Week 5 Bike - Terror in the Rain!

I was told the Week 5 ride on Scripps Poway Parkway featured "rolling hills". In my mind I imagined rolling hills to be small rounded hills through a green meadow - what a pleasant ride. Boy was I wrong. The start of the ride wasn't bad - no meadows, but Scripps Ranch is a nice enough neighborhood to ride. There were a few manageable hills and I was feeling good. Then we started riding up. And up. Someone said a "nice steady climb". Well, that climb continued until we hit the 67 freeway (yes, the one that goes to Ramona). There we turned around and came back. The uphill ride was exhausting, but it was nothing compared to the ride back down. If you've been reading you are familiar with my fear of riding down hills. Well, I passed at least 3 of these steep grade signs on the way back down. Oh, did I mention it was now raining? In between repeating "I will not die here", "I will not die here", and "I will not cry", I tried to calm myself down by creating a new song I called "Riding In The Rain", which sounds shockingly similar to "Singing In The Rain". I was cold, wet, scared, and really proud of myself for making it down the hill! After the big downhill, the rest was cake. My legs were pretty tired riding up the "rolling hills" on the way back, but I didn't care. I was happy to have finished. One of the TNT mentors took photos of us riding up the hill. Once it's published, I'll post it here. That is definitely a photo I want to see! Week 6 starts with swim on Monday...