HR this afternoon: 153 Avg. / 185 Max.
27 miles, 1400' of climbing. I ran into 3 very fast gentleman from the Outspoken Wheelmen and they were just ****ing hammering their way through a 71-mile ride under threatening sky, 83 degree temps and high humidity. The wind was 10 MPH steady out of the South and we were burying ourselves.
They were 53 years old, 47 years old and I didn't hear the third rider announce his age, but I would put him near 40. They were all three fit and fast. Up every hill we charged. When two of then bunny hopped a fast RR track grade crossing I knew I had my work cut out...
They dropped me once (not warmed up when I met them), dropped each other a half-dozen times, one off the back. No quarter asked or given! We all did wait on the hindmost to return to the group.
We stopped in a small town and discussed life, their route and the fact that a guy recently retired from my shop knew one of them and had discussed him at length with me. I told him I already felt like I knew him just a little. Nice guys, all three of them.
I decided to keep rolling and they headed off to the third leg of their journey before turning for home.
It was finders-keepers night as I found a cheap Frost Cuttlery folding 5" knife, a tarp strap and a shiney new 1/2" grade 5 bolt beside the knife.
The humidity and effort must have been real because when you stink so bad even you can smell yourself...shower time! Washing machine through the cycles twice time!