Yes this ride did include a camel!
Our beverage stop in Bigelow. Bad photo but look behind Jo in the middle and you'll see the good ole boys. They were funny.
Now this is a perfect photo. Shows the real side our of fearless ride leader and host. Children at Play and Robb. And dig that jersey!
Yes, we really did see a camel and ox and even water buffalo. Also I saw a dead raccoon, armo, 2 live snakes, 2 dead ones and Jenn and Chris Irons were real sure to "over" point out a turtle then had the nerve to both look back at me. My best friends can be so evil sometimes! HA!
Robb hosted a GREAT ride today called the Lollipop Ride. The course was like a lollipop and it was suh-weet!
About mid week we began shooting emails back and forth about this ride and Robb said he'd do it if he had 4 takers. He had about a dozen! He's one of those guys everyone likes to be around. Good solid rider with a sense of humor.
We met out at Lake Sylvia this morning around 8:30 and headed out for our ride. This first thing we did was climb a hill but then we were all fresh and it was a nice slow paced climb. Everyone in good spirits and feeling good. The road we were on is a 4 mile driveway for the Lake Sylvia Park. It's an over sized pond but a pretty little place with hiking trails, a little office, restrooms, etc.
First road: Hwy 10 north. We've all riden Hwy 10 before so no biggie. We climbed a couple of hills and then did what I think is one of the best rides down in central Arkansas... the drop into Perryville! By the time we got to the bottom I heard a couple of 50 mph drops. I screamed all the way down at 43.3.
Second road: Off to the left at the bottom of the Thornburg drop we took the rode that goes by the Heifer Project. Jenn and Parick were up front. I dropped out for a moment and rode up the drive to get a photo of the camel and ox. Pretty place and I'd like to go back again. I think the kids have been out there on school field trips before but that was years ago. Anyway I had to hump it to get back to the group who graciously waited for a moment at Hwy 10. And then again I had to hump it because a couple of dogs wanted to run with me a moment. One was a nice looking yellow Lab.
Third road: Hwy 10 again. We were just on it for a moment and then turned to go to Perryville and Harris Brake Dam.
Forth Road: Gosh, what was the name of that road? Anyway, we rode along Harris Brake and I think that's a place folks out to buy up as property comes open. Just outside LR and I've heard it's a nice little fishing lake. Lots of run down trailers though. I rode with Becca for a little bit, then Yale, then Jenn and Chris Irons. This is the road they pointed out the turtle. They're hethens!
Fifth road: I'm sure it has a name but by now I'm tripping on Hammer gels and hot Gatoraid. Anyway we rode it to some other road like 300 or 113. We began to see the markers sprayed on the road for the Tour de Toad from this year. Looks like the 40 and 60 miler routes came through here. When we stopped there was a small store and I went in to use the restroom and the lady said they didn't have running water right now. I think she just didn't want a bunch of sweating cyclist using her john. Everyone was riding really strong today!
Fifth road: There was a sign that said "Wye 4" so I knew it was about time to start climbing. We started out all together but Wye Mountain can break up any group. I was able to stay in my mid ring, mid gear so I felt good. There were several times I really wanted to drop the gears but this has sort of been my goal over the past couple of weeks to ride hills in higher gears. Got to the top about mid group. There was a nice breeze blowing... ok let me clear this up. There was a nice breeze blowing after I stopped. The same breeze was a pain in the butt only moments before as I was climbing the hill.
From here we rode to Hwy 10 and it started with rolling hills and then a long hill. As I was riding, Rebecca came from no where and smoked that hill! I'm not joking! It was like one of those chick pro riders. Whoosh! I hollared, You go girl! I could hear her laughing. Laughing while eating me alive on a hill. That's low ain't it? NOT! That's awesome!
The front group was at the Hwy 10 turn and they were leaving. From here on to the turn off back to Lake Sylvia I was solo. I could see them but I just couldn't catch them and the wind was picking up so I didn't have anyone to draft. This was no big deal because I slowed a little and played my "what's that dead mushed up animal in the road?" game. Oh man, there was one bloated deer on the side of the deer and the flies were having a family reunion like no other! Lord did it stink! I could see Matt dropping back from the group a little and I told myself as long as I can see him then I won't be left on the side of the road to be eaten by buzzards. He stayed about 100-200 yards ahead. It was funny because he would speed up a little and I would. He would slow a little and instead of me doing the right thing and get my lard butt up there and take turns pulling, I would slow down. We both finally got back to the road to Lake Sylvia and first thought was, "Thank God, only 4 miles." I guess God thought I needed a little endurance testing because that was the l-o-n-g-e-s-t, roughest 4 miles of my life! I kid you not, that road was not that rough when we headed out. And remember that hill we climbed right off the bat? It was nowhere to be found. I'm not joking, it seemed like it was 20 miles. I finally saw a sign with an arrow curved down like a bad Viagra advertisement! The wind was blowing and it seemed like I was having to pedal to go downhill. I got down to the bottom of the hill and rode in to the park and accepted the trophy... the prized lollipop which served as the finishers trophy. I honestly wanted to ride right past Robb and into the lake! And honestly, I think I'm not the only one that wanted to do that! It became hot and we were tired by the end of this 53 mile ride.
I still didn't find my swimsuit last night so I changed into street clothes and hung out a bit then headed home. Seemed like it took a long time to get to I-430 but it always does when you drive after a good long ride.
Home, showered and eating like there's no tomorrow! That's one of the great things about riding. You come home and get cleaned up and then log your miles to find to knocked off 2400 calories! So what did I eat this afternoon? Some more shrimp, 2 glasses of sweet tea, a Mt Dew, some Triscuits, a leftover chocolate dounut I found (Terri, when did we have chocolate donuts?) Gosh, that could have been from last year's Memorial day weekend, who knows! Then Terri got home and said "I was thinking abiut making shrimp poboys for dinner, that sound good?" You bet baby! And it was!
Tomorrow Ian and Holly Hope are leading a ride. Maybe part of the ARKY 100. Can't wait!
Chris Irons, if you are reading this, "Good Luck on the NW Arkansas Challenge!"
No comments:
Post a Comment