BRAG Day Five.......

I took some (I hope) good pictures today, but frankly I'm just too exhausted to post them tonight. I'll try to remember either tomorrow night or after I get home. One is of the handiwork of Team Ocissus Via (and several people thought we were gross and disgusting just for stopping to take a picture of it). Another is of Bob, the sweet gentleman from Australia whose bike license plate I took a picture of the other day. I love having him go around us just so I can hear that wonderful accent say "On your left." Today he passed us and said, "Look, I'm even free wheeling!" I think that meant he was coasting.

Interestingly enough, I have a hard time eating enough on a bike ride. When we get to a rest stop, there's just so much to do: use the porta potty, wash hands, apply more sunscreen, apply more lip balm, take a few pictures, eat, drink, refill water bottles, and socialize. It's the socializing that gets me in trouble. I spend so much time talking that I run out of time to do the really important things. And believe it or not, when we get to a rest stop, I'm not really HUNGRY. I have to remind myself to eat so I'll have enough fuel to get through the day. I try to eat at least one peanut butter sandwich and a couple pieces of fruit, along with perhaps a cookie or two. Even at the lunch stop, we subsist only on rest stop fare. Gone are the days when we would have a full lunch because we thought we were supposed to eat that much.

Today's ride was extremely tough, but I'm not going to whine. I have to remind myself that no one forced me to be here, and the 4 H's of BRAG (heat, hills, humidity, headwinds) are just the nature of the beast. It is what it is.

High Points:

• Running into Doug, a guy we see on BRAG every year. When I asked where he had been all week, he said he just started today because he had been at Gay Days at Disney. By the time we left the rest stop, we were nearly rolling on the ground. He wanted to have dinner with us, but we couldn't find him when it was time to go.
  
• Talking to my nephew this morning and agreeing to have dinner with him and his wife tomorrow night. It's always a treat to meet up with family members on BRAG.
• Seeing 11.11, 22.22, 33.33, and 55.55 on the bike computer. I missed 44.44 because I was dodging a car I think. Not really. We were going downhill, though, and there was a car. It may have been a police car.
  
• Hearing that cyclists had been ticketed for not riding single file in traffic. Turns out there was a confrontation between an aggressive driver and some cyclists, but it was the motorist who got the citation. The officer did say, however, that he would ticket any cyclists riding more than two abreast or not riding single file when traffic was present. I would have been thrilled if they HAD ticketed some of them. Some cyclists think they can take over the road and not obey any of the rules. They make the rest of us look bad.

Low Points:

• Beginning the day with a flat tire, caused when the valve stem came out while we were trying to put air in.
  
• Heat.
• Hills.