**
Shey and Jansen decided to get up early and ride the 45 miles from home to the starting point......well after 2 wrong turns, it was probably a bit more than 45 miles................I drove there, as I am the sane person in the family, but I did pull over when I passed them to see if they needed to shed any clothing.....NOPE, it was 37 degrees and they both had icycles in their beards, "we'll keep our jackets, thank you!"
**
I hit at least 7, half-mile climbs during the last 8 miles of the drive, so I had no doubt their legs would be nice and warm by the time they got there. (wink)
*
I parked by the water.
The start was at 10am and the guys just rolled in to catch the back of the group as we took off and they rolled up beside me. Jansen was smiling, as usua,l and Shey rode with us for about 10 minutes before he turned back. He wanted to ride with Jansen to the start, then rest his legs for his trail running race the next morning. (except, when you make a wrong turn and have to pick up the pace for the last 13 miles, your legs aren't so saved......just sayin')
At registration, we had got a commemorative cup....(he-he, yep that is styrofoam) and instructions that you could receive a discount on the t-shirts if you took a picture of a woodpecker, yourself on a dam, bought something from the festival...etc. This sounded relaxing. A nice stroll through flat gravel roads, hanging out and talking with your buddies and taking pictures along the way? Awesome!
Yea, whatever! We hit the gravel and the rollers started coming. One after another, after another. For 50 miles you could pedal non-stop and hard, up and down, up and down, what a rush! It was a really great route and the forest was absolutely gorgeous! But, I had not brought a bladder for my camelbak, just three bottles (ya' know, for 3 hours of flat roads?!), that I would have to stop and take out of the pack. AND after a few miles I realized I had forgot chamois cream.....OOOOPS!!!! Yeah, so I don't have a computer or anything on my bike, but I would guesstimate that at about mile 30, I was a little too grumpy for company.........
*
But, Smokey still loves me!
I could not belive how much gravel road there was to play on and the last 15 miles was freakin' fun! I got to talk to Becky a bit at the start and followed her pink vest up to the first sag stop (mile 24), where I stopped to refill. So after about 4 hours 10 min of riding and 20 minutes of pit-stops to strip jackets, fill and change bottles and have a picnic, I rolled in to the finish. Waahoooooo!! Jansen was already changed and still smiling.
**
I was THREE TOMATO!! Becky was TWO TOMATO!! We were happy tomato girls and all of us were ready for some festival food.....I smell FUNNEL CAKE!
Shey had already had BBQ, and Jansen and I were tempted to try the gator-on-a-stick, but passed it up for hamburger, hot-dog and fries. (but I'm sure that gator was good!)
*
I got a piece of pottery and snapped a shot of the Whistle Stop Cafe.
I wish I had taken pictures of the forest, as it was really cool, but I felt like I was stopping so often to pull out another bottle and didn't want to waste anymore time, since Shey was waiting on us. Maybe next time, though!
Everett called us to say he was leaving the shop, where he had worked for the day, when we pulled in to the driveway at home, so he got home shortly after us and we all chilled out for the evening.
*
Perfect!
**
No comments:
Post a Comment