Day 63: The Hilly Hundred

August 7, 2022 in Rufus, Oregon

I woke up this morning a bit apprehensive about an extremely long ride, but excited to take Hermiston (my cow) on an adventure! We had just about 100 miles on deck for today, so I fueled up with lots of apple and cinnamon oatmeal before heading out.

Of course, I rode with Eliza. It's an 100 mile tradition! We also did a secret Bike and Build tradition today, which was so fun.

There isn't much to say about the first 75 miles of riding––the scenery was beautiful, the hills were plentiful, and I kept my energy up with lots of snacks and singing. First lunch was short, but it gave me enough rest to get to mile 65, which is the point where I know I'm going to finish the century ride.

Second lunch was a shorter stop. We had just gotten to mile 75, and we knew there was a hill coming up, so we wanted to make sure we were objects in motion that stayed in motion.

The big hill was absolutely BRUTAL. It was a very long, very steep, full sun climb, but we were able to take one pit stop and power through to the top. Thank goodness it was all easier from there, because my legs just about fell off.

We had to be shuttled over a bridge that was too dangerous to bike, but we were able to make two very cool pit stops on the way to the shuttle.

First, we visited a full scale replica of Stonehedge before it became ruins. Second, and my personal favorite, we found a peach stand! I had a cold drink and the best, juiciest peach of my life!! It really gave me the strength to keep biking.

The route technically ended at mile 96, but I was feeling very determined, so I decided to go another 5 miles. That way, my total was 101.2 miles, which is a mile more than I've ever done before.

I felt so very proud of myself when we finally rolled up to the host around 4:30. That's something that's been true with both of my century rides, and I am so grateful that I have worked at having the resilience to do something like that.

Our host tonight didn't have showers, but we were able to get free showers at an RV park right down the street, which was incredibly refreshing.

I was craving a milkshake really badly, so I decided I was going to treat myself at a local diner. Coincidentally, four of my teammates decided to go out to the diner at the same time I getting ready to leave, so I just joined them.

I had the best strawberry milkshake of my life and a grilled chicken sandwich and fries. It was so delicious it should be illegal.

I don't think I've mentioned this before, but most of the time the only real food we have available to us on rides is leftovers from previous hosts. As we've gotten further and further west, host dinners have become more and more rare. In turn, we have extraordinarily slim pickings for lunch. All this to say, there is nothing quite like a hot meal.

Once I returned from dinner, I did the same thing I've been doing every night––I sat in front of my computer and stared blankly trying to summon the energy to write my backlog of blogs. It didn't go terribly well clearly.

Next, I did the other thing I've been doing every night, and decided to cut myself some slack and go to sleep. I can't remember any time in my life where I have been so deeply exhausted every single day. I'm sure I will retract that statement once I have kids, but for now it's pretty tough.

I scoped out a cushioned church pew (SO comfortable) and was asleep the second my head hit the pillow.