Loop The Lake - Section 4...

(Post 7 of 9)


Section 4 –

I left the rest stop pretty quickly.  I was eager to keep going and finish this thing off.  Mountain bike girl stayed an even shorter time than I did and left before me.  I caught up to her and we talked again.  I told her I’d see her at the finish line and moved along.  

Once again, I started talking to myself out loud.  But, this time my voice sounded less encouraging and more desperate.  I’m going to finish this mother off!  I’m going to do this!  I cursed randomly and chugged the Gatorade in my bottle quickly until it was dry.  Hmmmmm.  This might be a problem.  I’m really freaking thirsty.  And I have a long way to go.  Okay, don’t panic.  However, I do make a mental note that most of those road bikes that have passed me have two bottle cages on them, not just the one like I have.  And so, yes, another lesson learned.  This one is going to get painful in a little bit.


At some point, I honestly don't remember when, two guys sped by me on road bikes.  The lead guy was wearing a cycling outfit that said "UCF" on it.  I wasn't too far gone to put two and two together that the University of Central Florida must have a cycling team.  Another guy was drafting right on his back tire.  They had to be doing somewhere between 20 and 25 mph.  I mean, they were really moving.  To top it off, I noticed the rider number on their bikes as they whizzed by.  They were apparently in the last stretch of the 120 mile ride around the entire lake.  And they were going to finish way before me.


I pushed on and kept pedaling.  I’m doing about 12 or 13 mph now.  I spot those same two guys ahead of me from earlier and I start focusing on simply catching up to them.  I push and push and finally I’m behind them.  Not really close enough to have a conversation but close enough to feel that I’m not alone in this final struggle to get to the finish line.  

The lake is now down the hill on my left and a road is down the hill on my right.  I notice that a few cars have passed by on that road.  Cars with bikes attached to the back of them.  That means some folks have finished, packed up, and are heading home.  And I’m still fucking out here.  Okay, let’s focus.   

The guy who’s struggling falls back a bit closer to me.  He starts talking to me and I can tell he’s really hurting.  He jokes that he left his ass several miles back.  We see a hill coming up and he starts saying he doesn’t think he can make it and he’s going to have to walk the bike up it.  I tell him there’s no pride at this point, if you have to walk it do it because we are going to finish and that’s all that matters.  

However, I don’t practice what I preach.  I haven’t walked the bike once so far and I don’t want to do it now.  I throw it into a lower gear and grunt with each pedal crank up that freaking hill.  Toward the top it feels like I’m not even moving forward at all.  I hear the guy yell at me, “You can do it!”  I manage to overtake the crest of the hill and my bike literally stops.  I straddle the bike to regain control of my limbs and it happens.  The most nasty, severe cramp I have ever experienced.  My right quad (thigh) is spasming and pulsing and I’m grabbing at it and trying not to fall over with the bike still between my legs.  

I don’t know what happened to the guy, but all of a sudden mountain bike girl is next to me asking me if I’m okay.  I am gripping my leg and the massage therapist in me is trying to work it out.  I look at the computer on my bike.  I’m at mile 51.  How in the hell am I am going to get to mile 62?  The spasm subsides a bit and I immediately put my ass back on the saddle and start slowly pedaling.  Mountain bike girl offers me some water.  I thank her but there’s no way I’m taking her water because she’s got her own problems busting her ass on that bike.  I tell her I’m going to ride ahead to try to loosen my leg up more.  She says if I’m hurting and I stop, she will give me water when she catches up to me.  So unbelievably nice!  

I push on and catch up to the two guys again.  I’m really parched.  I know I’m dehydrating and I don’t want to suffer more painful spasms.  I see a downward hill ahead and a police officer in a truck where the route transitions off the levee.  I also see a water fountain a short distance away near a bathroom and parking lot.  I stop by the truck.  I tell the officer I’m know I’m going off the route but I’m going to head over there and hope the fountain works otherwise I’m not sure I’ll make it.  He says don’t worry about it, take this bottle of water I’ve got in my cooler.  Are you shitting me?!!  I thank him profusely and tell him he’s a lifesaver!  He asks if I’m the last one and I say there are at least two people behind me.  One guy was cramping and kept stopping and then the girl on the mountain bike.  I have already chugged the whole damn bottle of water and feel better.  At least, enough to hopefully make it to the finish line.  I thank him again and take off.  

I catch up to the two guys again and the lead guy points ahead and tells us there’s the finish line, we’re almost done!  We wind back through the little bridges with the concrete poles.  At one point, the slower guy falls back and tells me to go through the concrete poles first.  I squeeze between them and then take a left turn so wide that I practically sideswipe the wall.  He says “whoa” and I laugh.  It’s pretty indicative of how fried I am at this point.  

We reach the last hill of the day.  He exclaims in frustration, “Oh, there’s no fucking way!”  I assume he got off and walked the bike up.  But, I’m finishing this fucker off and I’m going to do it right now.  

I take the hill, I hit the straightaway and I’m heading to the finish line.  The other guy is ahead of me.  His friend, the cramping guy, and mountain bike girl are behind me.  I see my hubby ahead at the finish line.  It’s so late in the game, that it’s just him and a deputy sitting in his car.  My hubby took a picture as I approached the finish line.  You can see me smiling and you can also see that I’m a bit hunched over my handlebars from fatigue.  My arms are also a completely different color than they were this morning.  I roll through the finish line and raise my right arm up in celebration.  My hubby got a great picture of that.  As soon as he stops taking pictures, I roll to a stop.  I say, “I did it!  And I’m not doing anything like this again until I get a road bike!”