Opting to ride in Waco instead of Sealy gave me the opportunity to see parts of central Texas I never knew existed. By-passing the traditional carbo-loading pre-ride dinner, Dash and I were met by his dad, sister, brother-in-law, niece, her husband, and her daughter at the Cyclone Corral for an all-you-can eat BBQ buffet. The sausage, ribs, and brisket were great, and even though we also ate our share of beans, the massive protein intake had us searching for a laxative at nearly every convenience store between Cyclone and Waco.

Fortunately, Dash's sister had some laxative that was effective for me the next morning, but less so for Dash. We ate breakfast at a truck stop. Inexplicably, the grits were removed from the buffet line and then took over 30 minutes to be replaced...only to be a major disappointment. [You'd think Waco would know how to fix grits!] By the time we got to the ride start, got our bikes ready, and picked up our packets, the ride was nearly ready to start. We rushed to the starting line and lined up right behind the tandems--at the front of the speed demons. I was more than a tad concerned about the flying start with the hammerheads, but Dash assured me that we'd be OK.

The peleton cranked out the first 15 miles in a modest 21-22 mph range, which was not taxing, but there were some intense moments as some riders changed direction or speed unexpectedly. When we got to the route split, Dash and I suddenly discovered that most of this fast group was only doing the 50 or 62-mile route. We stopped at the first convenience store to shed our leggings, but we both kept our arms on for another 15 miles or so. We also dropped off the speed since those doing the full century were spread out by quite a distance (i.e., no pacelines to join).

The route changed this year so that the 100-mile route passed by George W.'s ranch as well as the Mars/M&M plant. It was pretty obvious when we went by W.'s spread because there were big orange signs demanding that no one stop or take pictures. There was also government building across the road. We passed a guy driving a tractor, but figured he was secret service. ; )

We were going to stop at the 50-mile rest stop, but there was a serious group of riders criticizing other riders. Dash suggested we leave that bunch alone and ride on to Mother Neff park because it was only "about four miles" down the road. Now, I didn't have a map, but I should have taken into account Dash's sense of direction. Eight miles later, he tells me that the park is only about a quarter of a mile away. Two miles later we roll into the park. A short while later the serious, critical riders come barreling into the park and nearly run over a child on a small bike that was in the park with his family. We waited until that bunch hit the road and then started out.

It wasn't very long until these two girls pass by us. What made them so noticeable was that the one gal was wearing a black Speedo bikini. Now, Dash couldn't resist checking out her story. He caught up to inquire if her bathing suit is uncomfortable. She claimed that it wasn't. He asked about chafing and she proceeded to reveal her inner thighs. She was a masher, riding in the highest gear like Slick. I found it interesting to see the muscle action since there was so little of it hidden and wondered if she had started the race in her skimpy outfit. This distraction lasted a few miles before we decided to drop them and head for the finish, but she did complete the entire 103 miles. I will say that Mr. Brian Peyton will have to come up with a new nickname because he is not who I will associate "Speedo" with cycling any more...

Some of the roads were a little rough and we had some respectable winds with which to contend, but the ride was a lot of fun. Turns out that the map Dash had was last year's route. Fortunately, the ride organizers had painted the turns on the road and there were enough people spread out so that we didn't get lost. After the ride, we visited the Information Center and sweet-talked our way into pins for our respective collections. Speaking of sweets, there was plenty of Skittles and ice cream at the rest stops. Ya all might want to consider doing this ride next year.

-Batman