Again, as with the trail run yesterday, it depended on whose garmin you asked to get the distance. LC and BG had 91, I had 89. 90 sounds good enough. 90 it is.
The plan was for a century, and although we didn't hit the distance technically we sure did cover some miles. It was somewhat of a late start at 820 but it was a long drive up. I also got to meet again the other club member doing redman full. We started on some trail, crossed the river on the ferry (Frea's 1st!), and immediately found some great road in Calhoun. These miles were mostly flat, surrounded by fields, light winds, sunshine, great company. What an awesome weekend I'm having! :)
Quick break in Brussels, then off. Our group split up fast, and suddenly it was just LC, BG, BS, and CT with me. We nearly missed our first turn (and I think the rest of the group ahead of us did too--we never saw them again) and thankfully we found it. It was the best hill of the day!
Best hill because it was the worst. Ugh. WOW. We ended up walking! LC and I got part way up before stopping on a false flat. It was so steep we couldn't get rolling again. WOW.
The short route peeps split off soon enough and it was just the 3 of us. Turns out the plan of the day was to ride the vertical roads which were mostly flat and find hills by crossing the bluffs and hills in the middle of the peninsula. One road was along the IL River, the other along the MS River. So every time we turned off the River Roads, we had a climb. And a descent. And you know me, I'd rather be climbing. Lung busting climbs, brief respite at the top, then a white knuckle descent. Flat river road, do it again.
The day was beautiful. Occasionally we'd hit the top of the hills and get a view of the river valley and trees. The sun came out eventually and it heated up. Once this happened, we needed cool water. The first town we were to hit was at mile 52, and due to little errors were were 6-8 miles off that. So when we hit Hardin for our first stop we needed everything. In that 30 mins, I had a Kind bar, some cashews, and some of the S-bucks Double Shot LC and I got earlier. I was saving it for the halfway point, even though it was warm it was still caffeinated, right?! It was OK, it did wake me up but didn't taste great. Good to try it, maybe I'd like another flavor and at least now I know I can drink this if needed.
When we set off again, I was much better off. My energy was OK before, but I was losing interest. I needed to eat! We had decided to shorten the route so LC could get home on time. But really, 90 miles is a damned fine ride and with all those hills and the time it took--this was sssoooooo close!
We need to come back and Conquer!
No comments:
Post a Comment