Cat6 Training Camp: Day 2

[photo caption] Branson, MO: Not nearly as sweet as it looks in this picture. (photo courtesy the State of Missouri)


What is your first clue that it's going to be a crappy ride?

Is it:
1) Within the first two miles you blow out your rear tube.
2) Within the first six miles your riding partner blows his left crank off his bike, causing the bolt to skid across the road and hide in some tall weeds, causing us about ten minutes of search time.
3) When you get to a confusing fork in the road, you stop in to a gas station to ask directions and they give you the wrong answer.
4) When part of your ride route includes the "Hillbilly Capital of the World" -- Branson, MO.
5) When you crack on a hill at mile 40.
6) When going up a hill at mile 50 you blow out your rear tube again.
7) When trying to nurse a sick bike back to HQ, the tube loses pressure for the third time.
8) When your partner has to ride up the road 15 miles to fetch the car while you have to walk to a gas station at the intersection of US 65 and MO Hwy 176.
9) When there ends up being no gas station at 65 and 176.
10) When you end up walking your bike for two hours over five miles in a direction your riding partner doesn't think you'll go, leaving you stranded out in the middle of nowhere in the cold with no cell phone or hooch.

And this morning my legs hurt. I can't tell if it's the 131.9 miles of hill riding I've done in two days or the five mile walk in cycling shoes last night.

I'm going to hang out in the hot tub for a little while this morning. Get ahold of my soigneur if you need me.