2013 Back Roads Century - the second 50

Where did I leave off?  Oh yea, after changing out some clothes, we headed back out the road for the 2nd half of the Century.  This part took us over the same roads for about 4 miles then we headed in a southward direction.  The goal for getting through the 2nd 50 miles was to get from one aid station to the next.  The organizers of this ride had suggested this as a survival tactic in one of their many informative emails sent prior to the ride.

The first aid station on this section (3rd overall) was at mile 64.  It was my absolute favorite!  It was held at Burwell-Morgan Mill.  I love historic old buildings and as part of our entry fee, we got to go inside of the Mill.  It was so neat.  I took a lot of pictures here.  The other awesome part of this rest stop was they had boiled potatoes!  Sounds strange, but carbs and salt are marvelous!  I eat way too many potatoes so this was a perfect snack for me.  The people serving them were delightfully funny as well.  One odd thing I noticed at this rest stop was that they had signs up stating that due to health department regulations, they had to serve our food.  This didn't apply to the potatoes as they were wrapped in aluminum foil, and it didn't apply to bananas or oranges; but any sandwiches or cookies had to be given to you by the volunteers.  OK, I just went along with it and thanked them repeatedly for spending their time for us and now serving me food with a smile.  Can't say enough good things about how friendly everyone was!

Back on the bike and things started getting more difficult.  We were getting more hills (all things are relative - around here they wouldn't be a big deal) and I was getting fatigued.  I pressed on aiming for the next rest stop which would lead me to surpass my previous longest ride ever.  At mile 79.4, I finally rolled in where the treat was tomato, cucumber and mayo sandwiches.  Well I don't like tomatoes or mayonnaise, so I asked if I could have just cucumber, which I was given a handful.  YUMMMMMM.  I refilled my bottles here - borrowing a Nuun from my friend Lauren.  Sorry to say, I didn't care for it in the end.  YUK.  Anyway, I was getting slower and slower.  Andrew and Lauren seemed to have plenty of energy, so I encouraged them to go on and not to wait on me.  As we left this aid station in White Post, VA - we saw the literal white post in the middle of an intersection.  We laughed and wondered how many times the post had been hit.  A short while later a car passed us about the time we saw 5 young deer running towards the road.  One of them crossed rather close to the front of the car.  The other 4 slowed down and began meandering in the yard on the right side of the road.  The car stopped, the runner deer did as well and it began to look around as if to say, hey where did my friends go.  Eventually they all ran into the woods.

There was more challenging terrain between the White Post rest stop and the next.  I think had I had fresh legs the hills wouldn't have seemed brutal; but they were.  In this section, we rode right next to the Shenandoah River which was running fast and is a wide river.  I remember having to climb up this awful hill around mile 85 which for the first time I employed my granny gear because I was just tired.  I knew if I could keep going I could finish this thing in about an hour.

I finally rolled into the last aid station at mile 92.4 where Andrew and Lauren had been for a few minutes.  They had already dug into their Italian Ice which was the special treat here.  I spied a huge hunk of watermelon and had that instead.  It was yummy and sweet.  Just enough to get me to the end.  Again Lauren and Andrew went on and I followed as best I could.  Eventually I made my way to Main St. Berryville where the first headwind of the day greeted me.  Isn't that typical?  Dead tired, legs barely wanting to pedal and now I have to ride into the wind.  HAHAHA,  I sat behind these three people who didn't stop talking for several miles and saved my energy.  Eventually I passed them and rode to the finish line.  I had a blast and would do it again!

My total time including rest stops = 8 hours 35 minutes
My riding time = 6 hours 41 minutes

I'll add the Mill pictures soon.  :)