It wasn't impossible but still...

So we covered 110 miles in two days. Into a headwind. Through 2.5 thunderstorms. Through the sun and sand and snakes and squirrels and naked women. Let me say naked woman. We'll come back to that in a bit.

We pushed off from Kirkwood around 7:30ish on Saturday morning, and dodged a few thunderstorms between there and Hermann. The trail really was in pretty good shape, and it did have some lovely views. Pretty anti-climatic though (except for the getting chilled to the bone during a particularly bad downpour). While we were getting ready to get back on it after lunch, we ran into this couple that was riding from New York (seriously) to California (not Cali, MO). They weren't exactly in triathlete shape, so that made me feel pretty insignificant and that any aches and pains I had were but a mere itch compared to anything they had gone through. We kept passing each other until we got to Hermann, which is when the naked woman thing came into play. Ryan and I were coming down the trail (I think Jarrett and Stitz rode different directions trying to dodge the rain) when we saw a pasty white arse about a quarter of a mile down the trail. Ryan says "is that chick naked?!?" I can clearly see the ass from this point, and not quite sure if I wanted it to be him or her, kinda like "would you like to get shot in your right knee or your left?" Turns out she thought it would be a good idea to drop her lycra and pee all over the trail (and her shorts, as she told us when we rode by).

Great story, eh? Yea, not really.

So we stayed in Hermann, and that was fine and dandy I guess. The Crown Royal was definitely the highlight of that segment of the trip, and probably didn't help the dehydration I was fighting on Sunday.

Too make a long ride a short story, the sun came out, the wind picked up, and we slogged a hard 40 something miles to end up at Jeff City and one of us fell over a couple times due to exhaustion. I won't say who, but it wasn't me. Or Jarrett. Or Ryan.

That was a hard ride, but the ice pack I'm sitting on now makes it a bit better. I'll be ready for bed pretty early tonight. I could use a good sleep. I also have less than three weeks now until my first cross race. Ug. I don't want to think about that until Wednesday.