Two years ago, Erin and I rode this ride (it was in New Albany then) and this year when I decided to ride it again, she said she wanted to ride it “with me.” Unfortunately, for the last week her knee has been balky, so we decided discretion was the better part of valor and she didn’t actually end up riding it. They’ve since moved it out to Dublin and the ride goes into Union County. Given all the rain we’ve seen in the last month, this could have been kind of ugly, but we ended up with a gorgeous day for a ride through some beautiful countryside. As of the start of the ride, I was tied for 4th place among all fundraisers with $1195 and may get a few more donations in the next few days, so I’m very thankful to everyone who supported us. This was the first ride with a working fairing since my encounter with the deer almost a year ago, and it probably did help a little on the brief headwind sections. I also have some thoughts that I won’t share here for the sadist who put so many hills in the last quarter of the ride (which to that point hadn’t exactly been flat, but had gradual ascents and descents). Temp (min/avg/max) – 59.0/68.5/75.2, wind from NW @ 5, max grade 4.0%, total climbing – 704, HRM zones 3-5 2:53, HR (min/avg/max) – 112/153.0/174, 54.37 mi (87.50 km) in 3:32:09, avg – 15.38 mph (24.75 km/h), max – 25.5 mph (41.0 km/h).
Also, here are a couple of pictures
