This report is to let everyone know how my "50 mile" training ride went today (you will soon understand why the quotation marks are there). THIS WAS MY FIRST RIDE EVER OVER 30 MILES.

The ride was actually a cycling event called the "Oblate Trail Ride" and was sponsored by the Catholic Diocese of Brownsville. There were approximately 130-150 cycists who participated today. The ride followed the famous (according to the sponsors)Oblate Trail, an an area the Oblates of Mary Immaculate traveled by horse more than 100 years ago to celebrate Mass in the remote communities along the Rio Grande River. Although it was supposed to be a 50 mile ride, we got a little surprise when we got to the water/food stop at the 50 mile marker. We were told that the finish line was actually approximately 15 more miles down the road (they apparently mismeasured when organizing the ride). So, on I pedaled, and finished the ride in just over 4 hours. It ended up being just a hair under 65 miles, which is GREAT preparation for the Tour de Cure.

I won't go into too much detail, but there were a couple funny moments for me today, which I will briefly outline below:

At mile 26, I had a cropduster fly overhead (very low) about 100 yds in front of me and unload his tank of what I'm guessing was pesticide. Thus, myself and another rider got a faceful of toxic mist, as the wind was blowing directly towards us. This was a nice addition to my eyes, which were already burning from sweat and wind.

A little further down the road, around mile 35, I spotted a McDonalds bag on the side of the road. The "old me" wanted to stop and see if there was anything good left inside. The "new me" took over and kept pedaling instead. I guess neurosis sets in after a couple hours on the bike!

At around mile 40, I was chased by a dog that looked kind of like Benji, but with mange, gnashing teeth, a mean bark, and a strong desire to kill me. Becuase my legs were already pretty tired, it was hard to pull away from devil dog....but somehow I did. I thought about trying to kick him while he was running along side me, but I love dogs (even ugly mean ones) and my shoes were clipped into the pedals. I decided not to risk flipping my bike and feeling guilty about hurting devil dog, so I outran him and pedaled onward.

Finally, at the dreaded 50 mile rest stop (where we got the news on the additional 15 miles to go) I must have looked pretty tired. The volunteer working at the end of the water/food table asked me if I wanted to borrow a chair for a bit. Not wanting to hurt his feelings of course, I accepted and sat down for about 10 minutes. Then, it was off to the finish line.

In all seriousness, this was a great experience for me, and an extreme challenge. However, the extra 15 miles were probably a Godsend to help me prepare for the 70 mile Tour de Cure on May 21st!


Not much....maybe kick the dog after all (just kidding, but he did almost give me a heart attack)

Fall on the ground, pant for a few minutes, and pray that I'd be able to get back up.


The fact that I'm fat and still a beginner, mostly


The only issue here is that the water stops were supposed to be every 8 to 10 miles, but we only had four over 63 miles.