Saturday: Sunrise Century Clarksville

Yesterday morning, my friend Kennette and I did the Sunrise century in Clarksville.  The ride started at 8:00 AM and we left at about  6:00 AM to get to Clarksville on time to start the ride.   Now, I have never ridden a full century.  Metric centuries are as far as I am willing to go; and even then, the last two miles of the ride, I am usually pretty bitter and ready to hail a cab or hitchhike back to my car, give my bike away and toss my helmet dramatically off a bridge.

I will say that doing a metric century with a friend and chatting all day about everything that it takes 62 miles to chat about is a lot of fun, and I can sort of ignore my aching lower back and my deep deep irritation with myself for signing up for something so prolonged and torturous.  It was a beautiful day with a high of only 80ish degrees which is UNHEARD of in the Nashville area this time of year.  You really had no choice but to do something outside on a day like yesterday.

Now, I love a supported ride, and I really wouldn't do a long ride with rest stops and such.  Rest stop food is immensely enjoyable.  You can always count on trail mix with m&m's, various bars, cookies, bananas, and orange wedges.  I am a fiend for snacks and biking 62 miles removes all the guilt that I feel about them.  Enjoying both a Rice Krispie Treat with chocolate drizzle AND a cup of trail mix while standing around a port-a-john at a bike trip rest stop is right up my alley.  No joke.

Also, Clarksville was just lovely and full of farm roads that switched back and forth through flat flat cornfields and rows of other lovely green things.  It was quite picturesque and a bit European even.  Some of the tiny paved roads through crops were reminiscent to me of the country sides in France, and it renewed my desire to bike a bit of the Tour de France route.

The wind, however was vicious.  It hit hard after the first 20 miles, and I found that it felt like pedaling uphill.  At a point, there was no way to chat as the wind sucked our voices into silence, and there was nothing to do but hunker down and finish.  When we were on open road, which was actually not very often, and a camper or large truck passed us, the wind combined with motorized passing speed was enough to knock you off the bike.

We finished around 1:30ish and sat down in a school cafeteria for the usual horrible post-bike ride fare of Ragu and noodles with garlic bread.  I always finish my bike ride and think I will wait to eat until I get home to eat something healthy, BUT as soon as I smell that salty tomato sauce and that savory white garlic bread, I sit down with a full plate as if in a trance and eat without even cutting up the noodles, just slurping them down like a caveman.  I usually get seconds and forget that I ever thought about eating something a little more healthy.

At home yesterday evening, I was exhausted. I went to Yogurt World, and vaguely remember walking to my bedroom, before waking up this morning wondering what had happened to my evening.