Raise One For Anne

Goals for this ride: Ride in the dark: done Ride 125 miles: done We wanted to start in the dark because we’ll have to do this on August 10 and wanted to ensure our lights were sufficient. Also, it’s obviously cooler then and we wanted to cover as many miles as possible before it got hot. 4am. So early.  But that is what time we woke up, ate breakfast, and drank a bit of coffee. At 545, we were outside and ready to go. No pictures because my pockets were so full of bars, gels, etc. I couldn’t have pulled my phone out without scattering stuff everywhere. By 730, we had covered some bike path, road, and gravel path before it was time for a pit stop. (It was really time 15 minutes before this.) Now the middle part began, out to London, OH and down the VERY straight Ohio to Erie Trail on our way to Cedarville. (The Road Goes On Forever) After a lunch, at 1045, at the Subway in Cedarville and having completed a metric century, we started our way back home and metric century #2 of the day...

“Yes I’m leaving the sorrow and heartaches/Before it takes me away from my mind...” If you live anywhere from Iowa to Eastern PA, you know it is supposed to be smoking hot this weekend, so we left the house at 6am for a 50 mile ride before the heat became unbearable. This was supposed to be our 125 mile tune up ride but not in this heat. This was about 12 miles from the house. The Sun was nearly up and the moon was still hanging out. We took a quick break at mile 25. Every stop equaled the sweat just pouring off us. Best to keep moving. Here’s a peacock hanging out in someone’s yard about mile 41. And now we’re home. I’ve consumed breakfast number two of the day: rice, lentils, and eggs. Stay hydrated out there.

We rolled out this morning about 630 in an attempt to avoid the heat. It was nice and cool with long shadows of Sunrise. About mile 40 we decided to change up our 87 mile route. I failed at doing math backward in my head and picked a turn around point that would actually put us at 97 miles by the time we got home.  97 is completely unacceptable! So we chose to go for ALL! and ride 100 miles. This meant an extra stop on the way back for water and food. Don’t judge me! They were delicious! Our training plan didn’t call for back to back centuries but we did it! And we have an even longer training ride planned for next weekend. Fundraising is going okay. Thanks to all who already donated! Remember any amount is accepted! On another note today marks 4 years since the last time we saw Anne before she died. That was a good day!

We participated in the Central Ohio MS 100 on Saturday. It was very hot and humid with heat index in the mid 90s most of the day. For added fun, there was barely a cloud in the sky. We had to take some extra breaks to ensure we didn’t overheat. Plus we took three bottles of water from SAG wagons. Thanks to all the patient volunteers as we know we were the last two 100 milers on the road. It took us longer than we would have liked but it still wasn’t bad for moving pace. Anyway, here’s a blurry picture of a goat on some hill we were climbing.

Lisa started belting that out around mile 15 today. Now you can share in the ear worm too. We wanted to get some miles in today to keep the legs moving before we ride in the Central Ohio MS 100 on Saturday. It’s a nice ride for a great cause. It’s very nice to have someone else worry about the details. We just have to show up and ride. It was just a little foggy. Happy Independence Day!