Day 1 - The Ride

Well, we were meeting at 7:30 this morning, at a rec center. It was about a 30 minute drive back West. This wasn't so bad. I didn't get to bed as early as I hoped, but slept great and still got about 6 hours. So, I was feeling good. I drank some coffee, ate, and was out the door a bit earlier than expected. Thanks to Mike and Troy, the directions were great and I arrived at the rec center a bit after 7 to find Terry snoozing in his truck.
Here are Troy and Mike in their MS150 kits. And, me and Terry...It was certainly a chilly morning in ol' St. Louis. Aside from running in to use the facilities, we pretty much stayed in our cars till everyone else showed up. Troy's friend, Mike, arranged things so that we would have two groups riding. Group 1 was meeting at 7:30, riding about 40 miles and averaging about 17mph on varied terrain, but nothing too hilly. We were thinking there would be about 15 people in the first group. Group 2 would meet us after the 40 and ride another 40-60, probably a little faster, and we would have 6 total. Mike would be in this 2nd group.
We were kind of standing around waiting for someone to take charge and it didn't seem like anyone really knew the gameplan. Well, we found out after the ride that the guys leading the group 1 ride were on the other side of that rec center and though we no-showed. I felt bad about that, but what are ya gonna do?
So, we finally started our ride - a bit late - but we were moving. It was nice to be out riding. The route was pretty good too...not a ton of traffic, and some nice scenery. I don't recall exactly how many people started out, but I'm guessing there were 10-12 of us. It's sad to admit, but there were a few of them that I never saw again, once the ride started. The pace was pretty varied, but a little slower than we hoped for. I think we only ended up averaging a little above 14mph. The good news is that I didn't have any trouble keeping up! :-) ha ha
We were pretty excited to get back to the rec center and meet up with Mike for the next phase of our ride! So, we re-fueled, etc., and headed out for round 2. This time, there were just 4 of us - Terry, Troy, Mike and me. We had an absolute blast out there! We started fast and didn't ever really slow down. Mike took us out to this stretch that seemed infinite...and flat! And, while it was windy, we were cruisin along. I really have never ridden that fast for such an extended period of time. This was perfect for our training, since we were pedaling non-stop. We pulled in a pace line for long stretches, which was fun. I'm not gonna lie - I enjoyed sitting in and saving the legs a little for tomorrow's run. Did I mention we were going fast? Riding with the big boys was a hoot, and I sure wish we had a route like that to ride here!
Thanks to Troy, Mike and Terry for a very fun workout...and for not dropping me!

Terry had to take off and head back to KC for a meeting. Troy, Mike and I went to chow down on some pizza and pasta. Mmmm, Mmmm, good! It was fun getting to hear their stories too.

Meanwhile, Lonnie and Kristine (my friends from Chicago) had arrived in St. Louis. They waited for me to shower and change, and then we walked back over to the Expo. We had all been there once before, but wanted to look a little more. It was great seeing them and we had a good time laughing and catching up. Problem came when we attempted to find some dinner. This just blows my mind - we're staying right downtown...there's a ballgame going on...and hardly any eating establishments are open! Are you kidding me?! We walked around forever trying to find something. Finally we ran into a couple and asked them if they knew of anywhere close we could eat (mind you, by this time, it's getting to be after 7). They directed us to a pizza place. We put our name in and waited, and waited, and waited...it wasn't looking good. This is the craziest thing ever, but do you know where we ended up going - the only other place we could see that was open - Hardees. Yes, that's right folks, I haven't eaten fast food in years, but the night before a marathon, I'm sitting at Hardees eating a cheeseburger and fries! Oh my!
Two VERY drunk girls came in while we were eating. While it was somewhat comical watching the two make fools of themselves, it was kinda sad too. They were telling some guys that they couldn't find their car - I'm not sure that's a good idea. Anyway, we were done, so we headed back to our hotel.
It was really a dilemma choosing clothing for the run - it'll be pretty doggone chilly in the morning, but with sun in the forecast, how warm will it get? Decisions, decisions.
We all worked to get our stuff together, fasten our timing chips to our shoes, decide what time to wake up, etc.
'night, 'night...tomorrow's a big day!