Lowell 50, Gravel road race: 28 mile and 50 mile course (April 6 and Oct 26, 2013)

Go PINK!

Many of you asked how the Lowell 50 went…. here is a recap. Hope it is not too wordy… but it would be a great fall race for many pink to do when we are all in GREAT shape! (This is the race that PINK dominated the overall podium last fall with biker Jane, and sisters Lori and Kathy…and they are on the podium on the home page of the race still!!!) ~ Fall race is October 26th btw.

WELL Angie and I DID  IT!!  Angie has an injury and I had written to the race director and we had permission to drop to the 28 mile race if she was still hurting. Angie had said that she was feeling ok but the weather was iffy… so we had not made up our minds on which race we would do this morning.  I got there and we had to go to our age group folder and sign a waiver. I got pretty excited to find only one other girl in my folder!! WOW I thought…. all I have to do is get out there, do it and wa la I am on the podium… Unless of course 2 other 50 plus ladies showed up for late registration which would knock me off the podium…. unless I pedaled up a storm of course. So while I was waiting for Angie and her husband Joe to get there and I looked in her age group book  40-50 …. WOW Low. Behold. she was the only one in the book! It would take 3 late registrants in that age group to knock her off the podium! I called her on her cell and said "We are SOOOO doing the 50 mile race!!!! There were all sorts of girls in the 28 mile race. Hey hardware is hardware!!

The weather report was snow and rain last night and possibly into this morning. But we really lucked out with a kinda cold 42ish day but no precipitation. The WIND was another thing. It was BEASTLY! At times we literally almost got blown over. There were a bunch of hills in the 1st half but when we were out in the farm land flats for the second half, the wind whipped us like we were kites! Luckily Angie is a very tough cookie (who I started referring to as Iron Angie) and she stayed with me. We  picked up another guy (named George ). He drafted for us for many miles. I tried to pull but could not keep the pace. At times we were only going 7-11 mph with the stinking wind.

Well with 5 miles to go, Geo dropped us, and then I fell off Angie's pace and then more hills started. I know that a 50 mile course will measure a bit longer than 50 miles, but when 51 showed up on my computer and plus a few more hills …. I was not smiling. Then I figured well I really don't have much choice but to press on. I mean I could not exactly hop off the bike and say "hey I only signed up for a 50 miler"  I guess I should have thought WOW, extra miles and all for one low price! (But no, I was not saying that!) I could see Angie in the distance and that kept me going. And all I could say was ditto when mile 52 rolled around! Needless to say the hills and the wind kept coming. (I pictured getting my permanent magic marker out when I got home and marking up the water bottles they had given us… changing the Lowell 50 to a Lowell 52 with my marker…) I am not sure if the race ended at 52 or 53 but it ended. And I was happy when I saw at least one other biker behind me!

We both made the podium for our age group… and Masters for that matter!  Merry  VanderLinnen from Flying Rino beat both Angie and I. 

We did the ride in about 3:52. With the wind this one was one tough mama…. but no snow and no rain. That was good. A special thanks to Danielle, who was out there cheering us on and taking photos. She was supporting her husband who was in the race as well. And last but not least Joe O'Brien (Angie's husband who calls himself Man of Real Women Tri) was sooooo supportive. Thanks Joe!

Overall, a good pink day! See you all out there in Oct...