Two weeks left, and another ride under my wheels, the furthest ride I’ve ever done. 60 miles, on the dot. Couldn’t have asked for better riding weather. Was 63° at roll-out, and partly cloudy most of the ride, with very little wind – at least, to start (nasty head-wind during the last 10 miles). Headed out with the front-runners, including TJ from Team Superior, and Dwayne (not sure about the spelling or which team he rides with). Not too many riders today, because yesterday was the Dam Jam over in Pryor, OK. From what I understand, if you choose to do the entire 100 miles, it’s a really rough ride. Dwayne not only did 102 miles of the Dam Jam, he set a killer pace today! I kept up with him for the first and second legs, but when he took off after after the second rest stop, I wasn’t havin’ it. I truly sat myself down in one of the camp chairs with Team Crude (this week’s ride sponsors) and just chilled for a while chatting with my neighbor, Bruce.
Only spent 5 minutes at the first rest stop before pushing on. Had I known the next rest stop would be about 27 miles and three massive hills away, I would’ve reconsidered waiting longer to roll. The second rest stop was at Pretty Water Lake again. To the right is a picture of the Team Crude bus (my neighbor Bruce’s team). They have an old bus they’ve converted for riding – it’s pretty awesome. Dwayne was putting down such a hard pace that the next group to roll into the second rest stop didn’t arrive for nearly 10 minutes (TJ was with this group). The third group was about 5 minutes behind that. I chilled there for almost a half-hour, just chatting and recovering.
After a nice rest, I rolled out with TJ and three other riders, holding a decent speed and keeping a good pace-line. When we arrived back at the starting point, Team Crude had fixed up something they call “walking tacos”. They take small bags of Doritos and cut them in half (leaving half the chips in each part of the bag, semi-crushed). They then put a heap of taco-spiced ground beef on top of the chips, and I added shredded cheese, lettuce, and some sour cream. Grabbed myself an ice-cold Pepsi from the cooler and went to town. It was GOOOOD! Took another one for the road, and headed on home. Thanks Team Crude!
After showering and relaxing for about an hour, I went outside with the tent bag and did my last trial run. Took me a little longer this time given how tired I was (tent fell down three times), and I also filled up the air pad and rolled out the sleeping bag. All told: 28 minutes. The kids played in the tent (might as well make use of it) and afterwards I took it down and packed it all away.
Tomorrow there’s a Team Superior ride (probably 25 miles thereabouts), so I’ll finally be able to work in a back-to-back. Next Sunday is a 70 mile training ride, and then it’s go-time.
Total Distance: 60.0 mi
Moving Time: 3:33:23
Average Moving Speed: 16.9 mi/h
Max Speed: 37.3 mi/h (MAN that was a nice hill!)
Min Elevation: 498 ft
Max Elevation: 954 ft
Elevation Gain: 2,558 ft
Max Grade: 9 %
Min Grade: -7 %