So on Saturday Eric, Ken and I headed out to Route 50 and 404 for the long awaited ride to the beach.  After a stop at Holly's for a hearty breakfast, we left Ken's venerable vehicle in the commuter lot and took off.  Eric, who I learned is an amateur meteorologist, felt it might not rain.  We had not gone a quarter mile when it started to rain, and it continued pretty much the whole way there--sometimes mist, sometimes light rain, and a few periods of heavy rain. Of course no ride in the rain could be complete without a flat tire, and Ken had 2.  Eric is brilliant at changing them, and of course it started to pour as we changed them. The highlight of the trip out was lunch at Sonic, which was a first for me.  It was also a first to see Eric eat bad food (can you say grilled cheese and tater tots?)  We rolled into Bethany around 2, went right to Bethany Cycles where Ken got 2 new tires and new tubes.  Gin (our faithful SAG wagon driver) came in shortly after us,  having worked out with an outlet mall trip.  We had a great dinner and everyone felt surprisingly good.  We had averaged right at 16 mph, good for rainy conditions and swirling winds.

 

We left early Sunday for the return trip.  I promptly had a flat (defective valve stem) but by this point we were a highly productive team changing tires and were on our way in no time.  Unfortunately, the wind had shifted overnight and was blowing about 10-15 from the west.  The whole trip back we were heading west, so we fought a headwind for virtually the entire trip back.  We had all started feeling pretty good, but by 40 miles we all had gotten pretty ragged and the wind had picked up a bit.  We took turns leading, mile at a time, and rolled into a Subway at mile 55 feeling pretty worn out.  However, revived by Subway subs and coffee from the attached Dunkin Donuts, (this could be a great advertising campaign) we all got a second wind and got through the last 15 in good form, even with a sprint for the finish as Route 50 came into sight. Averaged about 15.3 coming back.

 

I had never done a multi day event and the second day was tough--it would have been a lot easier without the wind.  Yet once again we learned about the potential and limits of the human body and mind, and we really had fun the whole time, whether counting fruit stands and liquor stores, recounting tales of misspent youth, or learning Eric's taste in ties and dress shirts.  I did learn that Gin has marvelous taste in men's clothes as well as women's and can navigate an outlet mall as well as anyone I have met, among her many other fine qualities.

 

It was a good thing to do, and we are hoping for a repeat next year.