So tired!!! Today I completed my first century ride ever (that is, a bicycle ride over 100 miles). It's amazing to see what your body is really capable of when you push it to the limit, which is what we all did.
Our ride today took us from Deguniak Springs to a church in Gulf Breeze, FL. Gulf Breeze is on an island just outside of Pensacola, so we never did get into downtown Pensacola. Our cue sheets for the day (which have our bicycling directions and other important info) only had us riding 98 miles today, so many people in the group found a way to add on another 2 miles. For me that was cycling around the second naturally roundest lake in the world (in Defuniak Springs).
Today also happened to be my first sweep day! Sweeps are the riders that stay behind the entire group and have a med kit and bike maintenance items in case anything happens to the riders in front. I was paired with the lovely Colleen today as my co-sweep and we had a blast of a time! Not everything went quite so well, as Colleen picked up a large metal object in her rear wheel and damaged her derailleur within the first 15 miles of the ride. With a bit of hitting the derailleur with a rock to flatten it out and a zip tie replacing a missing screw, we did succeed in getting back on the road after a half hour of resting on the side of the road. Let's just say that everyone's moods improved after that :)
We did have to make good time after that, which we did at an incredible pace of 18-22 mph. We made it the entire way to the host and didn't have to get vanned (which happens if you fall far behind or are otherwise unable to continue riding)! Woohoo!
Not much to say about the host, other than it was the biggest and most decked out host space that we've had thus far (it was a youth center at a church). We say around, talked about affordable housing for a while, and fell asleep.
Our ride today took us from Deguniak Springs to a church in Gulf Breeze, FL. Gulf Breeze is on an island just outside of Pensacola, so we never did get into downtown Pensacola. Our cue sheets for the day (which have our bicycling directions and other important info) only had us riding 98 miles today, so many people in the group found a way to add on another 2 miles. For me that was cycling around the second naturally roundest lake in the world (in Defuniak Springs).
Today also happened to be my first sweep day! Sweeps are the riders that stay behind the entire group and have a med kit and bike maintenance items in case anything happens to the riders in front. I was paired with the lovely Colleen today as my co-sweep and we had a blast of a time! Not everything went quite so well, as Colleen picked up a large metal object in her rear wheel and damaged her derailleur within the first 15 miles of the ride. With a bit of hitting the derailleur with a rock to flatten it out and a zip tie replacing a missing screw, we did succeed in getting back on the road after a half hour of resting on the side of the road. Let's just say that everyone's moods improved after that :)
We did have to make good time after that, which we did at an incredible pace of 18-22 mph. We made it the entire way to the host and didn't have to get vanned (which happens if you fall far behind or are otherwise unable to continue riding)! Woohoo!
Not much to say about the host, other than it was the biggest and most decked out host space that we've had thus far (it was a youth center at a church). We say around, talked about affordable housing for a while, and fell asleep.
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