Today I braved the horrendous forecasts of rain and wind and attempted the Cinderella bike ride in Pleasanton. I say "attempted" because I decided to SAG almost 40 miles in. But we will get to that in a bit.
On another note, I decided to drink the kool aid and finally read The Hunger Games. Totally hooked on book one, watched the movie, and now I am engrossed in book 2. So, of course Hunger games are constantly in the back of my head.
And seriously, as I was riding through the wind and the rain this morning I thought to myself, "This is kind of like the Hunger Games." Well except for the, you know, murdering of people. And people volunteered to do Cinderella. But, I went with this because any distraction from the blustering weather was welcome. So, even though I am not nearly as bad a$$ as Katniss, let's call me Jillness.
And I present to you: The Cinderella Games.
The Cinderella Bike Ride takes place ever year and women across the Bay Area await with baited breath for the green post card in the mail telling that they are allowed to register for The Cinderella Bike Ride. Unlike the Hunger Games, this is something people want to get into. People copy registration cards for their friends, sell last minute cancellations. Women who have never been on a bike want to try this ride out.
Jillness has had mixed feelings about the Cinderella games. She wasn't a strong rider in the past, but she loved any opportunity where she could wear a ladybug costume, or butterfly wings on a bike without judgement. Though she had done the ride for the past 3 out of 4 years, she was still traumatized by the wind (can we say 6 mph going downhill?) from the Cinderella challenge 2 years ago. A bunch of the women in her district (District Mermaid) were doing the Cinderella ride so she knew she would regret not doing it.
The morning of the Cinderella Games she put on her outfit. The black capris had an attached skirt that was pink with blue, green and yellow bubbles. The black jacket had accents of the same pink fabric. Jillness was very disorganized so of course she couldn't find her black leg warmers. She knew it would be cold so she wore her rainbow leg warmers, and her pink kitty socks. With her hot pink bike with silver handlebars and her loud outfit, she was channeling two childhood idols: JEM and Punky Brewster.
Jillness arrived at the arena (AKA Alameda County Fairgrounds) and immediately formed an alliance with other fellow District Mermaid people: Wilma, Naama, and Gina. They each had strength Jillness coveted. Naama had a very gentle smile while schooling you up a crazy hill. Gina was an Ironwoman and always thanked volunteers and greeted people with a friendly, "On your left, have a lovely ride ladies." Wilma had an infectious laugh and some seriously fast cadence. Jillness knew her own strength: she could distract fellow riders with her strange outfits and wayyyyyyyyyyyyyy pink bike. I mean, we are talking PINK.
Unlike the hunger games, there isn't a formal start to the Cinderella. People just kinda start when they want. The riding in the beginning was stressful as clumps of riders tried to figure out how to ride single file. Some riders were naughty and did not obey the rules of group riding and Jillness would say (in a passive aggressive way), "Careful Wilma, someone is passing you ON YOUR RIGHT."
The point where jillness realized this was like the Hunger games was around mile 8. The newbie riders started getting crazy. All of the sudden someone stopped their bike. In the middle of the freakin road! "WHHAAAA" shouted Jillness and she saw Gina maneuver a bike around the stopped rider. She thought Gina was safe until she saw a cyclist make a u-turn(!) and almost plow into her sweet friend. Gina's quick reflexes ensured everyone was safe. Jillness was not as polite as Gina and shouted out, "WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON?!!!!"
They got back into their groove of riding and stopped to hydrate and eat. They knew that they had to stay hydrated to be successful at the Cinderella Games. At mile 18 they felt the pelting rain coming from the dark silver clouds. This was it. The Gamemakes were having fun with them now. They pedaled up a small climb and almost were knocked over by the wind. The rain came down in buckets. Jillness felt her stomach grumble and knew the two fig newtons from an hour ago were not enough. Fortunately, the cornucopia lunch stop was coming up. They made it to the rest stop and Jillness made a sandwich, ate an oreo (thank goodness for activity points) and went to the beverage station to hydrate. A kind volunteer was handing out small bags of m&ms. Jillness was warmed by his dedication to volunteer even in such crummy weather, and also dealing with all these riders complaining about the rain and cold (HELLO PEOPLE! IT SAID RAIN IN THE FORECAST! WE KNEW WHAT WE WERE GETTING INTO...but I digress). the volunteer handed Jillness the candy and she said, "Thank you so much." He said, "Thanks for the smile." Under ordinary circumstances, a cheesy line like this would make Jillness recoil in horror, but she had a feeling dealing with the grouchy ladies all morning he probably didn't get a lot of smiles.
Jillness and her alliance huddled together for warmth and ate their lunch. Jillness was in heaven eating her sourdough turkey and cheese sandwich (she has avoided refined white sugar since starting the weight watchers, but darn that refined white sugar tastes deelish).
They headed back out. At this point they were at mile 32. 34 more to go. The rain started up again, and then the wind. At one point Jillness didn't even think her bike could go further. And then she felt it.
Or rather didn't feel...her feet.
Her socks were soaked. Her feet felt numb. She wasn't able to keep up with her alliance. She knew that 2 1/2 hours more of riding with numb feet would not be pleasant (and possibly hypothermic) and she needed to be healthy since her work was putting on an Easter Egg hunt the following day. At mile 38ish (remember, Jillness is disorganized and thus forgot to charge her garmin so she is estimating now) her alliance stopped. Gina looked at her with concern. "How you doing?"
"My feet are cold!" she whined.
Jillness and Gina both agreed it would be best to take SAG back. Jillness didn't want to hold the group back and, also wanted a nice hot shower and to be done with the misery. The group started riding and after a mile flagged down a SAG truck and Jillness waved goodbye to her strong kick a$$ friends from District Mermaid. She got in the truck, was thankful for the ride, and headed back to the arena. It was time to go home.
Ok Ok...I realize I am a supreme dork for writing this. But seriously, it was a pretty fun day even though Mother nature went all crazy on us. I am so thankful for such good friends. We supported each other during the ride, and there wasn't judgement from them that I decided to quit. Most importantly, I didn't judge myself (gawd---could this BE any more "One to grow on"?). It's not worth beating myself up for not finishing. And I feel genuine happiness--not envy---that my amazing buddies finished this beast!
But next time I will make sure I wear rain pants and better shoe covers to stay dry!
Up next: two weeks of major, major bike time to prep for Tierra Bella 200k on April 14! Can't wait! It is great to be back on the bike!
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