I felt myself being pulled out of my body and thrown through some dimensional vortex of some sort, and when all the spinning stopped I was on a bicycle, pedaling madly.
I felt a tight jersey and spandex shorts clinging to my body. I was in the midst of a huge pack of other bikers. Crap, if I stopped now, all sorts of people behind would crash into me. Karyn must have changed the channel. Oh no, Karyn!
I took a quick look around and saw another biker just to my left also looking around frantically. "Jon? Where are you? What happened?" he yelled.
He sure didn't look like Karyn. He was a fit, 30-something guy pedaling away like everyone else. He was wearing sunglasses and the same blue and white USA jersey that I had on as well, but it was obviously a confused Karyn in that body.
"Karyn," I yelled, hoping none of the other cyclists thought it too strange. "It's me Jon." The other cyclist looked over with confusion.
"I made a wish, I'll explain later, just keep riding, I'll get this fixed," I said.
"I'm going to kill you," Karyn yelled back and took off ahead of me as I noted the #47 on her waist so I could find her later.
I stayed close behind though and I somehow knew the strategy for drafting with all the other American teammates. It was unbelievably hot and humid, yet I somehow had enough strength to keep pedaling away. After a couple of hours, I had no idea how I could possibly still be going. I had never been this exhausted in my entire life, yet I had a strength far beyond my own body's that enabled me to keep going.
I had to unzip my jersey it was so hot, I must have been biking for four hours, I went by a sign that said "174 km". I couldn't think off the top of my head how many miles that was, but I knew it was a lot. Jesus, how long was this race?
I was sweating like crazy. Other bikers were passing me. Even Karyn in her biker body was ahead of me. How could they still be going? How could I still be going?
Finally I saw the finish line in the distance. I made a mad break for then end. I just wanted to be done so I could take off this jersey and get out of here. I was able to muster even more energy. As exhausted as I was, the feeling of strength was incredible!
Other bikers had finished well ahead of me, I certainly wasn't even in the top ten, but I was done. I got off my bike and my legs were burning. Someone handed me a bottle of water that I eagerly gulped down. I looked at the clock. It read over six hours! Damn, I was only supposed to be a WNBA coach for an hour or two, not biking for half a day.
That reminded me, I needed to find Karyn. I looked around the other cyclists milling about and spotted her still sitting on her bike.
