Last Sunday was the Arky 100 at Sheridan, AR which marked the 3rd century in a row for me, 4th for the year total..........so why in the world would I want to do that? Great company and to say I could, lol........With the offer of transportation with the same group from the Memphis century, how in the world could I say no?????????
I'm not necessarily feeling like a giant recap here but the morning started out cold!!!! Goosepimply, rode for 5 miles before warming up cold, then it was really pleasant, then it got really hot--as in 94F hot, yuck. Shouldn't complain too much because the previous 2 weekends were nearly perfect weather-wise but it still took it's toll. Gorgeous route, great roads for the most part, lots of rollers, hilly enough to make it challenging. Too bad my feet especially the left one felt like they were on fire the last 27 miles. Oh and the right knee I screwed up at Tupelo? yeah it was twinging before we even started, grrrr. I've since taken the entire week off from workouts to try and rest it up and let it heal because I was limping for the rest of the day.
So how'd it go? Faster than the previous 2.....5:15 saddle time, just under 6 hours total. Minimal time at most of the rest stops and I pretty much stuck myself to the wheel of Steve, T's husband who is also one of the fast guys who decided to hang with us slower riders, for the first 50-60 miles. I finally learned from the previous 2 centuries to not pull the line so much, lol. Several of our group were struggling a bit though and while I stayed back with Tim for a while after we started splintering off, I kept looking at my time and mileage and thinking I could beat the Big Dam Bridge time. Felt bad about not slowing down with him but that time goal was entirely too tempting. Met a local rider who allowed me to draft in with him to the 80something rest stop, introduced myself but he was wanting to hang out there longer than I was so took off solo......got passed by a group, tried to hang on but couldn't for more than a mile. Oddly there was one of them who I passed on the hill, when he caught up with me again a few miles later he explained that he had a busted cable so didn't have any low gears for the climbs, ouch!!!!! Caught up with a couple more riders for the last 6 miles and they drafted off me for the rest of the ride......I was struggling though, my left foot was absolutely killing me and I kept having to unclip and flex the foot as much as possible.
My new nickname is pink tape girl.....I'd wrapped my feet with pink KT Tape to try and help alleviate some of the foot pain (my plantar fasciitis is rearing its ugly head again, grrr) and I had several people ask what it was and how it worked so hopefully there will be a few more converts.
Afterwards, pizza and beer at Dam Goode Pies, mmmmmmmmmm. Too bad we don't have another century lined up for this weekend, lol.
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