Goldilocks Bike Ride in the Rain

Last Saturday, I rode in the Goldilocks bike ride again.  I was so excited to do it because I had enlisted more friends to ride with us and I loved last year's event so much.  I knew the forecast was calling for rain so I ran out the day before and bought a light rain shell.  But I was totally unprepared for how freezing cold it was going to be.

Here is what I was wearing the day before on a ride around my neighborhood so you can imagine that I wasn't anticipating the cold:

We got there that morning--ate the yummy porridge and fruit breakfast, picked up our swag bags, and took the obligatory photos.  At this point it started POURING rain.  We were all soaked before we even got on our bikes!

I feel like I am a pretty tough person most of the time.  I can push myself when I am working out through pain and rely on mental grit. (Stop laughing Sam!)  But nothing makes me give up faster than being cold (and wet!)

Within the first ten minutes of being out there, my fingers froze and my feet got completely soaked.  I could feel the water sloshing around in my cycling shoes.  At this point, I gave up mentally.  I had hung back to talk to a friend and my group of friends were way up ahead of me. 

This is where I lose all dignity.  I decide my friends are dead to me.  We had decided to do 40 miles  but in that moment I decided I was doing 20.  I didn't know if I was ever going to catch up to my friends but I didn't care anymore how they were going to get home!  In fact, it was a good thing I didn't see a Papa Bear vehicle or I would have waved the white flag, called it quits and gotten in the car. I was that cold.

We stopped at a rest stop and I caught up with my friends.  I talked to them and they all agreed to do the 20 miles and be done.  Everyone was freezing.  The cool thing about Goldilocks is that the volunteers made it a fun event even when everyone was miserable.  There were Papa Bears at the rest stops taking our bikes from us and "parking them" and one guy even gave me his coat to wear while I was taking a break.  I was really impressed with these guys who gave up a Saturday to come volunteer in the rain!

Knowing that we only had 10 miles left, we got back on our bikes and soldiered on.  The odd thing was, once I was completely soaked and my fingers were numb, it was okay.

Of course, at the Finish Line, the rain stopped and the sun came out.  You can finally see my cute Goldilocks jersey from last year.  A very nice friend bought it for me!

They gave us darling little necklaces and we had a yummy lunch (at 10:30 in the morning!)  Next year I am doing 60 miles no matter what!  And if it is raining, I am going to be prepared with warm gloves and plastic bags over my shoes!

 

Of course, my favorite part of the whole thing is how girly and darling all the details were:

 

 

Even the port-a-potties were pink!

Dani (the gal in charge of Goldilocks) is so nice--she bought everyone's Zazoosh photos to make up for the rain. (Zazoosh is a photographer that takes pictures of people along the route and sells them after the race.) Here is the one of me:

 

And finally: my cute t-shirt from the swag bag to remember the day!