Challenge of the Centuries - Sunday.....

Not as many pictures today (but I think the ones I took were very cool, for very different reasons), since it was a fairly short ride. Rozmo and I opted for the 30-mile route, which we did NOT feel obligated to round up to a 40-miler. We thought about the 60-miler, but Rozmo was headed to the lake with her family, and I was eager to get home. Where I vegged by the pool for a couple of hours.

I saw this baby from a distance, and I started reaching for my camera. He must have been camera-shy, because he started RUNNING as soon as I got in range. Maybe he never saw a bicycle before?

I'm always fascinated by cemeteries. I was so intent upon taking a picture of this one that I failed to notice a car behind us trying to pass. Oh, the irony. Luckily it was a SAG vehicle, and they are much less likely to run over cyclists than typical pissed-off drivers.

When I rode up next to this guy I said, "Suddenly I feel like a wimp for having a SEAT." This is called an Elliptigo, and it is the coolest thing I've seen since ... well, lately. He is a triathlete, and he said he ... rode? ... this one today to better build up his legs for triathlons.

This was the last organized ride before BRAG begins next Sunday. I have a gazillion things to do to get ready for that, but I hope to sneak in a couple of easy training rides this week to keep certain body parts used to the constant ... pedaling.

Challenge of the Centuries - Saturday.......

Today's ride started off fast and cool and ended up slow and hot. Seriously, it was approaching 95 degrees by the time we finished at 2:00. Rozmo and I rode the 67-mile route, but as card-carrying members of the Round Numbers Club, we had to add in some mileage to make it 70.

The path over the dam. Apparently it is open to the public, but only to a certain point. Cyclists with wristbands were allowed to ride all the way across between certain hours today.

I asked Rozmo to take a new picture of me for my profile picture on Facebook. She does good work, even with bad subjects!

I can't resist taking pictures of water. Lakes, rivers, oceans, streams, waterfalls, bottled water...

I sometimes take decent pictures myself, even if they are accidents. This one I took shooting over my shoulder without looking at the camera. While I was riding.

The view from above the dam. I mean I was ON the dam, not hovering above it.

Sadly, water levels are very low.

Another water shot. I can't even explain this one. Or why I'm leaving it on here instead of deleting it like a sane person would.

Not a very good shot, but this is a dilapidated old school (??) standing in a field on the bike route. The deterioration is evident from year to year. I will be sad the day we ride by and it has fallen down completely.

See above regarding water pictures.

This was an attempt to take a picture over my head and behind me without looking at the camera. That might explain the strange tilt to the shot. And the fact that if I didn't know who that was, I might not be able to identify Rozmo.

A different attempt to take a picture over my head and behind me. Perhaps I am simply offering proof that I do indeed wear a cycling helmet.

We aren't sure yet about tomorrow's mileage. We usually do a shorter route on Sunday, but it will depend on Rozmo's out-of-town relatives. (Her folks live near where the ride is being held.) I'm not even sure which way I would LIKE for our decision to go. I'm tired and sore today, but BRAG is coming up next week (gasp!), and there ain't no options for daily miles when it comes to BRAG. Well, there sort of are... You can ride a lot of miles or a lot MORE miles.

Happy Memorial Day!

I'm An A.D.D. Camper......

I am in the RV, alone, about an hour and fifteen minutes from home, for a bike ride. It's the same one I did last year, and if you weren't around and are curious, you can read about Saturday's ride here and Sunday's ride here.

I am in the parking lot of the YMCA, where the ride is based. I am NOT where I planned to be, in a shady campground on the lake with electricity and running water and satellite t.v. And I'm almost, ALMOST over the fact that I am NOT in a shady campground on the lake with electricity and running water and satellite t.v. I won't burden you with the boring details. At least our RV has a generator, so I have air conditioning, and I hope the two older gentlemen in the older RV WITHOUT a generator were joking when they asked if they could hook theirs up to my generator, because I laughed and walked...ran away.

And see, I'm so A.D.D. that I had already forgotten why I titled this post as such.

Please forgive me for using that term and don't send me hate comments, because I am NOT making fun of people who are truly A.D.D.

I have discovered that when I travel in the RV, particularly when I travel alone, I bring a variety of things to keep me occupied. And then I feel that I have to do them ALL. So I have played a game or two on my iPad, I read (a tiny bit), I have checked the message boards and blogs and Facebook on the computer, I have crocheted some (but not enough) on the afghan that MUST be finished before NashBash in 15 days, and I'm listening to the MP3 player I keep in my computer bag and rarely, rarely ever use. And checking in on the baseball game when I get an alert that someone has scored. So far the only scoring has been done by the Washington Nationals, and the Braves are on a four-game losing streak, thank you very much, and that can't be good for my blood pressure the night before a ride that is sure to wind up being close to 70 miles.

Anyway.

I have two or three dozen other activities to cram into my evening before I hit the sack. I will report on the ride tomorrow.

Challenge of the Centuries Sunday......

I was wrong about us riding the 40-mile route today, since there WAS no 40-mile route. There was a 34-miler, but we cut off a couple of miles at the beginning to avoid the twists and turns of riding through town. (We had already done that at the end of yesterday's ride anyway.) Therefore our ride for today wound up being only 30 miles, but as Rozmo said, "We did a century over the whole weekend." This was one of those rare occasions when I could have ridden more, but I also wanted to get home. I was away this weekend, and our anniversary is tomorrow. In addition, I will be gone part of EVERY SINGLE WEEKEND in the month of June.

Rozmo and I rode into the first rest stop today on the tail of a 4-man paceline. We don't do that very often, mainly because it's rare that we can keep up. It's also rude just to jump onto a paceline, but this time the guys who came around us knew Rozmo, so they invited us to jump on. I don't know if they were taking it easy on us or what, but I had to keep hitting the brakes to avoid getting out of line. What's up with THAT? It is very cool riding in a paceline, though. Everyone moving at the same speed, movements almost synchronized. It does carry a whole new set of responsibilities, though. Riders in a paceline are so close together that you are expected to point out hazards along the road. And the person in the back (me, in this case) is obligated to alert the others when a car is approaching from the rear by yelling, "Car back!" We're supposed to do that anyway, but it's especially important in a paceline.

The rest stops this weekend were manned by Boy Scout troops, and they were on their very best behavior. They showed excellent manners and even gave recommendations as to which cookies were best. The water and Powerade were cold, and the Powerade was mixed very well. Not too strong, not too weak.

When I got to the ride location on Friday night, I had some time to kill before riding to Mom's house. So I cleaned the RV. I cleaned the bathroom, the shower, the stove (which I did NOT intend to use). I tried to vacuum, but I don't have the attachments, and it was too hard to crawl around on the floor with a hand-held vacuum. It occurred to me as I was cleaning that I was doing way more than I usually do at home. Of course, it was also much less area to clean.

My laptop is back, a little more than $200 later, and I'm trying not to think about all I lost. They had to replace the hard drive and reinstall Windows, so I lost everything that was on there. Luckily I had backed up my documents and pictures (I thought - turns out I only backed up the pictures), so I can restore those. I hope there were no vital documents on my hard drive. I hope I did the right thing by having it repaired; it may have been better just to buy a new one.

This time next week we will be in Atlanta for the beginning of BRAG. It's hard to believe it's finally here.

Challenge of the Centuries Saturday..............

Today's route choices were 37 miles, which turned out to be 40; 65 miles, which turned out to be 68; or 100 miles, which .... you guessed it ..... turned out to be 103. Or so says the skinny girl climbing the last hill with me, right before I stuck a hot poker in her eye. I mean her tire.

Rozmo and I chose the 68-mile route, mainly because she didn't have a gun big enough to make me do the century. The name of the century ride was "Assault on Dick's Hill," and I've learned enough over the years to know I don't want to ride anything with "assault" or "hill" in the title. I also remember a time BEFORE I learned those things when Katydid and I attempted said assault. I distinctly remember throwing my bike in a ditch and saying, "I'm not going anymore."

The ride was really good. It was overcast most of the day, so I didn't even have to wear sunglasses until about mile 46 or so. We rode along for a while with a guy and girl I've known for years. Rozmo was chatting with Fred, and I was talking to Debi while we rode. That made the miles fly by, and then an amazing thing happened. I rode off and left Debi in my dust. Please alert the media.

My average would have been 15 mph, except Rozmo and I took a detour right there at the end and rode into town. I needed earplugs, and Rozmo needed the nice round number of 70 miles. Hey Rozmo - look at the 6 and the 8. They're both ROUND!!!!! Sixty-eight miles would STILL have been a round number!!

Rozmo went to her parents' house, and I came into the cool comfort of the RV. It was wonderful having my own shower. I took a nap, texted back and forth with Hubby and the Warrior Princess, ate some of the three hundred pounds of pasta salad I brought. I just had Froot Loops and Corn Pops for dessert. Now I'm waiting for the Braves game to come on, to which I can only LISTEN, since the unfortunate demise of our RV television.

We are planning to ride the 40-miler tomorrow. I hope the weather cooperates again.