Here are some pictures of the beautiful country road:
Eventually we rode out of the hills and onto a flat stretch perfect for forming a paceline to ramp up the speed a little. We were cranking pretty good (23-24 mph) and were on the verge of catching the pink train (team Spirit from Kansas City, see bottom pic) when they pulled over to take a pee break. Drats. Those guys look older, but there is at least one senior Olympian on their team, and they can really haul. It would have been great fun to have reeled them in, but I'm sure that if we had passed them, they would have passed us right back, just to put us in our place.
All in all, it was a great 47th b-day for me, except for the shot of tequila which a very bad person bought me at 9:45 a.m.!
Back to the campground to get our gear to set up for the last night of camping. I enjoyed meeting Al Maxey on this trip - one of the schools I work at is named after his wife, and he volunteers there often.
After showers, beer, and a visit to the ice cream store across the street from camp, (where we watched a storm try to blow Arnold and Doug's tent away) we all headed to the final TdN Awards dinner. Bruce and Alisa won the Spirit award, much to our delight and Alisa's dismay.
Bruce, Alisa, and Dan.
Rusty and Di, Bill, and the Rowes.
Bob, Lori, and Dennis, and Karen and Lori.
Bob and Mary.
Dave and Martha.
Jordan and Angie.
Hottovy and Weishahn group.
The coveted (maybe not so much by Alisa) Spirit Award.
5 comments:
Great pics, Bob. It's deja vu all over again!
Although I disagree with this being the hilliest day. Day 5 gets my vote by far.
By the way, Bob only received the birthday shot AFTER he delivered a B-day shot of his own couple days before -- what goes around...
Bill's computer stats said that Day 4 was hilliest - but it probably didn't feel that way because the hills were longer and more gradual, rather than 30 miles of rollers like we got on the last day.
That stretch of road from Oakdale to Neligh is one of my favorites. Your pictures do a good job of capturing some of the things that make it so great - almost zero traffic, narrow road with a good surface, and nice rolling hills.
Alisa doesn't look too dismayed in the last photo! I think she was looking forward to drinking some swill with the Boys in Pink and the Zoo Bar folk.
I agree - that was my favorite stretch. I also enjoyed day 2 thru the Sandhills - but not the headwind we had that day.
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