40 Down!!!!!!!!!!!!

The last time that I posted on the blog, I had just set a new personal best of 31 miles. Well since that time I have broken that personal best 3 times. I took it from 31 miles to 32.5 miles, then to 33.5 miles. Well I was growing tired of just jumping up by a mile at a time. So I decided that I was going to do 40 miles even if it killed me! So I set out from my parents house in Lake St. Louis, and planned on riding down towards New Melle. I had ridden there one other time with Jeff, and I really liked the route. It was probably the warmest day that we had in the last 2 weeks. I thought that I had enough water on board, but I would find out 32 miles in that I was one bottle short. At that point I was 8 miles from home, when my legs started to cramp! I had two choices at that time. I could have called my wife and had her come pick me up. Or I could try to stretch it out and keep going. I picked option two, I was not going to give up!! So I stretched my legs for about 5min, and got back on my bike and started heading for home. I went about another 2 miles, and my leg started to cramp again. So I got off and stretch some more, and hopped on and continued on my way. Most of the rest of the trip was downhill, except for a few minor hills. About 1.5 miles away from home there was the first of two small hills that I had to climb to make it back to my parents. When I got about 3/4 of the way up that little hill, my left leg cramped up so bad that it would not move. I was at least able to make it up the hill to a parking lot were I got off and rested for about 10 minutes. I was not going to give up, so I stretched like crazy, and was able to get it worked out. I only had 1.5 miles left so I jumped on and was determined to make it home even if I had to stop 20 more times. The only other stop I had to make was a red light. I had made it home! The rest of the day I spent drinking water and stretching my legs. I must admit though that night I had several celebratory Summer Lagers! There is nothing better then a nice cold Schlafly after you accomplish a goal!!