Driving Miss Pami

Tuesday's three hour drive from Natchez to the airport could have been a real downer, but it wasn't. Instead I arrived at the airport full of hope knowing that I had just met an angel whose name was Miss Patti. When Guide Lynne was working to find transportation for me to New Orleans, the manager of the Eola Hotel said a member of her staff needed to go to NOLA and would be willing to drive me for $100 plus $50 for gas. Since an earlier shuttle quote was $350, I was very happy a cheaper alternative had been found.


In a sweet Southern drawl, the driver introduced herself as Miss Patti. For three hours we shared tidbits about our lives: her kids, my marriage, her job, my bike ride and an explanation of why I was going home. She was very happy when I said how impressed I was with the courteous staff at her charming hotel and the extreme friendliness of Southerners overall. With elongated speech, she entertained me with believable stories about haunted houses, which includes the Eola Hotel and how the ghosts of young Eola and her father are still cavorting around. She bubbled with enthusiasm when talking about her steadfast love for PBR (Professional Bull Riding), and how her new iPhone makes it possible to check in with her sisters almost every day. She nibbled on cheese whiz crackers and drank from a bottle of Mountain Dew as she described her near-heart attack but explained that new habits included vegetables but little or no red meat. I could tell how excited she was about a nearby "dig" to uncover treasure from a 150-year-old sunken ship, but how disappointed everyone was when the loot didn't turn up. There was sadness in her voice when I heard about her 17-year-old daughter's tragic death, and how she has pieced together reasons that sustain her today. Raised a Southern Baptist, she holds a steadfast belief never to question God, so I told her about losing my dear friend while snorkeling in The Philippines last year. I went on to describe the lone whale shark sighting on our very last day, and Patti validated my belief that this was indeed a silent message from Kaye telling us she was all right and a visible sign that said everything would be okay.


Although I was eager to get on with my long journey, I really didn't want to say goodbye. We parted with several big hugs and our mutual belief that everything in life happens for a reason. And for me it was meeting Miss Patti.




- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Photos from the last few days.

Let's see if the app I just downloaded solves my photo problem. YES!
It does!
Getting ready for the another biking day!




This is my dear friend Penny Bradley
From Hawaii




Carolyn Goodwin & Penny Bradley at lunch after today's ride.




Louisiana road kill




Pam and Guide Carol posing along the way




The Meandering Mississippi gals




Pam, Penny and Pat in New Orleans




Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

A HOT DAY IN BAYOU COUNTRY

Today was a good day to ride shotgun in the sag. My cervical bone spur is screaming at me, the weather is too hot and humid to argue and it's a friggin' 96 mile day.   When I heard about the two major suspension bridges everybody had to climb, I crossed myself and said "Bless my Soul."    Anybody who says that people In the South aren't friendly haven't had the experience we've had. When a police vehicle spotted a group of cyclists about to climb the bridge ramp, he put on his flashers and provided escort in one of the auto lanes?  I don't think it happened because we are 29 gorgeous babes. I think it happened because they are just plain nice.    It's now around 11:00 a.m.   I'm sitting in the van listening to the guides worry about the condition of the day and how it will affect "their girls"  who are on the road and spread out over 20 miles. And the spread only gets longer as the day goes on.  Man, its hotter than hell and the humidity is really high.  Fortunately when biking, you create a little breeze and even though it's only a little, it really helps. Drinking electrolytes in  water every ten or fifteen minutes is mandatory.  As I  wrote yesterday, there are a number of experienced riders on this trip, but there are also those who've never done a tour before.  And the type of experience varies too. A four day bike tour on Cape Cod is not the same as a 2 month cross country or a 40-day epic ride up the Mississippi like this one   Moving on ---- it's now 2 pm and the van is waiting at 60 miles to see who needs to be hauled in and the sag is still out on the road servicing riders. There is no way in hell I would take on this level of responsibility in a day like today. OK here come a bunch of riders, looking tired and hot, but their spirits are high and they will continue on. Carol, the guide, reminds them of the upcoming bridge and the importance of not riding it alone. The caution was well taken since the riders need to be in the left lane because they will access the bridge from that lane. Moving on --- it's now 4 pm and all the riders have checked in at 60 miles. About ten have decided to bag it and ride in to the motel.  So, we all hop in the van and schlepp people to the Holiday Inn Express in Port Allen! Louisiana.  When we arrived, a few of the very fast riders were already here and waiting for the van so they could get their luggage About 15 minutes later my biking buddies arrived and showed me their bike computers while others showed me their temperature gauges: k100 miles, 100 degrees and 86% humidity.  I am so impressed and at the same time I'm not sure I could have done it (or would have wanted to). What surprises me is the different fuel needs these people require. While I would be drinking water mixed with electrolytes and downing electrolyte pills, some of the gals are just drinking straight water. However, at 60 miles one girl arrived very dehydrated and had to be iced down.  She lives in a part of the country that seldom sees temperatures anything like this. So, what did i do from 7 am until 5 pm besides work on this blog?   Well, besides helping Guide Carol navigate the van and find the perfect parking spot to wait for riders,  I helped Chef Lynne cut vegetables, fruit, shred cheese and made guacamole for tonight's fantastic tostada dinner.  But otherwise it was a pretty dull day and I was very envious of my fellow riders even though they were out there riding in that heat.   Tomorrow is another day, but a very short one at 35 miles as we head for a town north called New Roads, Louisiana Sorry, but I still can't post photos but I'm hoping that an app I'm about to buy will change that. Sent from my iPad

POWER TO THE PEDAL

I love watching the expressions on people's faces when I tell them why we are in New Orleans. One woman exclaimed "Oh, we love cruising up the river".   Did she believe  me when I told her we weren't cruising, but were biking up the river?   Probably not.   New Orleans is an exciting city to visit because it's a vibrant mix of dynamic cultures in a setting that gives permission for freedom of expression in many different ways ---lifestyle, food, music, dance, art, theater, and architecture. It's a city that came back from one of the greatest disasters in the United States and holds its head high. Although I only spent two days in NOLA,  I wouldn't hesitate to go back and this time bring Bruce with me for a few days of decadent living.   I think one of the best meals I've ever had were the charbroiled oysters at highly acclaimed Drago's.  They were so delicious that Penny and I went back and shared a dozen for lunch the next day.  Then there were the shrimp, man, were they ever good. I think  New Orleans is definitely back! Finally, after two days of playing tourist,  we met up with the 29 riders at the orientation on Thursday afternoon. Carol Wilder and Lynne Brach are our guides and Lynne, who has 30 years experience as a camp cook, also doubles as chef.  Going around the room and introducing ourselves to one another, I was struck by the different levels of biking experience, from people who have ridden cross country several times to gals who've never done a bike tour before in their life. Sleep did not come easily to me last night, which was most disturbing as I looked over at my roommate who appeared to be knocked out. Then when I rolled over at 4:30 this morning and saw her reading with a flashlight, I was wide awake too. Bottom line: short night.   But I was ready to go this morning when we finally took off at 8:30 AM and headed  41 miles north for LaPlace, Louisiana where we are staying tonight.   HOT, HOT, HOT and FLAT, FLAT, FLAT.  Can you imagine?  41 miles and 125 feet of climbing?   Riding out of New Orleans took us by many beautiful homes, some large and majestic, some small and quaint. We wondered which ones had been affected by Katrina  Eventually we rode the levees which were smoothly paved and, of course very flat. The landscape, while somewhat industrial, was also quite scenic. The Mississippi is definitely a working river. Right now I seem to be having difficulty posting photos via my iPad on my blog, but if I could, you would be looking at photos of tugboats pushing barges, vistas of smokestacks and flames shooting up from oil refineries. Not pretty, you might say?  Actually, the views were still distinctive in an  commercial sort of way, giving you a real feel for what life is like along the great Ole Miss.

About to Cross the Rubicon

I'm just hours away from turning off the light.  The alarm is set for 4:00 A.M. and my plane departs at 6:40.  Just think I have only one more morning of making my bed.   I'm all packed and figure that whatever I forget I can always buy along the way.  Most importantly my bike, helmet & shoes are already in New Orleans.  

I've been reading Facebook posts from some of the riders I'm about to meet, and they are beyond excited.    It's nice to know that five of the 29 riders are friends I've made from other Womantours trips over the years.  As I have said before, the women I will ride with are so incredibly talented, smart, energetic, accomplished, and each with a story to tell.  After you complete a WT trip, you have established friendships on a level that doesn't often happen, especially at this time in our lives.

So, there's not much more to say except a message to friends who are following me along.  Please either send me email or comment on the Blog site about what's going on at home, so that I don't think I'm just talking into the ethernet.  I always miss friends when I'm traveling, and some people think I won't have time to read emails.  Are you kidding?

Excitement, Anxiety or a Little of Both

I can't tell whether I'm just plain excited or a little nervous because for the last few mornings I've been waking up with an uneasy feeling in my chest and butterflies swimming in my belly.  A few nights ago I had a textbook anxiety dream that was similar to that classic, you know the one where you are about to take a test, but you didn't study.

 I'm way behind in preparing for my trip, but yet I'm the star performer in a musical stage play.  I don't know my lines or the words to the music.  I've never been on stage before and don't have the confidence to pull it off.  The other performers are nonchalant and tell me not to worry,  that I can make up the words as I go  along."  

My dream tells me two things:  I'm  wondering if I can "pull it off" and my fellow riders are telling me "not to worry,  just go with the flow."   Dreams like this are very helpful because you can analyze their meaning and gain strength from them.  No need to doubt myself.  Everything will be ok and I will go with the flow.

My beautiful blue and white Trek Madone is now waiting for me in New Orleans.  In the meantime I'm riding my Bianchi which I bought in 2004 when I graduated from a hybrid to a road bike and felt like I was always riding with a tailwind.  But with much heavier tires and wheels than my carbon-fiber Trek, my Bianchi now rides like I'm pedaling in molasses.   The Trek has a women's specific design which means that with a shorter reach it's more comfortable for me to shift gears and apply the brakes.    A few weeks ago when I did the metric century and was slowly winding my way up a very challenging 9-10% hill in my lowest gear, a passing rider called out to his buddy "Hey, man, will you look at the low gears on that woman's bike."   Breathing deeply with not much air to spare, I yelled back at him, "Hey, fella, I'm 68 and I am NOT stupid."

It's really great that I have close biking friends going on this ride with whom I can discuss this and that and ask questions.  Even though my close friend Debbi from San Rafael is joining us in Iowa and only riding the last two weeks, being able to share this experience with her is very special.  And my friend Penny from Honolulu was here for a day before taking the train to New Orleans.    Reminiscing about our many super on-and-off-the-bike trips together,  Penny and I went shopping at REI to buy last minute needs, like a whistle to scare off angry dogs on the loose, a brightly colored vest in order to be visible on the road, and Deet wipes to ward off the biting mosquitoes we have been warned about.

A few days ago a reporter from my local newspaper came over to do an interview and take some pictures.  We hope that this story about my ride will provide inspiration to others who might consider doing an epic bike tour.  (see link below for story)

This is excellent publicity for Womantours.  I wore my bike store tee shirt and hope it's good PR for them too.  I have many people to thank -- most of all my supportive husband, Bruce. Thanks also to my Diva girlfriends, my friend and bike mechanic Preston, my Pilates instructor Joseph, my astute physical therapists Garrett and Carol, my massage therapist Jeanette, Dr. Roh at Stanford who "fixed me", and the best bike store in the world, Bicycle Outfitter who packed up my bike and shipped it to New Orleans.

One week from today I start pedaling.  The countdown begins.........http://www.mv-voice.com/news/show_story.php?id=5529

"I THINK I CAN FIX YOU"

   After returning from a trip to Cuba in late January,  I was plagued with back problems that only permitted flat, short rides.  Eventually after doing deep tissue massage, physical therapy, and a lot of fretting, I found a sports medicine doctor who said "I think I can fix you."  Eight trigger point injections later,  I was able to ramp up and start riding seriously again in early March.  In the meantime,  I was reading emails and Facebook posts from fellow Mississippi riders that had me worried.   Some were already doing long back-to-back rides, interval training,  hill repeats and exercises with their personal trainers doing squats, presses, and everything in between.   Since retiring,  I'm happy to say my competitive nature is under control, but these flurry of compulsive- sounding emails had me wondering whether I'd be physically ready to do this ride.    

Love riding with women!

Then I began hearing stories from other women who had the same worries I did.   Even though most of them were strangers, knowing that others were feeling similar anxieties took some of the pressure off for me.   The back and forth emails with these riders began building some early bonds with women whom I knew could be life-long friends.   One of them is a woman from Amsterdam who will be visiting the U.S. for the first time.  She too has been dealing with muscular issues, which had us both wondering whether our problems could be related to understandable anxieties about this ride.  Another woman asked about my trigger point injections and whether this might also give her some relief.  Then there was the rider from Southern California who had bad asthma and another rider who was suffering from insomnia.   

But after the doctor "fixed me,"  I was able to ride more than 15 miles at a time.  Last month I rode 484  miles with 24,000 cumulative feet of climbing.   As I did the calculations, it was a good time to remind myself that the roads along the Mississippi River are pretty flat, at least at the beginning, and not the steep hills I'm used to climbing around here.    Conversations with experienced riders convinced me I still had time to get to the point I needed to be at the beginning of the ride.  For me this means being able to ride all day with comfort, knowing that I can keep up since most of my rides around home average 10-11 mph (including hills).  I remember one time on a 30-day Womantours ride, I sat on that blasted saddle for nine hot hours.  I also remember climbing 5000 feet that day.  Remember, Pam, there won't be any 5000 feet climbing days on this ride.

There's a fine line to be drawn between proper training and over training for a bike trip that lasts 40 days.  Although there are three or four days over 90 miles, I am reminding myself how important pacing is before and during the ride.  If I overtrain, there's the possibility I will injure myself or burn out before the ride ends.  So, today I'm going to a spin class at the gym and I'm not riding again for a couple of days until I join my girlfriends for an organized metric century on Saturday.  And even though there's only three weeks left before I start riding the Mississippi, this is my kind of proper training.  I definitely do not want to burn out!