Day 28

101 miles from Branson to West Plains, Missouri.

First, let me say that the Ozarks are beautiful. Green forests as far as the eye can see, very few people and several bridges to cross over sparkling lakes and rivers. Second, let me say that you can get really sick of "rollers" after 101 miles of them. The inclines piss you off because they're often pretty long and steep. The declines piss you off because you know that the elevation you just gave up will need to be made back up again as soon as you round the next corner. That's right, rollers piss me off.

The three amigos headed out together, pretty closely followed by Bill and Marquette. Joseph decided to do a "power hour", upped his wattage and Jeff and I let him go (thank god!). We caught up with him for a great lunch on Bull Shoals Lake in Theodosia (great name!). After lunch Joseph decided on a second power hour, but this time Jeff and I decided to stay in range - which mainly consisted of Jeff pedaling hard and me hanging on for dear life behind him. After finally catching him, we rode together for a while, but by then the two of them were well entrenched in a "mine is bigger than yours" contest, pushing each other pretty hard. Of course whenever the two of them do this I'm the big loser, as struggling to keep up with  one of them is quickly followed by struggling to keep up with the other. All up, it made for a strong and fast 101 miles, averaging over 17 mph despite all of the climbing.

It's funny, I can still recall training for my first Marin Century - lots of long rides followed by a week of tapering toward the big event. Today's ride was at least as hard as that ride, and it's just a routine day on the bike as we cross the country! On the one hand, this seems perfectly normal. On the other hand, it seems like total madness.

Another 101 mile ride tomorrow. And so it goes.