The ride started out under cloudy skies and was cool. About an hour in the sun came out and the wind picked up a bit. I would fall behind Randell and Dana every uphill section. We did maintian a good pace for me (17.3 mph) through 48 miles.

At about the 30 mile point we ran into a road rage incident that I will never forget. The three of us plus another rider were cruising along single file along the white line (there was a gravel shoulder). This old coot in a beat up pickup came flying by screaming and yelling at us. He whipped infront of the lead rider, swung onto the shoulder and tried to door him. The second rider was Randell and the coot threw something at him. Seeing this I backed off and he jumped back into his truck and peeled off throwing gravel all over. I thought he was going to run over the riders infront of me so I grabbed my cell phone. Fortunately he just drove off screaming. It really shook the lead guy up.

At mile 48 we turned into the wind and hit a LOOOOOOOOONG uphil stretch. I really started to fade on this stretch. I am not sure that I have ridden that slow for that long in my adulthood. Randell and Dana would just leave me in the dust.

I knew I was going to make it when we got back into Waconia. Coming up the last hill behind the county fairground my quads just went on strike. I was seriously afraid I would have to get off and walk but I did make it up the hill. To show you how slow the last stretch was I went from a 17.3 average to a 16.5 ave in 10 miles.

I do think I should have drank more. I certian had to stop at rest stops because natured called but given the headache I have today (the day after) I probably was getting dehydrated (not to mention I lost 5 pounds on that ride)

My conditioning


I will certianly add this ride to my calendar for next year.