For the second year in a row, I ended up doing the century on the first day and then calling it a weekend.
The only thing I regret is not riding back to Cherry Hill so that I could eat like 40 pieces of Dominos in one sitting. There is something awesome about being that hungry. And being at such a caloric deficit that you can actually get away with doing it without gaining like 20 lbs.
Anyway, here are some highlights:
#1)The organizers set off the people going fast at 6:15am. Everyone I was riding with managed to get there on time and we were off in one of the first waves. This would not have happened had HAR from my team not come and picked me up at like 4:45am. Totally hooked me up.
#2)Our team was joined by two pros from Rite Aid. At one point, I was in second wheel, going into a headwind. I was definitely feeling pretty ground down keeping the pace up. I look up and notice the two of them talking, joking around.
This is a perfect illustration of why I will probably remain a cat 4 for a very long time.
#3)There was this guy who linked up with us, maybe 30-40 miles in. He was riding an old road bike w down tube shifters, 27 inch wheels, no clip ins, no toe clips. He rode really well. He had a good pedal stroke. He took to the paceline very well.
Anyway, at one point in the pine barrens, all of us managed to not hit this big turtle in the road. Then maybe 30 minutes later, this guy with relatively big wheels hits a smaller turtle.
Ever see what happens to the turtles in Super Mario Kart? When you eliminate one from the race, the head, tail and arms all retract and the thing wildly spins off into the distance.
Well, lets just say that those game designers may very well have modeled that game behavior on some thing they saw on a charity bicycle ride.
#4)I suffered toward the end and got dropped on the bridges by the faster people I was riding with. Later then last year, but still.
So I was beat when it was over. I had about 3 hours of sleep the night before. When I got to my inlaws, there was a bunch of stuff planned so I couldn’t really go off and nap.
So when I went to bed later, I was pretty much dead to the world. Until like 3 o’clock in the morning.
I woke up to Stephanie crying. I asked her what was the matter.
“The baby just hit me in the face with his head, really really hard?”
Now as far as I knew, the baby wasn’t even in the bed with us. So I said something like ‘oh, honey, Don’t cry, You we’re just having a bad dream…’
Her response: ”No you IDIOT! The baby just head butted me!’
And then I saw the boy. He had been crying, so Steph went and brought him in to sleep with us.
The shiner is mostly gone now.
That kid is a bruiser.
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