It's Africa Hot

One of my favorite movies is "Biloxi Blues", which is a story about a group of World War Two recruits from NYC going through basic training at an army base in Biloxi, MS. As they arrive on the base in mid summer, one of the recruits remarks "Boy it's hot. It's Africa hot."

Today Danny Short and I did a 72 mile ride and by the end it was, by God, Africa hot. My truck said 94 degrees and I'll bet it was more than that on some of those stretches with brand new blacktop. The ride followed a really nice route-very scenic and mostly rollers that trended down hill for the first 65 miles. Then as we got ready to climb for the last 6-7 miles and the temperature was pegging at 90+, an unbelievable headwind started in on us. The flags in Cornelia were blowing horizontal and straight at us as we came through town. Hot, Hilly and Headwind- it just doesn't get any better than this does it Danny?

But we stayed well hydrated today (I'm getting much better at drinking while I ride) and kept a 15-16 MPH average for most of the ride- not bad for me. We agreed that we could have gone another 30 miles to make it a century, but thought it might seem boastful on our parts. After saying my goodbyes to Danny, I drove straight to the Dairy Queen and dove headfirst into a M&M blizzard- sweet relief.

So, with less than a week to go, I'm as ready as I can be. I know that I could have done more miles- but I'm satisfied with where I am (I've ridden nearly 9,000 miles in the year I've been training) and look forward to getting started. I'll probably ride a few more days this coming week and then get ready to fly to Portland on Friday. Let the games begin!!