DNF DLD

Olaf and I left on Friday about 2:00 to get to Dodgeville for Diaryland Dare. It was 280 miles one way. I rec'd my race packet on Friday night, we had dinner at Pizza Hut and went to bed early at the Super 8. I was up by 5:30 to get ready for my 100K ride. I had downgraded from my injuries. The first few hills going up my chain jammed. My pedals wouldn't move at all and I thought I was going down. Somehow I got unclipped in time. Someone stopped to help me with it. She said I should get grease at the first rest stop. She also asked if I was biking along and I said Yes. She said this is way too grueling to do alone. Great I thought. Everything else was going OK. The downhills were scary but I was just trusting that I wouldn't get a flat. Then I hit pea gravel. There's no way I'm biking down a hill on pea gravel or up a hill. I couldn't believe how much of it there was. About mile 13 I was going up a hill and a lot of people were walking. I thought I would bike as much as I can and get off. Well, getting off at 3 MPH going uphill is a little hard. I couldn't unclip in time and fell to my left. I was just bruised, but fine. I walked up the hill almost in tears. I just wanted this to end. I really wasn't having any fun at all. I biked a little more and hit more pea gravel. I saw a SAG wagon so I flagged it down and called Olaf. He met me at mile 20 rest stop. It was really hard to give up but I was afraid I would get seriously injured and it wasn't worth it to do this ride and risk it all so close to IM. That was my first and hopefully last DNF. Dairyland Dare is something I 100 percent don't want to ever attempt again.

We hit the road back home about 10:30 and took our time. We stopped at some Amish stores. We even stopped at a Amish house that had donuts for sale. We went inside their kitchen and bought a pie, bread and two donuts. They have really nice houses with of course nice woodwork. She had a cast iron oven almost in the middle of her kitchen. That was the highlight of our trip. We also stopped at a farmers market in Virquoa because we saw a bunch of buggies in the town square. We bought a utensil basket from some more Amish people.