Country Bumpkin Proceedings

I was exhausted after finishing the Country Bumpkin ride. It turned out to be 127 miles, according to Andrew's cyclo-computer. We rode there in 3 hours, 33 minutes and rode back in 3 hours, 39 minutes! How's that for consistency? Especially considering the added difficulties of the ride back. I was so tired that I passed out in the middle of Superbad after I had a little something to eat. I slept 11 hours straight last night.

Of course, we didn't start on time. The good news is that we added 2 more people to the group. My new equipment from Sunshine Cycles worked wonders. The bike shorts had so much more cushion than my tri shorts and the cycling jersey held: a rain jacket (Sugoi Helium), 4 gel packs, a peanut butter sandwich, my cell phone, 2 granola bars, an electrolyte tab, tears, blistex, my sunglasses at one point, sunscreen, and maybe something else that I'm forgetting.

It was a pretty ride through the country side. There was a lot of goofing off during the ride out there. "Who can reach the highest?" "Who can get the lowest?" The only time I got a little annoyed is when people went so slow up the hills. There were a couple incidents that could have caused crashes, but crashes were avoided every time! Awesome job, guys. I wish I had my camera out on the way there so I could take a picture of the antics. There are some pix on facebook.

We went (via automobile) to Madison Blue Spring State Park after we got to Jason's house. We swam a little bit. Went back and had lunch. Only Logan, Andrew, and myself decided to bike back. Logan got a flat within 10 miles. Put in a new tube and rode on it for about 10 miles before it flatted again. This time, when changing the tube, it went flat before he could even get the rim back on the bike! We went through 3 tubes the second time and they all popped upon inflation. He had to get a ride home and wasn't happy about it. That means that Andrew and I had to work a lot harder. We went from averaging 21mph before Logan's tire blew to averaging about 17mph on our own.

Coming back to Tally, we ran into some strong wind gusts. It started lightly raining, which felt good. I was so happy when I first saw the big penis in the sky (aka state capitol).

This ride made me confident in my biking abilities. I feel like one of the "big boys" now. I might not be as fast as Steve or Dan, but I think I can hold my own over the distance as long as they aren't super-duper ass hauling. In fact, Stephen said that he's never gone 120 miles before. PLUS, I don't have one of those fancy carbon fiber frames. I now want to take bike trips to nearby towns and see/do things there. It could be like mini, day-long adventures. I hear St. Marks has a beach...I might go do some recon on the bike before taking people down there in a car. I think anything within 50 miles of my house is fair game. Maybe ride somewhere, eat lunch there, tour the historic district or something, then come home. You'll be updated on that kind of stuff if/when it happens.