CASVAR 2009

Can you believe that it was only a year ago that Joe and I started cycling? A little over a year ago I bought him a road bike and then he got me one for my birthday. Then we did our first tour together, which was CASVAR. I was so proud that I accomplished that 45 mile ride on my beautiful new road bike.

What a difference a year makes!

This weekend we returned to Star Valley to once again participate in CASVAR. This year Joe and I both signed up to do the 100 mile distance.

I have been cycling a lot more this year and had already completed my first century ride at Little Red Riding Hood, so I was geared up and ready to ride! I was excited to get a chance to ride with Joe on my home turf.

The day started out a bit cool, so we were wearing our jackets and long sleeves/tights... but it warmed up fast. Especially after we finished climbing up south end (which if you recall is 7 percent grade for 3 miles or so!). Here we are at the top!

Joe was nice enough to wait for me, even though he does hills much faster than I do!

Grandpa and Grandma Heiner were kind enough to watch the boys for us so that we could ride most of the day. Grandpa did sneak out once in a while to take some photos for us. He also took this really fun video of us going down the big hill. If you listen closely you can hear Joe tell you how fast he is going:



You heard that right... he was going 43 miles per hour! Yikes! I was a little more conservative than that, and topped out around 40 mph.

We had a good time riding together. I practiced drafting so I could keep up with Joe. This basically meant I spent a good portion of the ride looking at his rear end... not a bad view at all :o).

Actually, Star Valley is really beautiful and we enjoyed riding around it together. Here we are a little further down the hill (going much slower).

As the day progressed, the weather got hotter and hotter. It was in the upper 80s, which it HOT when you are working as hard as we were. I think I started to get a little overheated, even though I was trying to drink tons of water. It didn't help that the water stop in Etna mysteriously disappeared. Luckily about that time Deanna caught up with us and she brought us some lovely cold water (some of which I poured on myself).


I was really starting to struggle at the end of the ride. I was blazing hot and I kept pouring water on myself to keep cool, which only helped a little. Plus I completely ran out of energy, which happens when you don't take in enough food while you are burning over 7000 calories (Joe says that I "bonked"). I basically didn't eat enough throughout the course of the ride, especially since there wasn't really a lunch stop (they just had the fixin's for PBJs at each stop, and I only had 1).

About 10 miles from the finish I was completely out of energy. So I told Joe to go the last few miles without me and come back and get me. I kept pedaling and managed to finish 100.1 miles before I stopped because I could not go any further. There were only a couple of miles to the finish, but I was DONE.

It was still a good experience for me, even though the end was tough. I learned a lot about what I need to do next time. Yes, there will be a next time! Joe and I are doing another century (100 mile) ride the day before my birthday in September. Then I will have done 3 century rides before I turn 33!