Tornado Alley 110

On Saturday, my little brother and I both did our first century ride starting out in Joplin Mo. We rode with on of the principals from my work and his financial guy. We stuck together for the first 30 miles or so and then us youngsters took off. Actually, we just lost them when we hit the hills. We'd stop at the rest stops and wait for them and then take off again. It was pretty fun. Total ride time was 7:24, but we were on the course for about 10 hours with all of the stops.

My brother rode his mountain bike with slicks on it. I didn't think he'd make it, but he kept up with me pretty well. He drafted off me for the most part, but I didn't mind since my bike is much lighter and I had aero bars. I had a disposable camera for pictures, but it will take me a while to get the pics developed. I didn't want to worry about dropping my digital camera.

I didn't eat at the last 2 rest stops which was a mistake. I was starving at the end. But other than that, the ride went well and I fared better than most of the riders I saw. I do have some wicked tan lines and my cheeks are a little pink. The worst part was I found out I'm allergic to the silicon strip on my tri shorts. I ended up with hives across the top of my legs and the sun made it worse. I'm allergic to medical adhesive, so I think there is something in common there. I couldn't wait to get my shorts off after the ride. I guess if I ever do a full Ironman, I'll have to find shorts without the non-slip strip at the bottom. A few benadryl and some calamine lotion did the trick. By tomorrow, I hope all the hives will be gone.

I took yesterday off as a rest day. Tonight I'm lifting, doing core, and then swimming 2000 yd. It should be a good post-ride workout.