How Far?

Sunday July 31,2011 was Volker bicycle's 100 mile Grand "Fundo" ride. I woke up at 4:30 in the morning to be at the shop by 5:45am. I decided to ride my bike from home to the shop. I had packed the night before and managed to fit everything I would need into the three pockets of my kit and my saddle bag. light had just started to sneek out into sky when we all set out for Lawrence at 6am which was our out and back point. I have had my bike for over a year now and I have had the same bottle cages for that same amount of time but for some reason this is the day that the front one decides to pop off with bottle in it and all and go rolling down the road just about 2 miles into the ride. I stop and pick it up because I knew I would need 3 bottles of water and not just 2,this would turn out to be a very wise choice. I was able to get the cage to pop back on without having to unscrew or screw in anything. I work like mad to catch back up to everyone. We are going at a pretty good clip and we get maybe another 10 miles down the road when we go over a set of railroad tracks and you guessed it, the cage comes off again. I once again grab cage and bottle and snap back on and I look up and can't seem to see anyone down the road. I didn't really know the route to get out to Lawrence but figured I would wing it. So I continue alone heading west. I reach Bonner Springs within the hour and I just happened to look to my right and I see a group of cyclist that were with the ride just starting back up from taking a bathroom break. I speed up and latch on for the remainder of the ride. There were 7 of us total and we all worked well taking turns pulling. Up until now the ride was super flat but now begins the "rollers". They weren't too bad but I would certainly feel them on our way back.When we were about 10 miles from town some guy in a SUV came to a rolling stop at a stop sign and because of the sun he claims he couldn't see us so he started to speed thru the intersection, he suddenly sees us and slams on his breaks causing a rider to stop short and the guy behind to go down. Luckily no one was hurt.We arrived in Lawrence just after 8am and we rode thru town and stopped at a gas station to refill our bottles, stretch, and eat. At this point I had 48+/- miles on my computer. I felt great and I was ready for the 48 or so miles back.  The sun was up higher in the sky but the temps were still tolerable. They were calling for 97degrees plus the heat index for the day. 8:30 am and we start our way back home, about 35 to 40 minutes into the ride one of the riders has a blow out so we stop to repair in the shade. She gets the new tube in and we all roll out again when no more than 5 miutes later she has another blow out. This time she takes her time to really inspect her tire and realizes that her side wall has a slice in it. Aubree suggests to use a clif shot wrapper to patch the hole. She said to put the wrapper between the tube and the tire on the inside of the tire, they do so and put everything together. That darn thing held the whole way home with out any other problems. At mile 83 we stopped under a bridge to check on someones tire and while we sat there I began to feel pourly. We were all low on water so we found the nearest gas station and filled back up. I took some sport beans and a packet of "Emergen-C". I was amazed at how well I felt after that. We made it to the shop at 12:00pm. The sun was blaring although it would get hotter into the day. Pot-Pies restaurant and Volker bicycles had pasta and vegetables, fruit salad, and Cokes waiting for us. Most of the other riders took a longer route and they did closer to 115 miles for the day because of a couple closed roads/bridge. After eating a little and sitting in front of the fan to cool off I decided to ride home. By the time I got home my computer said 97 miles. This was by far the longest ride I have done to date, I have done numerous 65 mile rides but never this many. I am glad I did it and now look back at the first time I tried doing 18 miles and how far I have come from bonking at 18 miles versus bonking at 83 miles. I am still a little impatient with my progress but when I look back and think how I smoked for 18 years and was 30 pounds heavier just 1 and a half years ago, you know I am not doing too bad.

Thank you Britton for putting this ride on and thank you John from Pot-Pies for cooking the food. Who ever supplied the Coke, I thank you the most!