When in Laveen.....

Happy Fathers Day to all the Fathers out there.... I don't know how we do it.....but we do. Even a Happy Fathers day to Ricky Bobby.....Shake and Bake. Friday night, I treated myself to Performance Bike shop to pick up on some much needed supplies. I took Briggs and Reagan as they needed some "Dad" time...or at least mom needed some "Mom" time. I picked up some tubes..(having all kinds of flats this summer), a light set....(way too hot to ride during the day...going to try my luck on some night riding), some Hammer Gels....(its Hammer Time), some Lube....(White Lightning sounded really fast.....and that is what they called me in High School) a new Bib....(Needed something that was going to keep all my bits and pieces in place as well as protect my arse for STP), new gloves....(my old ones were...well...old).
So, since I had not been putting all the miles needed to train, I made Saturday an epic Century ride. I was to leave the house by 5am....but actually did not get out until around 6am due to a late night....ah-la...Euro 2008 cup. My Goal was to ride from my house to South Mountain and back. A total of about 98 miles. I made it to the base of South Mountain in no time. I had a slight tail wind and there was little traffic.... I decided to also add some miles by climbing all the way to the top....I thought "When in Rome"....or rather...."When in Laveen,AZ". South Mountain is about a 5 mile climb and is no Col de Hamilton...but in the middle of a century....it can be a deal breaker. I actually made it too the top and felt good. I did run dry on all my fluid but knew I had 6-7 free miles heading back down to the valley. I re-filled at Circle K, which is a local stop for many riders. Little did they know I had 50 on my Garmin already and was looking at another 50. I headed back the same way...opting not to take the shorter route and avoid the lights. It was a bit windy but not too bad...just started to get really HOT. I had enough fluids but my body started to cramp-up. I could not tell if it was the heat or just me. A couple of times I had to jump off the road and run behind the bushes.....all False Alarms. I was at about mile 85 when I took the phone out of my bag and looked at it. Do I call...or do I gut out the last 15 miles? I kept riding for a few more and every time I drank a tiny bit of water..it felt like somebody was playing jump rope w/ my intestines. So I called at mile 88....K came out and picked me up. Good thing she did. The minute I got in the door......it was airbrush time on the pot. Sorry to sound so gross...but it was the Philippino kind where you are sweating....shaking....and holding on..... Kristin had it the night before and I knew this was a bug we had had in the house. Thankfully I was able to get in all the miles I had.
After all that, we had a Fathers Day party with Kristin's family here at the house. It was BYOM..(meat) and we swam and B-B-Q. I have been doing some swimming lately after my rides. The pool is really nice right now..(I hired a new pool guy...I give up!!) and swimming really helps stretch me out after a ride.

Well that is about all that is happening. I have a few more weeks before the big day. We are still debating on Flying or Driving...$$$ both ways....Where are those DING fares>>>??