Tour de Rock

Up at 4 a.m. on Saturday morning, I met up with other Bell mountain bike team members, and my good friend Joe to start the Tour de Rock 100 mile trek , from Burns Park to Keo, and back. Joe and I had discussed whether we would ride the 62 miler or the 100 miler, so about 2 hours into the ride, we hit a crossroads, and the challenge was issued to Joe to come on and lets keep up with the freight train of 5 riders who we were tailing on our way to the 50 mile marker, thus at 2.5 hours we were half way thru, alas, the train pulled out , before we were ready, and we found ourselves , by ourselves and a train of 2 riders, for the next 50 miles, needless to say that the next 50 miles would take twice as long or 5 hours to do the final 50 miles, which from mile 75 in to Burns Park Joe set the pace, and I followed, finishing the ride in 7.5 hours, which is my third century. As an aside Joe's wife , Marianne came by us at the 25 mile marker, and was the engine with a string of 10 plus riders, we learned later, that Marianne had completed the course in 5.5 hours as a tuneup for her iron man race later in the summer. I want to congratulate a member of the Bell Mountain Bike team and his dad, Hunter Mourer, and Lee, his dad, Hunter is age 13 ( I think) and he completed the century ride, the last 2 miles , Hunter finished on a rim, due to multiple flats, quite impressive. Also thanks Joe, for teaching me about pickle juice, as a solution for cramps, and how to draft. This was my second ride on my road bike since the Big Dam Bridge Century last fall, the other ride was a 68 mile ride called the Tour de Toad. , from Conway to Wye Mountain and back. Five years ago, I had not ridden a bike since grade school, but due to my son Clayton's encouragement and guidance, and the Bell Mountain Team group, I have now completed some personal milestones, I would not have thought possible, my goals now are to complete the Ouachita Challenge and the Syllamo Challenge in 2010, for 2009 I finished 45 miles of the Ouachita 60 miles on the Tour side, and 25 miles of the Syallamo 45 miler, big goals but the Big Dam Bridge Century and the Berryman 57 miler will be good tuneups for these races.
Known as the slowest sport rider in the Mountain Bike series, I continue to be amazed how the biking has tranformed my physical well being, which for a CPA , is major, due to the sedimentary life style of my profession. I hope I can ride my bike and practice my profession into my 80's , understanding that is God's will , and not mine will, that will so determine, I hope everyone has a great 4th of July, I look forward to Womble, my favorite race venue.