by Misty Bowlby
When signing up for races I
usually like to pick ones that are places I like to visit, so when
Mosley’s presented me with the idea of a Vegas weekend I said why not?
The morning started out great. We set a nice pace and were prepared for the adventure ahead, unfortunately Nevada is also known for their high winds which was no exception for this day. We pushed a 20 – 25 mph head wind pretty much all the way up the canyon, which after a while gets very wearing. Every time we would reach what we thought was somewhat of a summit the road ahead proved us wrong with more mountains that were waiting for us to roll slowly up. I think there were a few times I thought to myself that there was no way I was going to make it to the turnaround but I would just watch my wheel turn and keep digging.
Once we finally reached the turnaround point we were greeted with the most amazing SAG stop… popsicles, ice water, chilled peanut butter & jelly sandwiches (that tasted like heaven), ice cold towels to help cool you down and some of the most friendly, helpful volunteers I have ever met! What an amazing feeling to know that going back should be much easier that the hardest part was behind us.
After getting hydrated and fed we set out for our mostly downhill return, however I encountered a few hiccups along the way. At about 17 miles from the finish I had lost complete feeling in my right foot which was then followed by a horrible burning sensation, we stopped at the first available SAG stop and I struggled to get my shoe off my ridiculously swollen foot. Prior to this ride I made the decision to ride a different bike that had better gearing and unfortunately didn’t change out my shoes as well, this is what was causing my problem. I iced my foot to get the swelling down enough to get my shoe back on and proceeded to ride the next seven miles, once again I lost all feeling in my foot, mind you I had just had surgery a few months ago on this same foot.
Stopping at the last SAG before the finish I knew there was no way I could get that shoe back on and had the fear that if I did I would do further possibly unfixable damage to my foot. I had to make a decision to not finish a get a ride in, at first I was completely bummed but after thinking about it I had done the hardest part of the ride fighting against mother nature the whole way, and that I could live with. It was a great experience and I was very grateful I was able to do it with good friends, I now am a member of a small group of 4 riders from Mesa that can say we did the Tour De Fire!
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| The Mosley clan and Misty |
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| The Tour de Fire gang plus Tom |
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