Sounds like a fun ride! Maybe you would match up better with Nice Triathlete Man if you could draft on him. (Works for me keeping up with BF at speeds I couldn't do otherwise.) At least it's nice to know there's another person out there training for the same event.

Glad I don't have to deal with cattle guards, though here in Florida they _really_ like those stop bars- there are, no exaggeration, up to ten or more sets of six bars before rural stop signs, and the bars go all the way out to the shoulder, so you can't creep past on the white line, and the only option if you don't want to rattle all your teeth loose, not to mention rocket launch anything not duct taped down, is to go over into the oncoming lane...

My new Cateye 10 LED tail light has taken about four flights now (and survived- one tough light!) And I've done everything to prevent it from ejecting, including rubberbanding it down. Yesterday I had it rubberbanded to the mount on the back of the rack, and when I went over a stop bar set, the _mount_ broke! So now the sucker is taped down and never going to move...

Congratulations, and hopefully you will get attached to long distance riding like I have now that you have so many new miles to explore!

Nanci