Not So Bad

The First Caribou Charity Ride went better than expected. 256 riders came out for either 50 or 100km on the country roads west of TBay. I finished the 100km (actually 105) in 4 hours and 45 minutes. I went out nice and slow letting just about everybody zip on by. I made an early stop at the first aid station for a bathroom break and then got back on the nearly deserted road. I didn't see anyone close until almost Hymers as I starting catching up in the hills. Next up was the 9 km to Nolalu that was a twisty hilly section that put up a pretty good fight. Got by a few more here. Sal and I had a plan where I would call her from Nolalu and then we would meet at the next corner where 590 and 595 meet. My cell had 'no service' so that plan went out the window, the same place my Rogers plan is going when my contract is up. I came upon another rider on the side of 590 and stopped to see if he was ok. He was patching a tube and had 2 others on the shoulder beside him. He had crashed earlier, his derailleur was acting up, someone had given him a tube with a hole in it and he had attempted 2 previous patches without success. I offered him my spare tube and luckily it was the right size. This left me with no way to fix a flat but I'm pretty confident in Jill's tires. I borrowed his TBay Tel cell phone and called Sal to let her know the change in plans. He finished the patch as I was pulling away and it seemed to be holding so he will return the tube to Petrie's as long as the patch held. There were a few steep little devils on the rolling road back down to Hymer's. One just before the stop sign had me down to about 9km per hour and my legs were cramping in all new locations. I really thought I had been hydrating enough but apparently not. Once back on 61 I stood to get up a bit of speed and both legs cramped so badly I almost lost it. Sat down and let things cool, shifted to a more friendly gear and kept a nice easy pace to the finish. I was banking on about 6 hours so I'm pretty happy with less than 5. Pretty sore too but it never hurts as much when you exceed your expectations.