let's protest leg cramps shall we?

i believe i've finally recovered from the ride with the adventure monkey by now ;) the morning began a little later than expected, but that meant we got to bring a few others with us. randy and jed came along as we headed out into the flint hills. the night before i couldn't sleep, so starting out, i was pretty sleepy. i guess my legs felt the same way because about 10 miles into the hills the started to cramp. not good. i fell back and told the guys they could stop waiting for me at the top of every hill...this was getting embarrassing lol jed and eric took off and randy stuck with me while i began to endure the worst leg cramps i have ever experienced in my life. i think it's important to be humbled once in a while, and i usually need it.

it was father's day, and we figured it was a good team since i'm the closest thing he has to his kids (since they're my first cousins and live in washington), and he's the closest thing i have to my dad (since he's my uncle and my dad's in california. about 30 miles in we realized my seat had been falling for i don't know how long and raised it. also realized my back tire was realllllly low. neat. no wonder i was averaging like 10 mph...mind you, i was still being paralized by leg cramps about every mile.

we rolled into olpe at a little over 40 miles and i was so thankful to see that lovely little gas station. on long rides, i LIVE for gas stations. when you're in a car, gas stations are nice because you can stop and get coffee to keep you awake and go pee, but on a bike, it means fuel! and not the gasoline kind. the kind with gatoraide and cookies!

i felt a little better on our way out, but not for long. i clocked 56 miles that day, had a terrible headache, and ridiculously sore legs for days afterword. but even though my pride was a little hurt because i couldn't ride like i wanted, i was pretty dang proud of myself for suffering through. there's something about being stubborn that can kill you, but also make you feel pretty good about yourself.

i haven't done a long ride since then. sunday's have seemed to become my nap days. working about 25 hours and interning 20 makes for a pretty long and exhausting week, and i'm finally learning that rest is just as important as a good workout, especially when i work sitting in the direct sun all day long. i have been riding the trails as much as i can when it's dry, going to spin class but not killing myself, and got to go up to council grove a few days ago for a nice recovery road ride. i've decided not to do the death ride, mostly because it's pretty expensive, but might go to the sunflower state games that day instead. hopefully that day will be less leg cramp filled :)