Tour de Corn

I did my second century ride in East Prairie, MO on Saturday, June 25, 2011. I woke up early that morning to the sound of thunder and pouring rain - not a good thing when you're riding a bike.  Lucky for me, the storm moved out and the sun was shinning by the time the ride started.  The streets and highways were still a little wet so I did manage to sling road grime all over my jersey.

The ride started off great! I met up with a guy, Barry from Cape Girardeau, that was attempting his first century.  We averaged almost 18mph during the first half of the ride, and then it came...the WIND! The wind was pretty fierce during the last half and we took a wrong turn which also slowed us down.  I remember him asking me what riding a century felt like and I responded..."The last 20 miles or so, you're going to feel like you're dying!"  And I think that's how we pretty much felt by the time we reached the finish line.  For me, this was harder than Tour de Rock...THANKS WIND :)

It took us 6 hours and 35 minutes to finish, which was faster than my time for my last century ride.  The rest stops were great, I didn't see any of the famous sweet corn on the cob that they had shown on the website, but I think that was because they had such a wet spring and they were late planting the crops.

 This was an enjoyable ride, and I can say that I will definitely be back next year!