Feb 10/11 - another 200k down

I did some more drywall work on Friday, putting some more mud on the wall. Today, Sunday, it should be ready for sanding.

Leaving a little after 2pm, I was at Hamid & Shab's by 5:30. We chatted, drank, chatted, ate, chatted ... you know what it's like ! Hamid was preparing a hot salsa as I was coming in, mostly ground jalapenos. He didn't think that I'd be able to eat it straight, but now knows better ! Shab prepared a dinner of salmon, pasta, beans and salad, that was excellent. I was in bed by 10pm and we were all up by 5:30 a.m.

Well, I was actually up earlier than that and was drinking coffee and internet browsing with the Blackberry when Hamid got up. We had breakfast and were on the road by 6:15, heading to the start of the ride. Shab was up to see us off and presumably stayed up, since she's an early riser anyway.

The ride starts from the truck stop at exit 49 on I75. That section of I75, from Miami to Naples, is called "Alligator Alley". It goes straight through the Everglades, flat on all sides with sawgrass in all directions.

The ride is similarly flat. Like a reversed letter "P", with the top of the letter being a rectangle, we ride 46 miles mostly north then back south for a couple of miles before heading west at the top of the rectangle. That first 70 miles was brutal, a strong headwind coming from the northewest. That was the bad news. The good news was that from the time we turned south, we had a tailwind or at least a cross tail.

I started out with the lead group but decided that I didn't want to push my knee into that crosswind at 22+ mph. I dropped back by myself and was eventually picked up by a slower moving train with Alain & Vita and three neophyte Randonneurs. We stuck together for the ride duration.

The newbies were strong at first, notably through the headwind sections, but weren't used to the distance. Once we turned south, my legs recovered and I did a lot of pulling but consistently found that we'd be dropping people. We had long stops at the end of the 46 miles northbound as well as the lunch stop at the south end of the rectangle and and extra, non Control, stop 15 miles from the end. It was a long day, finishing up just before 5pm (9 hours), but a good day.

The weather was great. If I had to choose the wind direction we certainly hit it spot on. I'd have to look back at my time from last year but I think that it was similar, only last year I rode most of the way by myself.

Hamid rode at the front, with a variety of companions, finishing up around 3:20 -- an excellent time. Oh, interesting, I checked last year's time and it was 8:40 ... not as windy last year and by myself, shorter and fewer stops. Hamid's time last year was 7:56, so he beat that by about 35 minutes. Excellent. Hamid is much stronger than me at the short rides. I really should do some local club rides to develop my "short burst" strength ... sometime :).

I was home by 9:30 with a couple of stops for food.

Today ... the aforementioned drywall work ... no biking !

It was cold outside this morning, reading 30F ... brrr !

Onward.