My group decided to do our own metric century ride on Sat. One of our riders had done one on a Tour de Cure training ride the weekend before, and we were jealous. We had 8 riders, which is a lot for us, and took off on a new route to a little town called Spring Hope. It was a there and back ride of 32 miles each way.
The highlight was brunch at the Country Inn (food is very important to us!), a little restaurant with the most southern menu I have ever seen: fried chicken livers, gizzards, frog legs, barbeque, of course! They had normal stuff too, fortunately. They were also the most accommodating by letting us bring our bikes inside and giving us our own room in the back (maybe that was just to get us out of sight?!).
The only down side was this route had more loose dogs than I have ever seen. We had three separate incidents where they actually came out in the road after us- with owners right there twice. They did get the dogs back, but it would have been nice if they hadn't let the dogs chase us in the first place. Squirted gatorade and blasts of air horns worked to deter one dog, but two stayed in the road barking at us until the owners came and got them. I will not do this route again because of them.
It was very windy, but the temperature couldn't have been any better. The last 15 miles were rough. 64 miles was really longer than I was ready for, but we made it and have lots of riding stories to tell.
Grits
2010 Trek 5.2 Madone WSD, SI Diva Gel Flow
2002 Terry Classic, Terry Liberator