Ride 'em Cowboy! -->CASVAR 2009

A year ago I completed my first ever bike tour. I was so proud that I accomplished that 45 mile ride on my beautiful new road bike.

What a difference a year makes!

This weekend our little family traveled to Star Valley, Wyoming to once again participate in CASVAR (Cycling Association of Star Valley's Annual Ride). This year I signed up to do the 100 mile distance with Honey Daddy.

I have been cycling a lot more this year and had already completed a 100 mile ride in June, so I was geared up and ready to ride! I was excited to get a chance to ride with my Honey on my home turf.

The day started out a bit cool, but it warmed up fast. Especially after we got done with the part that went uphill at 7 percent grade for 3 miles or so. Here we are at the top!

Honey Daddy was nice enough to wait for me, even though he does hills much faster than I do!

We had a good time riding together. I practiced drafting so I could keep up with Honey Daddy. This basically meant I spent a good portion of the ride looking at his rear end... not a bad view at all :o).

Actually, Star Valley is really beautiful and we enjoyed riding around it together.

As the day progressed, the weather got hotter and hotter. It was in the upper 80s, which it HOT when you are working as hard as we were. I think I started to get a little overheated, even though I was trying to drink tons of water. It didn't help that one of the water stops mysteriously disappeared. Luckily my sister lives nearby and she brought us some lovely cold water.

I was really starting to struggle at the end of the ride. I was blazing hot and I kept pouring water on myself to keep cool, which only helped a little. Plus I completely ran out of energy, which happens when you don't take in enough food while you are burning over 7000 calories (Honey Daddy says that I "bonked").

So I sent Honey Daddy to go the last few miles without me and come back and get me. I kept pedaling and managed to finish 100.1 miles before I stopped because I could not go any further. There were only a couple of miles to the finish, but I was DONE.

It was still a good experience for me, even though the end was tough. I learned a lot about what I need to do next time. Yes, there will be a next time! Honey Daddy and I are doing another century (100 mile) ride the day before my birthday in September. Then I will have done 3 century rides before I turn 33!