I'm exhausted! I joined the club for a century today - "Roam to the Dome." We were promised hills and hills there are in southern Indiana and I think we hit them all. The ride started in Corydon and made its way to French Lick to the West Baden Hotel. This is were we ate lunch and an expensive on it was. I had a garden salad, a hamburger w/chips, a diet coke and a cup of hot chocolate and it came to.... drum roll please.....$25.00! Next time I'm stopping at the Subway! Back to the ride - it literally was one climb after another. On the way to French Lick not only were we climbing but fighting a strong headwind (10-15 mph). Literally at mile 40 I was ready to call it quits but had not a soul to call to come rescue me from the mean hills so I kept pedaling. There is comfort in numbers and each person I rode with was equally as miserable as I if that is any consequence. At the lunch stop (mile 56) my average speed was a whooping 14 mph.

The return trip was a bit better in that we were treated to a tail wind on numerous occassions but the hills kept coming. They were relentless! My legs were shot by about mile 70 and each hill I climbed after that was done on determination and grit for my legs kept telling me they were finished. I refused to walk so we crawled up each hill - at a snails pace of 4 mph. In end I was one happy gal when I returned to my car - legs are very, very tired! Ankle is talking to me and my neck and shoulders are very tight.

In the end we logged 107.76 miles and I finished with an average speed of 14.14 mph. Though I'm very disappointed in my average speed and very happy I finished the ride and have now added it to my "never repeat list!".