The pics don't summarize it well, so I should. Think of your wheels stopping, completely, because the thick goopy mud is not allowing your wheels to turn at all. Sticks, force, and determination got them moving again the first time - thankfully - and we were on our way again. Stopped in Eagle for a quick bottle of water and a snack, and this little guy became our new best buddy:
He greeted us both on the way out, and on the way back. Hilarious little dog, hope he's there every time I roll through Eagle. Anyway mud and fenders, let's just say it's the worst combination ever. The third time I had to stop outside of Wabash to clean it out with a stick again, so I'm standing there cleaning it and in the water that is in the ditch next to the trail something goes FLOP. Being in the middle of nowhere, and knowing it's likely not a fish, I opted to use force to walk the bike and un-seize the wheels. Which really meant they were no longer SEIZED but they still had some resistance from the mud caked up in the fenders. And noise. So we rode back to Elmwood, where there is a gas station and a bench so I could stop and clean them out. No pictures, but man oh man was there a lot of mud in that front fender. I used a 6mm allen wrench to clean it out, put the wheel back on and headed off.
One lesson I again learned is that I need fuel during longer rides. Oly pointed out that at 50 miles it seems like I slow down, and he's right, I really do. Almost spot on at the 50 mile mark I just plain slowed down. I didn't feel like I was "bonking", nothing hurt, actually nothing felt amiss at all. I just plain slowed down and didn't have any "uumph" left in my legs. Sure enough, shortly after that I started feeling my stomach growl. During the 4 hours and 58-ish miles on the bike I ate two Peanut Butter sandwiches, two fig newtons, and had a cold coffee in Elmwood. I spaced it out and ate pretty much every hour, sort of, but apparently it wasn't enough.
During my metric century I ate well, and felt well. I think I just need to remember that the 20-30 mile rides are the "weight loss" rides, and I don't need to really worry so much about fuel on those. The longer ones, though, I need to work on. I'm going to try it again this week and see how it goes.
Hit over 180 miles for the week, then splurged and had some horrible for me Chinese Food for dinner while wifey went out with some friends. Took a day off Sunday, which turned out to be great. Focused on some other stuff which made me feel better overall, so I could enjoy the ride in this morning. Enjoyed it so much, in fact, that I took the 10 mile route. So that's 10 on the clock for the week, 190 to go. Lost 4.5 pounds last week, that felt pretty dang good, hoping it continues. So far this year I'm down over 40 pounds, and the big total keeps creeping closer and closer to the magical "300 pounds lost" mark.
You'll know when I hit that one. I'm pretty sure half of the midwest will know.
That's all I've got for today. Keep enjoying life, you only get one.
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