da dada da dum

dadadadada dum! (anybody else know that song?)
so I have so much to say. I'll split it into 2 posts. Draw out the suspense.
First of all my weekend. I rode 62 km on a bike saturday! YAY ME! There were many many stops and rests etc. It took 5.5 hours with really only 3 hours of biking or so. But it felt like more than that on my butt! ouchy! Next year I've got to build up some calluses or something. The actual riding wasn't too bad. I was quite impressed with my ability. I think it was my pain tolerance actually. I could easily climb hills without downshifting just because I decided to and would bust it out. The people I rode with, not saying they aren't in shape, but aren't in shape to push it. (thank you HIIT) If we weren't trying to stick together I wonder how I would have done. Not that it's a race. with all those stops, and activities at every stop (nature hike, golf challenge, kayaking) But we were like the 2nd team to go out and pretty much the last team back. oh well. We did try and ride together and would wait for everyone at each rest stop so we were only as fast as our slowest rider (may have been my hubby). Some of the other people had serious bikes with shoe clips and road tires. I was riding my sportchek clearance bike. (hubby was riding my sister's bike as he doesn't even have one!) So I'm pretty proud of us. I also raised the most money on our team and got a pair of socks and a gift certificate out of it.
Just about everybody had some sort of bell or horn on their bike. I caught a little kid's squeeky toy thing they were throwing out at the beginning and hubby caught a tambourine. So as we were finishing the route we all started making noise and hooting and hollering. And since most people were done already there were tons of people around the finish who all started cheering for us as we were getting closer. It was so exciting. I was glad I had my dark shades on as I started tearing up. I don't know why, all sorts of people had done this and we were taking rests and stops whenever we needed. were going quite leisurely for the last half especially. but to even finish a route like that (one guy on our team never) and keep going to the end when you didn't have to, I guess it was sort of a big deal. They handed out trophies and flowers at the end to everyone so that felt really cool.
We didn't eat the healthiest but I didn't worry about it as we did a lot of exercise. Burgers on the way up. No fries for me, just a few bites of honey's poutine (which was probably worse!). Saturday I had a bunch of muffins and bananas before biking. Then they had snacks like granola bars (the sugary ones) at every stop. I managed to bring and eat a protein bar (like the only protein I got!) Lunch was buns, I had 2 big buns and some veggies and dip. I regretted it as we had to hop on the bikes right after and it wasn't sitting very good. Supper was burgers and salads which were fine. and cake. I ate a lot of cake. oh well. Plus then the only snack food we had that night was Doritos. So I ate that. and cookies that one guy's mom made. Yum. You know me and cookies. So after supper and a nap and a shower I was feeling 100% again, other people weren't so they started in on the beer, then they were feeling 110%. In total I had 4 drinks saturday night. But I was already dehdrated and who knows what else from the ride so it hit me. I had a blast dancing at the bar after too. Every song, even if just at our table I would hop around. (there was a swing type band where you wanted to do jazz hands for every song) It was a lot of fun. After the bar closed we had a fire back at the camp and then when most people went to bed, 3 of us decided to go on a stumble. Now at this park they make you put all your coolers and food in vehicles overnight so you don't attract bears, plus, it's rutting season for elk so you have to avoid them too. And we decide to go on a stumble to the beach to look at the beautiful stars. (which were beautiful). And we decide to go with no flashlight. and we only sort of know the way, as in we know there's an over grown path through the forest. It was soo spooky, but we were in the giggly spooky laughing way, like when you're 13 and then some boys jump out and scare you and you scream and then run away giggling even more. I was holding the other girl's hand and we made the boy walk infront of us. It was soooo fun! We made it to the beach and back in one piece and then went to bed. Sunday we just woke up, I had more muffins for breakfast as I'm not a big bacon eater and plus I didn't want to mooch off everyone else (since nobody told me what to bring or what to pay for or anything). Then we stopped for ice cream after taking down the tents etc. and I got a danish at the bakery as i'm a sucker for donut-like things. Again, we didnt' bring enough water and I hate buying it at 2 bucks a bottle so I didn't drink enough the next day either. So my rings are tight and everything is bloated and I probably gained a whole bunch of weight (well I know I did, I cheated and stepped on the scale. but I don't pay much attention to the number unless it's friday, it was like 8 lbs heavier, so I know it wasn't all fat) With the booze and dehydration and the chips and salt, I know there's a lot of retention going on. So hopefully a few good days full of water and light on food will have me back down to my normal number for friday, if not even less. Because i've got something else going on....but that's the next post....