First off, I did my first Century!!!
w00t!
Secondly, it was a great ride. For the first 70 miles, was having my best ride by far. Almost 17 mph, felt fantastic, and having an absolute blast.
Then turned straight into the headwind. If I were to guess, 15-20 mph with 30 mph gusts. It was so bad that while going down hill, I couldn't get over 14 mph, even while pedling. So from the last 30-20, started to feel exhausted and could barely hold 10 mph. The last 9, I was constantly looking at my spedometer (sp?) and it was worse than watching water come to a boil.
Then at 99 miles, the adrenaline kicked in and I was crusing once again. I kept telling myself, only 2 miles to go, and damn it felt great.
Finished #339, in the saddle for 6:50 and 7:25 total time, and finished average of 14.6 mph (thanks headwind, you *******).
The party was fun but I was really too exhausted to really appreciate it.
While the good more than outweighed the bad, there were a couple of things that I hope get corrected going forward.
1) Ride Marshals: They could have been there but I didn't see one.
2) Showers in Shiner: Not nearly enough. Only 2 trucks, cold water and very low water pressure. As for the lines, it probably took me 45 minutes. The girls, on the other hand, got screwed. Guys had 3 while only 1 for them and probably twice as long of a wait. Had to wait forever for my girlfriend, though finishing 45 minutes earlier probably didn't help.
3) Bike return in Austin: We had to wait only 15 or so minutes but there really wasn't a system in place. No one really knew what to do, so riders just started to unload and put them in the grass. The volunteers didn't check rider numbers with the bike, so it was sorta like an honor system.
So overall, I give the ride
Pictures will be posted tomorrow.