Hagg Lake Longish Ride

About 10 of us TNTers got together at the McMenamin's about 8 miles out from the lake around 12:30 on Sunday. The sun was shining and about 47 degrees when we took off. People
were putting on sunscreen and leaving warmer things behind. I ALMOST didn't
take my beloved ear warmers or gloves and boy would I have regretted that
decision. As it was, I felt plenty warm getting out to the lake and the
first loop around was wonderful. I felt great, legs felt strong, my bike is
working fantastically thanks to GI Joes (no thanks to the specialty bike shop who did not resolve the problem at all!). We lost one girl after the first
loop - she said she was cold and she could see the rain heading our way. The
guys had already lost us so we were down to 6 girls.

The guys were going around the lake in the opposite direction so we could
all wave and yell hellos as we met somewhere in the middle. The second loop
I felt just as strong and was now quite pleased with myself for having my
gloves and earwarmers. The rain hit first, then hail - regular hail, sharp
as tacks hail, sideways hail, slippery hail. I can't even explain how
painful it was on my face. Then it snowed and then back to the hail.
Everyone else was underdressed and wanted to head back. I was still
contemplating what to do - I felt so strong and really wanted to do a full
ride this weekend, but then Abby got a flat tire and we stopped with her and
I got so incredibly horribly cold after that that I just wanted to go home
with everyone else rather than risk being out there on my own in the
hail/snow and end up with a flat or something. While we were getting her
tire fixed, a car pulled up with another TNTr who had shown up late and missed
us - so she just set out on her own. Her pedal fell off - well not really
off - it was still stuck to her shoe, but not to the bike. She didn't have
cell service so she couldn't reach anyone and ended up riding 2 miles
with one leg before a nice lady in a car pulled up. She had just picked up a
stray dog and then a stray TNTer and then she stopped for us too. WHAT A
NICE PERSON!!

We did about 39 miles and it felt great. Incredibly, my foot did not bother me one little bit as long as I was on the bike. I still can't stand on it. I did upper body at the gym today and threw in some seated leg curls and extensions since I figured I wouldn't be running this week and could trash my legs a bit. Ran into Melanie (from the oly team) and we hopped in the pool for more talking than swimming so I'll probably hit the pool again early tomorrow.