A 114 Mile Century
It wasn’t the Three State Three Mountain Challenge, the ride I always did on this weekend when we lived in B’ham, but yesterday’s Tour De Goodwill was fun.
First, until yesterday I had never been able to ride my bike from my house to the start of the century. That extra distance, plus a slight detour on the route due to road construction, is what gave me the extra 14 miles.
Second, riding in your hometown century means you know many of the other riders. I always went by myself up to Chattanooga for the Three State Three Mountain. I would meet folks on the ride and talk about it with them, but that isn’t the same as experiencing it with the same guys you ride with every week.
Third, you don’t see much on this ride other than rolling hills and farms. No rivers or lakes or scenic views. Still, just outside Keatchie, La, we saw a yellow Camaro with a lift kit, super swampers, and two snorkels. I wish I’d had my camera.
Fourth, the ride goes through Deadwood, Tx. I love that name. No whispering pines, or willow points, or shady acres, or oak hollows; it’s the anti-subdivision. (I also think there has to be some kind of viagra commercial in there somewhere.). The best part of the town, though, is the welcome sign, which reads:
Welcome to Deadwood
Home of 108 Happy People
And One Old Grouch
Finally, it was a ride of redemption.The only other time I did this ride was in August of 2005. Most miserable experience I ever had on a bike. The distance didn’t kill me, the temperature did: Mid eighties at the start, well over one hundred by the end. I will never forget sitting at the last rest stop, with twenty miles to go, a wet towel over my head thinking to myself “you’re gonna die, just let the support car take you home.” I decided on death before dishonor, though, and made it the whole way. But barely, it probably took me at least an hour and a half to do that final stretch. Yesterday, though, I was in a group of four that averaged about twenty two miles per hour for the last twenty miles. In other words, I felt good for the entire ride.
