TOSRV is a two day 200 mile (or kilometer) ride from Quincy, Florida, to Albany, (Al-bane-ee) Georgia, and back. Practically everyone I meet locally has been on it, with fond memories.
I picked up my packet at Sunshine Cycles in Tallahassee early Friday evening. There was a cool T-shirt, a meal ticket, a card with emergency phone numbers, sheets of instructions of what to do with luggage, etc., and a sort of weird cue sheet which for Saturday's ride read from the bottom up, I guess so it would match the map going north. Kind of confusing.
Then I drove a little bit west and north to the small town of Quincy, where I would be staying overnight at the rec center where the ride would start the next day. About 20 people out of the 425 riders stayed at the rec center, some on the gym floor, and some outside in tents. I chose to sleep in my truck so there would be no packing up in the morning.
I spent the evening talking to a couple of men from Biloxi. One had lost everything in Hurricane Katrina and was living in a FEMA trailer- but in good spirits. He had managed to rescue and salvage his bike. Everyone turned in early, about 9:30.
Saturday morning I brought my bag to the luggage truck for transport to Motel 6, then waited for the ride start at 7:30. One of the things I heard most frequently about this ride was how good the food was. One person even called it "gourmet." While the food was good, it was fairly standard, in my opinion. Pre-breakfast at the rec center was bagels, orange juice and bananas.
I decided, based on the forecast, to bring _all_ my rainclothes. It looked like rain was imminent at the start, so I put my helmet cover on, and my Calientoes. Sure enough, about 30 minutes into the ride, it started to rain, so I stopped to put on my rain jacket, but not the pants, since it was in the 60's and fairly warm. The fast riders managed to make it to breakfast in Cairo, (Kay-ro) Georgia, 40 miles to the north, before the downpour, but I got to ride through almost all of it! Stayed nice and warm and dry in my Showers Pass jacket, though, and my feet didn't get wet until about 30 minutes before I stopped.
For the entire ride, the route was patrolled ceaselessy by many SAG vehicles, all kept in contact by three amateur radio clubs. Bike repairs were handled by Sunshine Cyclery. The route was perfectly marked with road arrows-including the proper confirmation arrows after the turns- I never had a single moment of confusion. Also, almost all turns had a volunteer at the turn to make sure no one got off course.
Breakfast was grits, (yuck!) cheese grits, (yuck!!) and some sort of egg/potato/cheese bake which was good, but Mr. Stingy didn't want to give me enough to eat...Maybe he thought I needed to leave room for grits. Lots of riders were trying to get dry- wringing out wet clothes and even drying things under the hand dryer in the bathroom.
When I set off again, the rain had let up a little, and about half an hour later was done. The sun came out and I was able to appreciate miles and miles of pecan groves, a huge variety of purple flowers along the road, and even a muddy stream with gorgeous yellow irises.
At the lunch stop at 70 miles, everyone was required to take off their shoes with cleats before going into the cafeteria, so there were hundreds of pairs of bike shoes lined up outside the door. Lunch was pasta salad, with either chicken or cheese (I had both types, delicious!) and crusty French bread, and mini candy bars.
After lunch, the weather was sunny and in the 80's- perfect for riding. At the last SAG stop before the end of the first 100 miles, we were served fresh orange slices and cookies in a pretty shady grove. Then only ten miles to the High School!
As we approached a busy four-lane highway near the end, two sheriff's deputies, one on each side of the road, actually stopped traffic to allow us to cross! I think I was in a group of three at the time- it certainly wasn't necessary- but was kind of cool!
Then I checked in at the High School in Albany with some enthusiastic teenage volunteers, received directions to the Motel Six less than a mile away, and biked to my room.
For my $29, I got: No tub, only a shower. Toilet that didn't flush without a lot of persuasion. No blanket on the bed. No towels. And a phone call in the middle of the night asking "Hey, is your man in the room with you?" But excellent cable channels! I spent some time hanging up all my wet rain clothes so they would be dry enough to pack and send home in my bag.
About 5:30 I started to get ready to ride over to the HS for the 6:00 dinner seating. I'd had Lava parked out in front of the door, and when I picked her up to get her turned around, melted Sport Beans poured out from their container in the Bento Box, all over everything. So I removed the whole Bento Box and scrubbed out the accumulation of melted Sport Beans and Succeed Caps which was much-needed anyway.
At the cafeteria, I rejoined my new friends from Biloxi for dinner. We had spaghetti, garlic toast, green really fat beans, corn, strawberry shortcake and ice cream. Very yummy! The funniest part of the evening was listening to one of the guys, the talkative one, tell story after embarassing story about the other guy, Mike. For every topic of conversation, there was a Mike Story. Finally, in a momentary break, Mike says "You know what they call him at home? Tater!" Mike and I burst out laughing, and could not stop. Even Tater had to laugh. It was the funniest payback.
The next morning, I was up at 5:30 and over to McDonalds by 6:15, where many had gathered for breakfast. We were to start the ride at whatever time we wanted as long as it was daylight, so I started off about 6:45. Breakfast today was sooner- at 30 miles. It was a sunny, cool morning, so I wore the new Louis Garneau "I Give Up" knickers for the first couple hours. They were fine. I made pretty good time through the flat fields and pecan groves, drafting in a threesome at 18, then getting absorbed into a pack going 20, then absorbed into a bigger pack going 24, but then getting spit out on a hill.
Breakfast Sunday was French toast and a fruit cup. Then I headed out to lunch, over some nice rolling hills.
Lunch was at 60 miles- turkey sandwiches and bean salad and some sort of sweet whipped cream salad. I parked my bike in some blackberry bushes and helped myself to a few!
After lunch came the hills. That's all anyone can talk about on this ride, besides the "gourmet" food, is the hills after lunch. I was expecting the worst, but most of the hils were long gentle rollers. I actually didn't get into the worst of the hills until after the final SAG stop, in the cemetary, 20 miles from the finish. The first came after crossing a river- a very long climb. I kept waiting for more worse hills, but there was nothing until I got back into the town of Quincy- then one short very steep hill in the shade, then a few blocks of city streets, and I was back at the rec center for a shower and more ice cream. Since this was the 25th anniversary, all finishers were awarded a nice medal.
My ride times were 6:40 the first day, and slightly less the second day- but I locked my computer by accident before beginning the ride on Sunday, so couldn't zero it out, so couldn't subtract the riding I did to and from dinner. 16.1 average speed for the weekend.
All in all, it was a very nice two days of riding: very scenic, almost perfect weather, great SAG support, good meals, very rural without much traffic. I'll be happy to go again next year!
Nanci
