55 miles is like 35 miles, right?

Good morning folks! Top of a wet-right-after-the-rain and keeping-my-fingers-crossed-for-no-more-rain morning to ya!

Thank you to everyone for the encouraging comments about my hip and my knee pain. I am going to the PT next week armed with more information than he could possibly want. And this time I am going to make it crystal clear that I am a runner. And I plan on continue running for a long time :)

And until the HM in June, and until I see the PT and know what's up, I plan on keeping it low-key with the running. I think I'll stick to 8-10 miles MAX per week. Yup. Per week. I really don't want to eff my body up right now, ya know? Gotta nurse that hip, and make a strong come back!

In the meantime, I am getting pumped for the Gold Coast Ride for Literacy this weekend. I'm signed up for the 55 mile ride.....!!!
55 miles. From Ventura to Carpinteria and back.

I don't even like driving for 55 miles. And now I'm going to ride it, powered by nothing more than the muscles in my legs. Holy Smokes that's far. My heart's pounding just a little bit just thinking about it.

I rode 35 miles on Saturday. 55 miles is like 35 miles, right? Right? :) 35 miles seemed fine.... I never took a break so by mile 30 my back was a little sore, but I imagine that during the 55 miler I will take at least a couple of breaks to eat, drink, stretch, talk, etc.

And I am very relieved to know that they will have SAG assistance on the road and by the aid stations.

awww look at that cute puppy! (image source)

I pulled another totally rookie move this weekend right before I went on my ride. There I was, happily humming along and pumping air into my tires. I remove the nozzle of the pump from the tire and

"pshhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!"

Tire is now flat as a pancake. Holy Crap! What just happened? I look at my tire. The nozzle to keep the air inside the tire is now gone. WTF!! It's a little metal piece and it's gone! (refer to image on the right. image source) that Wha.....??? I look into the nozzle of my pump. It's LODGED in there. What the...? How the eff did that happen?

Commence freak out. I'm huffing and puffing and sweating.

"I broke my bike!" I text James. My ride is ruined! My vision blurs. NOOOOOOO!

Again, thank goodness for boyfriends who can save me from bike disasters, ie last week. "Julia, you just broke the tube, not the tire. Relax. Breath. The tube is the cheapest thing to fix."

Really?

He was right. The guy in the bike shop fixed it super quick, filled up my tires, and showed me how to do it, all for a reasonable price of $7.04. Sweet.

Thank goodness for James indeed.

And this is why I am glad they will have SAG Assistance next week. I have hunch they will be coming in pretty handy! :)

The rest of the ride went brilliantly. Now if only someone can confirm that 55 miles is basically the same as 35 miles, I'm all set for next week! Oh, and the rain stops too, that would be great :)

Let's see what the week brings!