I say this every week, but what a great ride! Our coaches shortened the mileage to only 48 miles because of the amount of climbing we’d be doing. We were scheduled to ride 70 miles, but I was okay with a little break.
These week’s ride was the most beautiful yet. You can see the incredible view in the pictures we took. We had a sag stop around mile 30 which was a nice opportunity for us to take a good look at our surroundings. Sometimes when I ride, I forget to look around and enjoy the scenery; not this week.
I decided to stick with the middle pace group again. The speed is comfortable for me and I have a lot of fun with the people. We did about 3500 feet of climbing during our ride and I felt great the whole time. Being little, it’s easy for me to climb hills on my bike. Of course, that same trait makes it harder for me to get down the hills. I’m okay with that. In fact it works great, being that I just don’t like going fast.
Perhaps the most eventful part of my ride was the flat tire I got in the middle of a climb. This was my first time getting one since we started training in February. I guess I’m pretty lucky! As we were heading up this hill, I pulled out in front of the group for a second and ppppphhhhhhhssssssss! The air started shooting out of my back tire. Man! Fortunately, one of the mentors stayed back with me and changed it for me. I paid close attention though in the event I need to change it myself someday 
Besides the flat tire, this was a fairly uneventful ride…which is a good thing. We all had a great time and got to embrace the beauty of another Saturday morning!
Shameless plug here: Click here to help me raise money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society!
Good job Lauren. Keep it up, and don’t forget to be careful and anticipate the red lights!