The Full Enchilada II

 

   C called me from the garage. "I'm good, Let's do it."

    I knew what that meant. We were going to do the 40 miles bike ride that we had dubbed "The Full Enchilada". We had planned on doing it Friday, but Thursday morning, C went for a net shot playing pickleball and injured his calf muscle. I was sure the ride was not going to happen.  Especially since we promised my parents a trip to the Arboretum later that day which would involve some walking.

  I resigned myself to the fact that this wasn't going to be the year. I'd have to try to keep myself in riding shape and try again next year. 

  Instead of preparing for the ride as I planned to do Friday morning, I watched a tech replace the cracked windshield on C's car and did the dishes. 

   After the tech left C decided to try riding his bike. Maybe he'd still be able to do it after all. He rode a short distance to the library and back. Then he made the call to me.

   I hung up the call phone and pulled out the supplies. Then I went to change into my riding gear. I took out my favourite purple t shirt. I had been saving it for the long ride. Since it was going to be cool out, I wore a thin black long-sleeved t shirt under the purple. I put on my flowered biking pants and socks. I tied my hair back and put on my navy blue ball cap.

   Then I went to the kitchen and filled our water bottles. I put all our supplies into a small backpack that I would wear while riding. C put the bikes on the car, checking the straps carefully to make sure there would be no accidents. Then he changed into his gear. 

  We were excited and ready to go.

   We decided to start from Red Wing as the trail seemed to be on a small incline and coming back would be easier. The parking lot had only a few cars. We got our bikes off the car and headed out. We tried not to go too fast, this was a marathon not a sprint. We stopped at Belle Creek for a break and some water. Then we went to Welch. With the break it still took us less than an hour to do the first leg. Much faster than our usual time. We took a longer break at Welch and then started for Cannon Falls.

   Partway to Cannon Falls we took another water break and had a snack. When we got into town we went to a coffee, cheese and ice cream shop that we like. We each got a chai latte to celebrate that we had made it halfway. 

  Actually halfway was easy. We had done 20 miles many times. The real challenge was coming up. We had to bike the 20 miles back to Red Wing.

   At the trailhead we saw a guy taking a break, C chatted with him a little bit. Then we were on our way back to Welch. The guy caught up with us. He was a big guy,the biggest guy I had ever seen riding a bike. Since C is always ready to make a new friend they started to chat. The man's name was Jack. He's originally from Los Angeles and used to play professional basketball. He moved to a small town in Wisconsin and except for the winters was pretty happy here. He and C had a wonderful time talking sports and other things. It made the time go by , but it also meant that we didn't stop. My seat was getting sore and I stood up slightly several times to take the pressure off. I was a little self conscious about it as Jack was riding right behind me.

   Once we got to Welch, C and I turned off. Jack kept going. It was starting to get cold and he wanted to go home. We found a place to stop and gingerly got off our bikes. The ten mile leg without a break was probably not a good idea. We were both getting sore. The good news was that we had already ridden 30 of the 40 miles. We were on the last leg.

  We got on our bikes and headed out. Ten more miles. At then end of the trail was our car and the brisket dinner we planned to have to celebrate our accomplishment. 

   It was a painful ten miles. We thought that we would be going down, but the trail seemed to be on an incline. C's leg was starting to hurt and his seat also hurt. He couldn't stand on his pedals because of his leg. We ground our way counting the miles. We got to a place where we could stop, but neither of us wanted to. At this point we just wanted to get back to the car as soon as we could.

  We started seeing signs that we were near Red Wing. There were two hills left. In order to get up the second hill, you have to get momentum going down the first hill. I started down the hill but had to put on my breaks a few times to avoid hitting C who was in front of me. I couldn't go into the other lane in case there was another cyclist heading the other way.  As a result, I only made halfway up the second hill before I had to get off and walk. C made it all the way up.

   We limped into the parking lot sore but triumphant. The entire ride had taken five hours and 17 minutes with the breaks. We took a selfie by the trail sign. Then C got our bikes onto the car. We drove to the restaurant for our celebratory brisket. We did it!