3 BEARS TEAM IN TRAINING LOOP

I have plenty to say about this Team in Training ride. The 3 bears loop is the most climbing we have done so far since our short cycling hobby started just a few months ago. The route was 40 miles with 3780 ft of climbing. The Solvang Century we are training for is 100 miles with 5000 ft of climbing.. So you can see this was a good training ride for us.

We both were ready and really looking forward to this ride for weeks. This is the first ride that we started in reverse order.. the slower groups first so we would all finish about the same time. The groups left in 30 minute increments. Heather's group left 30 minutes before we did ( the wild ones). The ride started in town and then led onto a bike/walking trail that was beautiful.

At the end of the trail was a much needed bathroom stop. Then on towards the fun stuff the 3 bears. Its named the 3 bears because there are 3 climbs. Baby bear, Mama bear, and Poppa bear. Team in Training placed the S.A.G (support and gear) stop right before the climbs so we could fuel our bodies. Well at the S.A.G I saw Heather's group. When they saw us coming they all scrambled to their bikes to hit the road. Their goal was to beat us back to the end of the ride. (yah right.. we are the wild ones). Not but 3 minutes after they left I get a phone call... Hey Hunny the love of my life.. do you have an extra chain.. I just broke mine. Heather is starting to put out so much power that she is busting chains climbing now. Well I couldn't help Heather, I felt terrible, so I sent the S.A.G to her. When our group rolled by Heather and poor broken blue she had a sad pouty face on sitting in the passenger seat.
At that point I figured Heather's day was over and I would see her back at the box waiting for me. But since Rich the S.A.G guy is so totally awesome he got Heather to a bike store and got a new chain put on blue and got her back to with in a couple of miles where she broke her chain in no time flat. Heather was the last rider on the loop at this point. So lil Lance or psycho Santos (sally's name for us) took off like a crazy women chasing down every rider she saw in front of her. I would have loved to seen Heather ride like that. I would have been a proud Hubby.
Well about me now... I felt great on the 3 bears... and even pig farm climb wasn't too bad (another climb after the 3 bears, feels like a wall.. crazy) even though pig farm had some riders walking up the hill... So When we coasted in (in first place by the way) I had no idea what Heather's status was. After a few phone calls by our teammates I found out Heather was on the road. Few minutes later I see this cute girl come flying in the parking lot hooting and hollering with one hand in the air and one foot. I was like who is this girl. Then I saw it was LiL Lance celebrating her victory pumping a fist in the air.

I was amazed at her performance, and very thankful to Richard for going above and beyond getting Heather back on the road.
While Heather and Blue were at the bike shop she found a Lance Armstrong lunch box..I so want it...it was for sale to the right person.. I guess that meant we couldn't afford it... lol
On Sunday we took a nice 10 mile recovery ride with the family. It was nice, my 13 year old is a strong rider and says he wants a road bike :)

Heather still looks great even though she wasn't on her beautiful carbon fiber Fuji

Lacey our future little female road racer is so much fun to ride with

The very best part of the day was... the hug given to me by Mustang Sally at the end of the ride... phewww that girl.... lol