This morning I went for a big ride with 3 other Tucson Tri-Girls. What an experience! It was a 45 mile ride. I managed to make it 32 miles, and then I had to catch a ride back to the car. Before this morning, the farthest I had ever gone was 22 miles, so while I am not thrilled about crapping out, I am pleased that I got as far as I did. The strange thing is that it was uphill almost all the way out to the Colossal Cave Park and I didn't feel like I was having a lot of difficulty getting there. We ran into a guy I had met recently (who was out riding with 3 friends) and we chatted for a few minutes. The problem with this is that once I stopped and had some water, I was TIRED. But I had to get home, so I headed off and after about 6 miles, got a flat.

My rear tire blew out on a cattle guard. So, I got off the bike and started walking it to the closest shady spot (I was not going to change a rear tire -- something I have never done -- in the flat sun). By the time I got there, the guy we had talked to at the gate of the park had caught up to me. Before I could even say anything, he snapped into action and changed the rear tire for me. Now, I don't want to be one of those helpless women, but it was nice not to have to worry about it. He had obviously done this 1000 times and he did it was really fast. The people he was with were glad to stop -- it was getting very hot.

Once that was fixed, I headed off again, but the tiredness really hit me this time and I swerved off the road. I started out again after a couple of minutes, but I was definitely done. Even on the downhill portions of the ride, I was swerving because I was so tired. That was that. I stopped at another park (with a COLD water fountain -- very rare in Tucson), and waited for another member of our group to pick me up in her SUV. This was a bummer, but I decided to ignore my ego because I didn't think I would make it another 13 miles without killing myself or someone else by falling into the street. Oh well -- there is always next weekend!