Distance = 52.23
Time = 3.44.36
Max speed = 26.5
Avg speed = 14.0
We got up early... about 5:30. We wanted to be on the road by 7am so that we could miss some of the worst heat. That first morning is always difficult. Getting our system down would take a day or so. We woke up, got into our cycling clothes right away. I even put a sweater on for a little bit! That was nice. We got our bags ready for the most part but left the tent up to dry a little from the dew. We had decided to have our first breakfast in the park rather than go into town like the others. The Moose Lodge or something like that was providing the breakfast... for $5 each! It was just eggs, toast, hashbrowns, and some juice. Nothing special, but enough. While there, I made our Accelerade mixture so that would be ready. Then back to take the tent down. Lorrie was a little nervous because everyone was leaving when we got back there. I kept reminding her that they were on their way to eat downtown so we were doing fine. We got the tent down, had everything packed up, and took it all over to the equipment truck. You know how in movies the action scene, usually sex, starts and the music coincides? Then the phone rings or something and the music skids to a stop? lol That's how I was feeling! Except it wasn't sex! /= We were getting started and then I had to stop and fix my shoe... bwzzzip. lol Then we were really on the road. We started on a trail, which was very nice. The only problem is that many people on a 4 foot wide trail can be a little dicey. We just took our time enjoying the cool air, the scenery, and the people. Yeah, the people. For now anyway! lol At some point Heidi and Tim passed us. Heidi said, "Hi Ladies. HEY, those are our ladies!" lol Then Daryl, Bill and Jeanie passed us. So we had left in good time. (= The trail was windy and hilly. Lots of people braking suddenly on those descents. Damn them! I'd go way ahead on the descents and then Lorrie would catch up on the flats or the climbs. It worked well. As you can see in the video, the day also started out somewhat foggy. That was a little eerie at times. When we got the the first rest area, I had to use the bathroom BADLY! lol She didn't so I told her to just go ahead. Then I could see how fast I could go and catch her. (= The line was pretty friggin' long so I was there awhile. I hate that for a first stop. Oh well! Back on the road, people started spreading out some because of the stop. That was nice. I don't know how fast I went but it was fun. I kept playing catch-up with an older man who had a radio playing polkas and such. It was cute at first and then I was done with him. lol So I sped up just a little more to get away. I got to the second rest area just as Lorrie was parking her bike. Good timing. This time she had to get into the bathroom line. So I grabbed water and food for us and stood with her. What I thought was funny was that they were serving PBJ sandwiches! lol I'm SO glad I decided not to bring that stuff! We stretched a little and were off again. It was still early and still cool enough so we didn't want to be standing around too much time before it gets hot. The rest of the ride was pretty uneventful except for the heat. Lorrie drinks a lot of friggin' water, which is a good thing. But it always makes me nervous when she is close to running out so often. She needs a monster bottle! I'd recommend a camelbak if it wouldn't be so hot on her back. We finished the ride on another trail and got into camp, I think, around 1pm. I don't have a great concept of time. All I know is that it was very hot and we still had all day to hang out. We parked our bikes and started walking around trying to find Daryl et al. I called on my phone but he didn't seem to have service again. We found them by a pavillion, which was very convenient for the shade!
Back to get our bikes. Then back to get our bags. Ha... they had 4-wheelers with trailers that would take us and our gear to our campsites! Awesome!! Marked a spot for the tent in a nice shady site and then went down to the lake to cool off. *That* was awesome!! We swam around for a little while in our cycling clothes! lol Then went back up to set up the tent in the shade. We sat for a few moments and chatted with everyone. They had all showered already so were heading to the beer tent and various other places. The plan was to meet at 4:30pm for dinner since Brian had his van there temporarily. We headed over to the shower truck and got in line. Holy crap was that hot! The info tent was right there and they had ice water readily available. Good thing! I noticed on the shower door a poster for the AIDS Ride with the same logo from last year. That made me a little nostalgic! (= The shower felt great! I washed my clothes at the same time. Of course Lorrie took about half the time I did so she was outside when I got out. Sweetheart that she is, she waited for me since we hadn't said what the plan was. That was considerate! AND she brought me more water. How lucky am I? Back at the tent, we finished getting ready then Jan and Brian showed up around 4pm. Turns out everyone had gone down to a local bar after the beer tent so Brian was going to pick them up rather than meeting up at the tent site. I'm a little curious what would have happened had we not been there at 4pm since it was 30 minutes early and we easily could have explored the park more. No biggie. We were there so we went with them to pick up the bar folks. We headed out of town to a restaurant called Goose Crossing. They weren't open for another 30 minutes but let us into the bar early, which was where we ended up eating too. They had a free drink for any TRAMmers deal going so they were all happy. Lorrie was double happy since she got mine too! lol We split one of their big meals plus a hamburger! Both were good but the chicken was awesome! We were there for several hours just talking, dancing, laughing, and staying cool. The servers were great. At some point Brian requested that the chef come out to our table so we could thank him. He got a nice round of applause and seemed grateful. Eventually it was time to head back to the park. We had to stop at a liquor store so Daryl, Bill, and Jeanie could get more to drink. We headed downtown, I can't remember why, and ended up getting out to go walk around. We ended up in a bookstore where Bill bought a Garrison Keeler joke book, which he read out loud the rest of the evening. lol Lorrie and I left them to go to their bar and we went to the drugstore to get some anti-itch cream for my millions of bug bites! We also got some cool drinks that were not water! lol Vitamin water though. ha! We walked back up to the park and listened to the music that was playing on the stage. We could hear it from our tent so we didn't have to stay down there. We read a little and just relaxed some before going to bed. It was still pretty hot and we had yet to take the sleeping bags out of my messenger bag. We just laid on a sheet that Lorrie brought and when it got a little chillier in the middle of the night, we would put it over us. That seems to be working pretty well so far. Another early morning tomorrow!
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