257 KM Sounds Cooler

All in the name of fitness and fun I decided to make a 257 KM detour on my way to Bardstown, KY for the 30th annual My Old Kentucky Home cycling tour.? While Google Maps clocks the route from my house at a measly 31.8 miles, there is actually a way you can detour around on the backroads enough to turn that trip from a 53 minute car ride, into a 7 hour 103 mile bike ride.? And dont forget you have to ride your bike back the next day

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The day would start about as good as you could have wanted it to.? Weather was the first good sign … sunny with a thin enough layer of clouds to keep the last 5 degrees? of heat off of our backs.? Stephanie, Royden and Dorothy drove up from Lexington late Friday and spent the night.? Dorothy had an early Saturday appointment so the rest of us carpooled up to Tom Sawyer for the send off.? We checked in, got our bag of swag, and a little bagel breakfast … not before watching the all important safety video.? Its amazing how even though this video was produced rather recently, the unintentional comedy value of a poorly made 60's instructional video was clearly apparent.? After a few good laughs we were off on (what I thought was) our 50 mile journey to Bardstown, KY with over 1000+ other cyclists from all across the country.

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They say you can actually gain weight on a fully support century ride … 'huh?' was my stunned reply.? It only took me about 12 miles to realize going hungry was NOT going to a problem this day.? These rides have support stops every 45 minutes or so which offer an invariable cornucopia of food, drink, entertainment, por-o-lets, and a general chance to socialize and get off your butt for a few minutes.? I was trying to be self supported all day and only eat what I brought and refill with water and Gatorade like I will do in my upcoming race but the trail mix was too powerful to resist.? They even had it in little shot glass sized dixie cups you could throw back!?

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Everything went pretty normal through the first few stops.? I rode some with Kenny, some with Stephanie over slightly rolling two lane country roads heading south towards our destination.? Now my parents warned me before the ride started that some friends of their had done this same tour before and claimed it was 'very hilly'.? Heh … what could these old fogies know … Im a big bad triathlete, I can handle this.? Then came Lilly Pike, the first of many challenging climbs for the day.? As you can tell by the look on my face, I was clocked in and going to work to get to the top of this son of a gun.? Little did I know what awaited us a few hours down the road … Im still under the impression that Im doing a 50 mile ride.

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