winds its way up the mountain. I managed to get through it, but there were definitely points I thought about putting a foot down. I just channeled my gran fondo experience and just kept pedaling. This actually led to one of the highlights of the day - my teammate Joel reached the summit of the climb and burst into HYSTERICAL laughter, as if he couldn't believe what it was and that it was over. Aileen attempted to comfort him but it was like attempting to calm an animal in the wild. The pictures below don't do it justice.

After that climb, s*** got real. While the next 40ish miles were not crazy difficult before the final climb, that climb had set a fear of the last climb into my mind. How was I going to survive 4 miles of it?! I also ended up getting super dehydrated because I allowed the aid stations to throw off my nutrition plan. This stress/the dehydration led me to a breakdown at mile 95. Instead of Joel's hysterical laughter, I found myself sobbing uncontrollably. It was the type of crying where if anyone said ANYTHING to me, I would have burst into tears. "Is the sky blue?" "I....sob sob sob...don't...hiccup sob sob....know!" John asked me how I was doing and I just sobbed/said "I just need it to be done." So I ate a gel and we kept going. (I still don't know how I feel about the fact that I expect to have moments such as these during my leisure activities. My boss also got treated to a similar breakdown at work the other day. Ironman training strikes again!) The first 2 miles of the climb were actually not bad at all. And then I got nauseous and started to really struggle, fearing getting sick with every pedal stroke. I made it one more mile before I called it quits on the bike and started walking. I informed people riding by I was just starting my recovery early (which got some laughs), and walked about the same pace they were riding. Right before the finish I passed Mark who insisted on me riding through the finish (essentially "Wouldn't it be a great finish photo if you were vomiting?!"). When I got to Linda who was also getting back on her bike, I sucked it up and rode until the end. 

Preparing ourselves at the last aid station

Finished!! She KILLED the final climb, despite the mental suffering. 

Alright Joel, you can celebrate with us too :)

Not me but looks cool!

Even the strongest riders were worn out

Sadly, while the ride finished at at the Dirty Dancing resort, I didn't get to explore it (too tired!). After hanging out at the finish for awhile, I raced to Outback to enjoy some bloomin onion with my teammates and to swap race stories. The one downside was the lack of good beer. When I got back to the hotel, I had a Snickers Ice Cream bar, the thought of which kept me going. Then it was bed. Monday morning I met up with some teammates for Breakfast, and John, Aileen, and I swore we would NEVER do that ride again. I think the last four miles had all of us wondering why we do this to ourselves. All it proved to me was that after Gran Fondo/Ironman Wisconsin I have NOTHING to prove. I am a badass, and finishing this ride just adds another exclamation point to that statement. The drive home also provided a lot of time for soul searching/crying as I hadn't quite recovered from the dehydration.

John's wife Jen got the three of us flip flops as a gift after the ride! (A lot of our conversation was about whether to bring flip flops.)

If nothing else, this ride proved Baby Nephew and I are related. This is especially awesome because he is in the separation anxiety phase where he only wants mom and dad. Guess what kid, you can't escape me!! 

Now, as I noted up top, if I had written my race recap that day, it would have ended on that note. However, with time comes perspective/revisionist thinking. John, Aileen, and I have changed our tone from never to maybe (still not yes!). Ultimately, it was a very difficult ride. However, I truly think the difficulty really came with the mental unknown of the final climb. The entire ride we lived in fear of it, and that fear drained us. When I finally got to it, I was already done emotionally. Even with that feeling, I realized the first 2 miles of the final climb were not awful, and I have no problem with walking the remainder if it comes to it (see above about nothing to prove). For the most part the ride was absolutely beautiful, the company was wonderful, and the bonding was great. I truly enjoyed the first 70 miles. I also love my teammates, and this ride has further solidified our sense of togetherness. Will I do it again next year? Probably not but never say never - you do have to really commit to the training and I haven't figured out my plans for next year yet. I might just cheer my teammates up the final climb. Will I do it again ever? Probably, unless I find another equally badass/beautiful ride to do instead.