To start off, I did a fun OWS with Lilias on Friday (Aug 22nd) and afterwards, we headed to breakfast were I met Alison. She a super nice girl and also training for an Ironman. We all get to talking and I tell her that my friend Bucket gave me a great route from Griffith Park to Long Beach that I was planning on riding the following day with a few friends. It is roughly 70 miles and asked if she wanted to join since she too had to do a long distance and its more fun with friends. She said sure.
Team Bad Ass... Taking on the Swim!
Such a beautiful morning. (T26)
Saturday am... we meet at Griffith Park and of course all my buddies that want to ride with us are late! LOL. Great first impression I am giving this poor girl who needs to seriously train as her Ironman is Oct 5 in Barcelona. After 1hr, we finally get on the path only for it to END! That is right my dears.. END... we are now on surface roads, merging with the freeway and winding our way through back roads of downtown. I had printed out the route so I was yelling LEFT here, RIGHT there, etc.. how it did not register in my pretty blond brain that the directions were NOT on a path, I have no idea... but needless to say, it was so HYSTERICAL and UNREAL. It was literally THAT ride - ALL DAY LONG, LOL.
Scottie, Jay, Kelie, Alison and myself pedaling through super shady parts of town to finally make our way to the bike path in who knows what part of LA... I think overall, we were on surface roads for 10-15 miles. Nutty!
Alison, Jay, Me, Kelie, Scottie
Once we finally get cruising on the path, Jay bags out as he was only in it for 30-40 miles, not the 70... but the rest of us pedal on.
Alison and Scottie who are fast riders take off. Kelie, who is faster than me, but is recovering from a wedding stays and rides with me... it was nice to have the company and catch up on life. The bike path was beautiful and flat. It was actually a fun ride getting to LB... (it was the getting back that got tricky.) :-)
View on the bike path
Kelie & I once we arrived in LB (that's the Queen Mary behind us)
Once we got to LB, of course Kelie and I could not find Alison and Scott. Which just added to the ridiculousness of what had happened all morning. After about 15 min, we found them and got ourselves all sorted out. We stop to refill our water bottles and restroom break... and chatted a little before we started to head back to Griffith Park. Scottie was laughing a little as he realized he has not ridden this far since our SD ride... but is excited for the return.
As we head down the path towards home, Scott and Alison of course take off again. I would too if I was that fast. :-) Kelie and I continue to ride and chat and after what seems like 2hrs... we both were like WHERE ARE WE?!?!? None of this looks familiar. OH S#!T. LOL... Where the heck were we?? We were still on the path, but how did we miss our turn? Where is Scott & Alison? and Just as we start to slightly freak out, my phone rings.. it's Scott and Alison.. they too are still on the path about 5min ahead of us. they did the same thing. Uh Oh! We are LOST.
Now instead of turning around on the path, and trying to do the printed out direction in reverse, Scott decides to plug it into Google Maps to get us home from where were are. At this point, Kelie has to use the restroom, Scott and I are out of water and I am pretty sure that is when Alison decided she will never ride with me again. :-)
As we get off the bike path the first place we see is Mr. Pepe's Burgers... OBVIOUSLY that is where we are going!! It was actually a pretty cool burger place. :-)
As Scott gets everything in order, we realize that we have somehow ended up in Montebello! What the heck!?!? AWESOME. Alison and Kelie are talking to a few friends on the phone laughing.. it was pretty funny.. I was a little embarrassed because I was technically leading this ride but had no clue.. and I was also a little nervous because I knew we still had like 20 miles to go.
FINALLY.. Scott has a route, so we think, Siri is telling him where to go. And you would think she would tell us a safe route, but no. She has us crossing over traffic - not at lights - so at one point, I peak out into the traffic to see if we can cross, a car comes whipping around the corner - where of course I slam on the breaks - so I would not get hit by a car and do not have time to unclip and fall. I swear the fall was in slow motion, too.. It all keeps adding up.
The massive bruises I got from the fall. :-(
We are cruising now... biking over freeways, through neighborhoods and getting closer. We stop at a light and guess what street we are about to turn on... GRIFFIN! Say what?!! Everything happens for a reason... LOL.. that ride was a disaster.. a fun one, but a disaster.. and to stumble upon GRIFFIN Ave.. was a pleasant surprise.
OBVI. :-)
2 miles later we are back on the path. Alison is hauling ass and probably counting her lucky stars to be back. Scottie is struggling as this was a loooong journey. Kelie is cruising and I am over it. LOL.
When we finally make it back. We all say our goodbyes and have a good laugh about it and head home.
A few lessons were definitely learned.
1... Don't ride with Rachel!
2... Read and Re-read your route - and make sure you understand it!
3... Probably best to create your own route so you know where you are going.
4... Laughter is Key.
5... Patience is a definite
6... Friends are AWESOME.
this was the route... as you can see from blue line we went WAAAY off course. LOL.
Ice bath Recovery was definitely in order!
No comments:
Post a Comment