50 Miles with the ladies

A few weeks ago on September 11th I had my final big training ride before my half ironman.  I met up with the Team HCWDI crew.  HCWDI stands for Holy Crap We Did It! and is a great group of friends that I sometimes train with. 

On this weekend, we ran into storm chances on Saturday that led to postponing the brick workout until Sunday.  I was travelling on Sunday and had time constraints which meant I could only fit in the bike ride.  The group was made up of Mark and Cord and then for the ladies it was Pauline, Kayle and myself.  Mandy was going to ride with us but she was sick and had to skip out. 

The ladies were ready to go before the guys so we headed out.  Our plan was to do a couple out and backs to hit 3 1/2 hours on the bike.  The route we selected was fairly flat like we would get on our goal race.  The morning was a little chilly but was gorgeous and sunny.  Our turnaround spot was at 16 miles so we headed back and stopped at a gas station for a potty stop.  While we were at the gas station I made a dumb move and walked my bike backwards.  The clips on my pedals swung up and sliced up my leg.  All of a sudden, my leg was bleeding pretty badly.  I went into the gas station and got some gauze and the ever helpful duct tape to craft a makeshift bandage.  We still had 30 miles to go after all!

Impromptu bandage!

Wounded at mile 22 and still bleeding after 30 more miles

The guys caught up to us while we are the gas station tending to my wound.  We were still waiting for the bathroom to free up which had us extremely worried.  No one likes to use a restroom after someone has been in it for a long time! After a few more minutes, we finally were all able to get my leg wrapped in duct tape so that the bandage would stay on for my ride.  I thanked the gas station attendant for the help and made sure to make a purchase on our next stop there an hour later. 

For the remainder of our ride, we picked some out and back additions so that we would hit our time goals.  I ended up with 52 miles in just under 3 1/2 hours and was pretty pleased with the ride.  I didn't have any time to run after and instead had to rush home to get ready for my work trip.