How Alicia got her groove back

And groove I did yesterday! What a day.


I couldn't sleep Thursday night, Friday's ride was 5700 feet of vertical climbing and I was scared out of my mind. Joe, "The Man" has been giving me a hard time all week - telling me he was going to kick my butt - which if you've seen Joe's legs, you'd understand he was not only going to kick my butt, but crush me on that climb.


I must have gone to the bathroom at least 5 times that morning and I was starting to worry that I might dehydrate myself before I even got on the bike! Joe, Carrie and I met up at 6:30am to start out from Aspen - it was a nice rolling start and no one was being overly anxious to ride faster than 15 mph as we left the camping area.


As we rolled through Aspen and then out onto CO 82 (which takes you up and over Independence Pass) things got a little sketchy - as they always do. People doing stupid things like stopping in the middle of the road, or wildly swinging side to side while they ride - so Joe and I put a little gas on it on one uphill section and I realized that at 8000 feet, I have only one match - that was it, I was done for - no oxygen in the air......so I settled into a nice reasonable pace and starting passing people - wait, I was passing people? This was the first time that I was really passing people on an uphill - I've not done that in a long time - maybe it was nerves, maybe I don't like riding around sketchy people, but whatever the reason, I wasn't going to knock it - I was passing people! The mountain goat has returned!



As we approached the first aid station, I was still feeling a bit nervous, so it was off to the bathroom for the 6th time this morning. There were hundreds of people there, so I made a mad dash in and out and got back on the road - slogging away.



By the second aid station, I filled up on water, and looked at the PowerCrapper - I'd burned through 700 Kcals by that time - so I ate another GU. In and out of that station. Only 7 more miles to the top. As we left the second station, we started to get past treeline - dang - it was incredible - this is where I started to lose all sense of pain and became deliriously giddy (hypoxia anyone?) - the sky was crystal blue with massive brilliant white clouds. The road stretched on in front of us, and if you dared look up - it kept on up the mountain, out of sight around the next corner.



It was the most amazing feeling, to be riding up that mountain - 16 months ago, I couldn't' put on my freaking socks - yesterday, I rode up the side of a 12,000 foot mountain with a 12-27. Yeah, it was a good day.



And as Paul Harvey would say - "the rest of the story . . . . " So Joe got to the top he says about 10 minutes before I did. Thankfully he has no fat on him at all - which meant he almost cracked on the way up and had to slow down significantly on the last few miles (that's where this turtle - kept up the pressure and got to the top - oh yeah!) He and I had a few minutes at the top to appreciate the view:



and get our photo taken - lovely helmet hair - eh?



Then, that's when the competitive spirit got me - I was going to beat him down that mountain - and everyone else too. Probably not the smartest thing to do - but when you do only one thing well, it's time to show the boy who's boss. So he took off down the mountain and it wasn't long before I passed him. It wasn't steep but when your bottom bracket is super low, and you're short like me - it's a major advantage getting down a mountain - fast. I got down that mountain - what a rush! There were a few nice rollers after the initial downhill, but with some serious hard pedalling, it was nice to simply roll over them and keep on going. By the time I got to Twin Lakes, I knew I met my goal. My apprehensions of riding hard, are gone. My fears, dissipated. I've shattered that glass that was keeping me from going all out - yeah, I've got my groove back - I'm thinking I just might race again after all.

Thanks for reading!