Faithful Readers, thank you so much for your patience. As I predicted there were no cyber cafes in Shiner, TX (population 2070). Hell, there was barely a restaurant in Shiner. Then when I arrived home in San Antonio today I went immediately to church and then I went directly to lunch and then to watch Spiderman 3. Therefore my tardiness in writing this entry. My deepest apologies.
The ride was very good. Windy as hell and hilly to boot, but good. I stuck with my group the entire time: Yesemia, George, Ron, and Christy (until Ron ditched us at mile 75 and sagged--got driven--back). Our trusty band, in fact, was some of the few South Texas Chapter folks (minus the fast group, of course) who actually made all 100 miles. The entire slow group was sagged in since they were so far behind and even some of the middle group didn't finish. As much as this makes me proud--and it really does--it also means that we were so far behind in actually making it to the brewery that we missed out on all the beer and nearly all the food. So far different than the homecoming at Tahoe. (But, man, were those refried beans, Spanish rice, guacamole, and tortillas some of the most welcome food I have ever had in my entire life!!!!).
The good news: Eric made it to Shiner in time to see me cross the finish line. But only by 15 minutes. Shiner was farther from San Antonio than he figured. (Of course, if he would have actually looked at the directions I emailed him days ago he would have known that.) I called him at the 50 mile mark to let him know how long it had taken us to get that far. I figured that it would be a good estimate of when we would arrive. And I was right. I called him again from the last rest stop when I figured we had an hour more of ride time. He told me he was en route and that he should arrive there around that same time (!!!!!!!). I told him I would stall the group at that last rest stop (I had been the one up to that point hurrying our little group along at stops in order to get us on the road faster). Luckily, he drove fast and exhaustion set in to our group, and he made it in time to get pictures of me riding in to the brewery and everything.
Ride Facts
Max speed: 24 MPH (not surprising since I had to pedal against the wind to go downhill; what ride does that sound like?)
Ave speed: 11.7 MPH
butt-in-saddle time: 8 hours and 21 minutes (so I think about 30 minutes slower than Tahoe but luckily I made up time during the rest stops yesterday)
extra nifty thing: watched my odometer turn over 1000 miles
BTW, the bed and breakfast, Old Kasper House, was quite nice. Yummy breakfast too this morning. I slept like the dead. But by this point I can even get in and out of chairs without too much cringing.
I have plans to voluteer with Team in Training staffing their booths at events and making phone calls to prospective participants for Information Nights. So at the risk of making a fool out of myself like I did last time: The End.
Posted by MaryKayCooper at May 6, 2007 7:22 PM