Ride Report -- 200K RUSA Anniversary Volunteer Ride

Honestly, all I wanted to do was to show off my LEL jersey. Problem was, the only good place to do that was the start of a ride -- the pre-ride of Al's RUSA anniversary 200K brevet, scheduled for August 15. Once you're at the start of a ride, and somebody hands you a brevet card, well you got no choice but to join in the fun. We had a good-sized crew, including Al, Geof, Byron, Tom, Mary and Jerry.

It was a tough day on the bikes. For one, despite a couple of short-lived bursts, my legs were still whupped from 1400K of effort 10 days ago. Also, the pre-ride fell on the hottest day that we've ridden all year -- 94 degrees and lots of humidity. Where are those rainy, fall-like days of Scotland when you need em? When we hit the black sections of asphalt on Chicken Bridge, the heat hit us like a brick out of an oven. Water stops were mandatory -- about every 20 miles. Here's the first at Andrews Store.



We managed to find an oasis of shade under an oak at the Snow Camp gas station. We picked up one rider along the way -- a fellow named D who lived just west of Snow Camp.





Ride time was 9:36, very respectable given the many stops along the way.

We volunteers are now ready for next Saturday's official ride. Several of us will be working the grill at the ride's finish. Come on out and join us. If 200K is too much for you, there's a shorter 108K route that tours the hills of Bynum.