Rushville, Indiana

Today I rode 105 miles which is called a century ride because it is over 100 miles. This is the first time I have ever ridden such a crazy long distance. Back when I was training in Wallingford and sucking wind during 30 mile rides I never could have dreamed of riding this far. Of course since it was a long ride, we had to wake up at 5am. The church in Yellow Springs had a bang up breakfast prepared for us, the highlight of which was giant homemade blueberry muffins. The ride started off with 24 miles on a bike trail which was great because we could ride three abreast and actually have conversations. A couple miles out, a group of riders thought it would be a great idea to ride a naked mile. They pulled off to the side of the path to strip as I rode by, wanting nothing to do with the idea. Later I heard the story of the epic fail this plan became. The girls in all their infinite wisdom decided they would turn this naked mile into 5 miles. So while the guys put clothes on, the girls continued to bare it all on their bikes. Cue the police. Along comes a cop who stopped to reprimand the girls, collect ids, and give warnings. Who wants to ride a bike naked anyway? They are uncomfortable enough with a cushion pad between my butt and the seat. In the last mile stretch, Max from our group didn't hear me yell out and point that a post was in the middle of the rode. We were distracted by a tandem bicylce riding by us and he crashed into this post going about 17 mph. Fortunately he and his bike sustained no serious damage but the sound was alarming and his flip over the handlebars would have impressed any Olympic gymnastics judge.
After the bike path, Ohio amazed me once again with several fast food restaurants that specialize in chili. We are now in the land where soda is called pop and for the last 600 miles every pharmacy's electronic sign outside has advertised silly bandz. The water towers in every town with the city name on it makes me feel a little prouder to be riding my bike through that town. They just look so cool hovering over the ground and are gigantic up close. Because today was more than 90 miles, we have two lunches set up. This morning was very fast so I got to the first lunch at mile 35 by 930 so I wast too hungry. I had half a banana and just kept riding. At mile 40, things went sour fast as the skys opened up and just dumped water on us. For the next 18 miles, it was raining and pouring and tires of people in front of me were spraying up water and debris right into my eyes. The chafing that happens when a chamois is drenched and you're cyclin at about 80rpm is unreal. Everyones butts paid the price for the rainstorm today. I actually had fun getting soaked but pedaling with wet feet for the rest of the day was the worst. I got to second lunch at mile 75 by 1215 squeezed the water out of my socks, ate a banana and cinnamon raisin bagel and in 14 minutes was on my way again. Comin into Indiana the terrrain changes into rolling hills again, a sight I wasn't too happy to see, but I sucked it up and just pedaled on to the host in this town of 2200. We got in around 235 and were greated with doritos, cookies, Popsicles and cold waters. I tried to take a nap but our van pulled up so we unloaded the trailer and were shuttled by church members to our showers. We each got our own shower from empty rooms at an assisted living facility. My toilet had dried vomit stains caked on the seat and the sink was filled with yellow and gray crumbles of an unknown substance. If yesterday was the best shower of my life, today was definitely the worst. But, beggars can't be choosers and I was atleast happy to have warm water despite the lack of pressure shooting it out of the shower head at stomach height. One of the church members sons followed me around for a solid hour. He wanted to talk about everything, and play games and watch a movie. I just wanted to relax and do nothing. So I decided to roll with his ideas because they sounded more fun. I get the opportunity to have free time now while this weeks laundry crew is doing everyones wash, presentation crew is preparing a talk for the church community, and dinner is being made. I'm on the trailer loading crew, so my work is done for the day. 100 miles, piece of cake.