Hey RoadieRunner,
How'd you do? I hope you are still alive. It was just about hot wasn't it!?!?!? I managed to complete my first metric and am very proud of myself. Completed in 4 hours 19 minutes.
I made two stops, one at the 31 mile mark for a quick banana and refill my Camelback. The second was the big rest stop on 44 at about 51 miles. I took about 15 minutes, sat in the shade of the tent, drank some Powerade and walked through the (sent from God!) mister. Then back on the bike for the finish. It was great!
In the group I went with we had one doing the 25, one doing the 50 and I did the metric. We plan for everyone to be in shape for the century next year and for the MS150 (Houston to Austin) in April.
Spent bucks at the expo but, overall had a really great time. Hope your ride was successful also.