Apple Cide Century

Saturday I headed out to Michigan and registered for the ride. I camped at Warren Dunes State Park Saturday night. I hiked around the dunes...man is sand awful to hike in! I got to Lake Michigan before sunset so I got to watch a gorgeous sunset before hiking back to my campsite in the dark. I tested out my mobile broadband from my tent. That was fantastic.

I tuned up the Trek road bike Saturday night at the campground and had everything shifting very nicely. When I started on it, the big front gear wasn't accessible. That would have been a nightmare. The bike worked flawlessly. I do need to get something the right size though...its just a bit too tall for me. Can't complain about free bikes though.

So Sunday morning rolled around and I got to the ride before light. I was waaay early for the group I was riding with. We got going and no one was planning on doing the full century. We had 4 people looking to do 75 miles and a few doing 62 or 50. It was a VERY windy afternoon. The 62+ courses are identical with cutoffs late in the ride, so we kept together at rest areas. I went ahead and waited at the first couple rest areas. Two of the 62 mile people dropped to 50. At the 62 mile turnoff, 2 of our 75ers dropped to the 62. So only 2 of us were left for the 75. The wind got really bad then and it was the hilliest section of the ride. My partner was having a hard time climbing the hills, so I waited at the tops so we could kinda stay together. I was still considering the full 100, but the last rest area was closing at 6 and I'd probably barely make it there since we'd started late and spent a lot of time at rest areas waiting for the group to catch up. So with 5 miles to go we hit a nice smooth flat section and I took off. I was able to go about 20 mph on that section still so I'm sure I could have finished the 100 still.

Labor day weekend I hit 39.8 mph on the mt bike, so I had the challenge of getting the road bike faster. I never managed to get as fast though. I hit 37.7 for a top speed. Disappointing! Kinda tells the story of how steep and long the road was in the Ozarks I suppose.

I feel pretty good today. A little soreness in the right knee and tightness in upper back is about all. I really enjoyed the road ride out there with minimal traffic. I could see doing more of those.