The first 35 miles were pretty uneventful. Then about that time, John had a bottle cage break off. It broke off right at the weld. It took a few minutes to run back and retrive the bottle and we were back on the road again. We stopped at the 1/2 way aid station to fill up bottles and visit the port-a-potty. It seemed like the last 5 miles, before the aid station, were all uphill. I really started to notice that I was loosing my leg strength on the hills and I fell behind John. They had wedges of watermelon at the aid station. Even though I had never eaten watermelon on my training rides, I decided to chance it. Since watermelon is 90% water, I figured it was a safe risk. That was probably the best damn watermelon I have ever eaten. After about 10 minutes, we were off again. The next few miles seemed like they were all downhill then we hit more rolling hills. The hills were not that bad, but I just did not have the leg strength anymore. I had about a 3 mile stretch were my legs felt so weak that I stayed on the small ring. John could have road away from me but he stayed with me. Around mile 65, I started to get some cramps coming up in my left quad. I immediately took the rest of my electrolytes and started drinking more of my Gu2O drink. I was surprised how quickly the cramps went away although they started coming back before the aid station at around mile 75. We took a 5 min break there. We filled up bottles and I ate several pretzels to get the salt. That break really helped me. I felt like I got a second wind from that break. We took another quick break at mile 90 and then headed for the finish. I have never experienced a more anticlimatic finish at a sporting event. There was not a soul at the finishline. No one to cheer you home. No music playing. No dancing girls. NADA, NOTHING, ZILTCH. Well, John and I rode to the truck and dismounted. Then we high-fived, hugged, patted each other on the ass, and then....looking deeply into each others eyes.....we had......a moment. AND AS THE MOMENT REACHED ITS CLIMAX, we were distracted by a girl riding around the parking lot. We had seen her out on the course and we wondered why she was doing laps in the parking lot. John wondered if she was trying to get in an official 100 miles. We check our bike computers and his read 98 miles and mine read 97 miles. We agreed that we did not come down here to NOT ride 100 miles. Back on with the helmet and we road 1.5 miles out and then back. This time crossing the finish line, I raised an arm and shouted out "I DID IT, 100 MILES". That got some laughs from some other riders in the parking lot. Without saying anything John and I knew we could not recreate the earlier moment, so we took turns hitting each other, on the shoulder, as hard as we could.

Hook a bungee cord from the front of my bike to the back of John's bike, Take 2 electrolytes an hour instead of one, Mix my Gu2O stronger, have a seperate water only bottle, and more T.I.T.S.

We checked out the laim selection of post-race food and headed to Wataburger.


Not enough T.I.T.S. and being unfamiliar with my nutritional needs for an event that long.


The aid stations were well stocked, but the post-race stuff was SORRY, SORRY, SORRY.