ACS Bike-a-Thon Report (with Pictures!)

Today was the big day!  Today, we rode in the 2011 American Cancer Society Bike-a-Thon ride from Philadelphia, PA to Buena, NJ!

My day started off at 4:30 AM when Rob's alarm went off.  We crawled out of bed and threw our clothes on.  Luckily, we were smart and had laid it out the night before!  I also grabbed our bike pack (which was packed and ready to go also).  We headed downstairs to find my dad all ready to go too!  He works late during the week so we knew getting up early would be pretty hard for him.  He was nice enough to drive us to Philadelphia for the bike-a-thon today though.  We had dropped off Rob's truck at the finish line the night before so we wouldn't have to worry about transportation.  We had to fuel up before the ride so we stopped at Wawa.  Breakfast of champions:

The day was really turning out to be beautiful.  It was going to be hot but with biking, at least you don't feel it as badly!  I snapped a shot of the Benjamin Franklin Bridge as we drove to the start line.  The race would begin with us riding over the bridge, all lanes open!  How awesome is that?!

We hopped out of the truck and got our stuff together.  Dad snapped some "team" photos for us.  LoL.  We had a third but he broke his foot last week!  Crazy!  he was really bummed.  We both work for the same company, so we asked them to "sponsor" us (basically to give us shirts, lol).  We got 1 person from our office to volunteer too.  It is a big company out of DC but our office is very small.  They let Rob join too and gave him a jersey for the ride too!

We hung around and found the bathrooms.  They were much nicer than at any running race I've been at!  I had packed tissues "just in case" but it was well stocked :)  LoL.  We had only gotten there a half hour early so we didn't have to wait too long.  We hung out in the back and waited for the race to start (despite being told how *cool* it is to ride elbow to elbow over the bridge, I'm a little bit of a wuss, ha!)  It does look pretty awesome though from the sky!

I snapped a picture of the sign for the Bridge and even managed to snap a picture while riding over the bridge!  That was really tricky and I didn't wipe out :)

The first leg of the race was pretty easy, about 12 miles.  The route was almost all blocked off from traffic.  I did get a kick out of watching cars sitting on merge ramps waiting for all the bikes to go by!  Ha!  Oh!  I almost forgot.  I don't have a map out of the route because... My Garmin wouldn't work!!!  It has been acting up and it won't keep a charge.  I am sending it back this week to get a new one/it fixed.  I didn't let it ruin my day though!  I just kept an eye on the clock (on my bike odometer which isn't working either, gr.).  Anyway, we rolled in to the first rest stop still feeling pretty good!  I enjoyed some granola and water.  I wasn't really hungry yet though so I only ate half.  It was really delicious though!

We didn't spend much time at really any of the rest stops.  We spot the most time at the second because we both had to use the bathroom again (good sign!  we were hydrated!).  Here are some pictures from the stops:

This girl had a Dogfish jersey on that looked like there were bottles in her back pockets.  Ha!

And I seriously love all the free food.  Om nom nom!

Obviously not pictures from while we were riding.  LoL.  Too difficult to get the camera out (and too dangerous).  Rob and I kept debating on if R means "Race" or "Ride".  LoL.  They had these signs along the route that said "remember this is a RIDE not a RACE".  Whoever was being more speedy would argue for Race ;)  At one point, Rob told me that SRA stood for "Speed Racer Angela".  Ha!  I sometimes have an issue keeping my pace low so that I can finish.  I think I did really well today!  Even with all the stops, it took us about 5 and a half hours to finish the 61 miles.  Not bad!!!  Also, we found this couple that we paced for like 15 miles.  It was nice following someone. 

One person on the route recognized my company and asked if we were from DC.  We also had one guy tell us we were "hard core" for doing the ride on mountain bikes!  Ha!  Anyone can do it on a road bike!!!  (as Rob says).  We really had a blast though.  The route was awesome and it was just so much fun!  I can't wait to do it again next year.  It really was just a light-hearted ride.  So after a beautiful ride, we crossed the finish line!  It was really awesome, so much cheering and cow bells.  The whole nine yards.  Best.  Finish Line.  Ever.

Best part about having the mountain bikes?  We road through the field to the truck to put them away.  LoL, do THAT on a road bike!  Then we headed to get more free food and to say hello to my coworker who volunteered at the finish line.

 Rob also makes fun of me because I have a special talent of getting grease all over me!

And still beaming after the ride!

Seriously, it was such a great ride.  I am a little sore now but nothing like a few weeks ago (when I was so sore, I cried).  I think I'll be ok tomorrow though!  So glad I did this ride!!!

So anyway, after the ride, I tracked my food and the cycling on my SparkPeople app:

Holy moly!  I figured out my "differential" and realized I was at an extra 2000 calories burned for the day!  That meant I still needed to refuel and I of course refueled appropriately:

Chinese and Starbucks!!!  Ha!  Still went with nonfat (no whip obviously) and ordered Hunan shrimp which isn't a bad Chinese choice at all.  I can have the leftovers all week for lunches!  The crab wontons were the best treat ever though!  Anyway, today has been very long (all weekend actually) and its time to go relax with the hubs and let these legs rest!  I hope everyone had a great weekend!

Finding time to relax!

Yesterday...
I drank all my water, despite having like 3 lattes (eek)
I ate a little too much at dinner but didn't do nearly as bad as I thought. (2044)
I didn't have time to work out.

I don't know what was up with the coffee yesterday! But at least I drank my water. Usually I'm too distracted drinking other beverages that I don't get my water. I ended up eating too much because we went out to dinner. We just didn't feel like cooking. After that, we headed to the bike shop to get a new tube for Rob's tires. We also got some spares for the bike race this weekend (I can't believe its here already!!!) My work got us Jerseys to wear even though only 3 of us are riding (I think leftover from a previous race they sponsered)


We putzed around shopping for a while and headed home. We spent some time chatting with my mom and cutting up a fresh watermelon she got from the farmer's market. It is delicious! Anyway, so by the end of all that, it was 8:30 and time for bed. I PROMISE to work out tonight!!! If I do anything tomorrow, it will be an easy 3 miles since I don't want to be sore for Sunday!

I don't know why but I felt so frazzled yesterday. I think I had too much caffeine first thing in the morning. Usually I only have a coffee but I had stopped and gotten a medium latte at Starbucks (that's 2 shots of espresso!). Not good for me. I have Starbucks today too... and its decaf. LoL. I also have a lot going on in life right now.  So anyway, that brings me to my question of the day!

What did you do that was relaxing yesterday?
Since I was feeling so off, I just wanted to get away. Luckily I am working this week at our main office instead of at the lab. This means a nice desk to sit at and a beautiful building (with a coffee shop, but that is a whole other issue cause they've got yummy lattes and cookies!) Anyway, so I was feeling burnt so I went outside and called my hubby for a few minutes. Love the patio!

Happy Friday everyone!

Successful Day!

Good morning! Yesterday was a great day!!!

I got my 8 glasses of water in easily!

I tracked all my food and stayed in my calorie range! (1566)

I had a treat when I was craving one but kept it reasonable.

I pushed through an hour long bike ride!

Seriously, it was so easy to get my water in. Just because instead of trying to sip all day, I just chugged 2 glasses at a time. I wonder if there is a difference in hydration levels if you do that. Hm, something to blog about! Also, I was just content with my food for the day. I ate lunch early and then was craving something sweet. I headed down to the lunch place here and grabbed a small latte and an oatmeal cookie. Their cookies are just to die for. But I ate my one cookie and was content. I didn't have any other snacks yesterday other than that cookie!

Rob decided he wanted to ride bikes last night. We headed out right after work after some tedious repairs and things (air in tires, put water bottle holder on Rob's bike, forgot pump so had to go get it, etc.). Finally, we headed to Starbucks, about 6 miles away. The one road was a little hairy because of minimal shoulder and lots of overgrowth from trees. I harrassed Rob about tree trimming (hehe, its his job, he works for the township!). He said he would see what he could do (cause it was making him annoyed too! LoL). Anyway, on our way back, Rob got a serious flat. 2 inch screw in the tire. We pulled out the patch kit and got started. The patch held for... 1/4 mile. Another flat. We were close to Rob's friends house so we pumped it up again and headed there. He hitched a ride home in the truck but we were only like 4 miles from the house so I decided to ride home alone! I could have easily gotten a ride but I decided I really wanted to finish my bike ride for the day! Woohoo!

I think that is all the news for today. I have a dentist appointment tonight and then will need to eat dinner so I'm not sure if I will fit a workout in (I go to bed at 9). I peeked outside this morning for a run but it is seriously dark that early. I am afraid to run at like 8PM because I don't know if I'll be able to sleep then. Also, its really humid today which never helps a run! Anyway, have a great healthy fun day everyone!

What healthy thing did you succeed in yesterday?

Sunday Fun Ride: Hamilton Mall to Harley Dawn

Sunday, I went for a long bike ride with Rob. If you recall from a previous blog, my first ride was pretty rough. We rode about 27 miles that day and I pushed way too hard. Lesson learned after crying myself to sleep in pain! Luckily, I was just a little sore the next day. This time, I just kept reminding myself slow and steady! It was a much more adventurous ride though.

We were meeting Brian at the Harley Dawn Diner for breakfast around 9 (ended up being 9:30)

We parked at the mall to cut some distance and headed out. It was a straight shot up a major road but it has a huge shoudler so we weren't worried. Everything was going pretty well and steady. It would be 13.3 miles one way (hey! good route for a half marathon!)We noticed the loooooong flat section (we're talking MILES) which is just so not fun on the legs but at least it was flat and not uphill.

At some point, I had to suddenly brake and luckily Rob knew exactly what for! We saved the poor little turtle that was trying to cross the 4 lane road. He hissed at Rob but quickly tucked in his shell and accepted the ride back into the woods.

Again cruising along, enjoying the view when we got evidence of New Jersey's lovely nickname. He saw a used syringe on the side of the road. Lovely!



Back to enjoying our ride, getting rather close to the endpoint now, chugging up a huge hill (for South Jersey it was a huge) and what do we see? A HUGE DOG charging at us!!! Barking, growling, big black giant thing with teeth.

Luckily I hauled butt faster than Rob so the dog was closer to him. Oh that's not what I meant! Luckily the owner came out and screamed for the dog to come back and it ran off, only after getting within 5 feet of Rob's back tire. (Rob is defending himself saying he was "taking one for the team" because I would have killed him if he had wooshed past me! LoL) Well, that was really scary!!



So finally, we rolled up on the diner and were so happy! And what did we find? Brian standing in regular clothes, his car in the parking lot... Turned out he got a flat! He was 3 miles from home, got a flat and change the tube on the spot but couldn't find the source. Well, at 5 miles, the second tire went flat. He turned back home and drove to breakfast. Later he found the evil staple! It wasn't his day!



Breakfast was delicious. One thing I really like about biking verses running is that you can eat real food when biking! You don't need weird toothpaste like energy gels to fuel you, you can eat pancakes! Or a sandwich! Or a banana! And not get sick. Awesome. After breakfast, we headed back. Luckily, we had no major issues. Just cars trying to run us off the road

We were riding in a right turning lane due to no shoulder and the fact that we were going straight. Therefore, we were right where we should be. We were approaching the end of the lane when 2 cars came ripping around us at 60 miles per hour to make the right turn. UGH! Patience people. There was a truck behind us and as he drove by when we cleared, he yelled "some people just don't care!" and we yelled back thanks. Honestly, I don't see why people can't take an extra few seconds to be safe around bikes. Its not like they are everywhere, it won't drastically affect anyone's commute. Anyway! Enough venting about that!

So we made it safely back to the mall and I still felt good! I was tired but I could have easily done another 10 miles if you asked me to. Even taking it a little slower, our average speed was still 12 miles per hour which I'm happy with!

Click for my Garmin Forerunner Report

It was a great ride with Rob despite the excitement.  Can't wait for next week!