Started the day with an absolutely amazing Breakfast from the Kappa Delta house mom. She cooked up eggs, biscuits and gravy, sausage, bacon, and chocolate chip pancakes, it was amazing. We had a really tight rack time so we got on the road as fast as we could. Unfortunately we were red flagged less than 2 miles in because for some reason the crew didn't scout the route ahead of time so we found out right after getting on the road that a bridge on our route was under construction. We sat at the red flag for a bit while the crew scouted the detour to make sure it was good to ride on. We made it around the detour then red flagged again to give the vans time to leap frog and mark the next few turns until we finally started rolling. I was with Jake and Joe today, we entertained ourselves for the first 10 or so miles just complaining about the red flags on a day we already were going to have to push to make rack point. We figured we might as well keep riding hard until they tell us to stop so we were moving fast. It was once again full of rolling hills but the ride was gorgeous, very wooded and at the tops of some of the hills we could see just rolling hills for miles into the distance, and of course incredible homes and properties again with great views. The downhill section today were a lot of fun again, we had a rolling rack at the top of one hill so the crew could warn us not to go too fast because it had some steep switchbacks, we didn't go too fast but we had to get a little speed because taking fast turns down hill is so much fun. The hills were not scary at all but one house we passed had two little dogs in the lawn and as we pass the house these tiny dogs come running out onto the road, I really did not expect them to run very fast or chase us for very long but they were viscous, they started catching us and were absolutely crazy, they were inches from Jakes back tire and we had to haul it at maybe 20 to get away from them, it would have been really nasty if they had caught us. I guess they didn't bother any of the other pace lines but we called the last crew stop to let them know. Other than the crazy dogs I have really loved the last few rides just for the views and fun roads with good company, the steep rolling hills have become easier and easier every day. Today we didn't have time to finish the whole ride because we had to get to Union for a sponsored lunch but my pace line was the second in the group and us and the first pace line made it 72 of the 100 miles planned and racked the rest of the way, I fell asleep as soon as we got in the car.
We don't have a friendship visit here so we arrived, had some amazing pizza from a place called Imo's, showered and started some laundry than went to a bike shop to have a couple guys bikes looked at and fixed up a bit. Preston wasn't able to shift into is larger rings on his cassette so he was strugling a lot today on the hills but he got it taken care of and while the mechanic was working on the bike we were talking with him and the owner about what we are doing and about biking and racing and the tour de france. He really liked our ride and was super nice and ended up giving us 10% off everything and didn't charge us for labor, Preston got his rear derailleur adjusted, new cables and housing and it was only $7. All I needed was some CO2 canisters and a new sweatband (I am very excited for the new sweatband, I hate the one I have now)
Dinner was sponsored by the American Legion and was delicious barbecue. A bunch of guys went to go see the new Planet of the Apes movie after dinner but I am tired and needed to do some bike cleaning and didn't really want to spend more money on a movie, especially because it is only in 3D which I think is a waste of money. My bike is now sparkly clean and ready for arrival tomorrow followed by a day off.
Tomorrow will be an especially interesting day as well. It is only 50ish miles but for some reason we have a police escort for the last 28 miles of the ride. So for about an hour and a half or so we will be blowing through red lights, blocking traffic and riding in a double pace line surrounded by police, I think it will be pretty entertaining. Looking forward to that and seeing St Louis for the first time plus we get to ride under the arch.
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