Tour de Pumpkin

After the 5k was the Tour de Pumpkin bicycle ride. You had a choice of 17 or 30 miles so James and I went with the 30 mile option. I was kind of worried about how I was going to hold up since I hadn't done any distance to speak of since the BDB 100 on Sept. 27 but I felt great! I wasn't in any hurry so just stayed with James instead of trying to set any speed records. Absolutely gorgeous ride, James grew up in the area we rode through but it has changed so much over the past 20 years. Very hilly but I was happy that I only had to drop into the granny ring once--different story for James but he hasn't put in as many miles as I had this summer. He still held up great but I've got to admit that it was kind of fun beating him up the hills. That won't last though, he put a mountain bike (Jamis Durango 1) on layaway at our local bike shop today and has plans to start hitting some off-road trails. Guess I need to think about trying it too but I've already decided that I'm buying a BMX helmet before attempting it. My track record is not so great this year with injuring myself, ha-ha!


My only gripe about the ride this morning was that some rider or riders threw their empty gel wrappers on the road. This was not a closed course with a crew picking up the trash afterwards and litter is a HUGE pet peeve of mine. That's part of what the back pockets on the back of your cycling jersey is for, your trash and gear.


James and I both won door prizes after the Tour de Pumpkin, I got a $5 gift certificate to a local BBQ joint and he won a small combo meal from Quiznos. Since they were only good for the Russellville area we gave them to Mike for puppysitting Elsie. It'll give him an incentive to get out and explore the area.