It was a tough, but great two days.

Once again, the youngster and I did the 100 mile first day in the MS Bike Ride, but this time my sister-in-law (who road tripped down with my mom and brother) did it with us, and she rocked! Sure, she was tired after that, but we all were. It was the first time she rode two consecutive days for that long, and the first time she experienced drafting behind someone in a pace line. She rode in groups up in Pennsylvania, but they ride a lot of hills, so they don't ride a constant speed on flat land for long periods of time like we do. Therefore they don't learn to trust the person in front of them to keep a constant speed and get as close as possible behind them to take advantage of the draft. She caught on though.

Saturday we got rained on a bit on the way south. The bike clothes are great for rain, because they dry out pretty quick once it stops. The one thing that doesn't dry out is socks. Once you soak them all the way through, you're just dealing with it until you can get to the finish line and peel them off your pruned up toes. By mile 40 (out of 102) the rain had pretty much let up. Then it was just a matter of gutting it out for the rest of the trip. One major disappointment was the 'century patch'. When you opt to ride 100 miles the first day, you swing by a rest stop that isn't on the normal route. In past years, you got handed a patch that said something to the effect that you did the century. It's just a little patch. If you actually DO the 100 miles though, it means a lot to you. It's a piece of the accomplishment...a momento if you will. Well, apparently they had all of about 50 of these patches. The lunberyard crew was NOT in the first 50 people to get to that rest stop and so...no patch for us. I was bummed, but we have been told the patches for those who did the century ride and weren't in the first 50 people there are coming. I'm crossing my fingers.

Sunday that drafting part became really important, because we faced a 20 mile an hour head wind all the way from Daytona to Saint Augustine. It was just brutal, but we persevered and got back to where we started.

My 4th MS Ride in the books!