Terry Pickl and I rode up together so it was fun to have someone to yak with on the way.  Lamar Baptist was absolutely amazing, WAY better than a hotel!  I had pancakes, eggs, bacon, oatmeal, biscuit and gravy and OJ for breakfast.  They had tons of leftover pizza, PB crackers, granola bars and gatorade so I took a goody bag home for the wife.  Sleeping with about 70 snoring men all squeeking around on plastic inflatable matresses was an interesting experience but eventually I did get some sleep.  The shower after the ride was priceless.  We left out in the morning when Terry the lollygagger finally got outside and it was pretty chilly to me.  I really enjoyed the ride over in the dark, especially with the anticipation of this being my first century.  I don't know where we lost everyone.  I was following Greg, who I thought was following Bud but when we got to the start it was just me, Greg and Rawhide (?).  I started to say something when the DFer told us we couldn't line up there because he was waiting on 15 friends to show up, but Greg shut him down pretty quick.  After about 45 minutes of waiting, it was very touching she (Carly Patterson?) started singing the national anthem.  It's an amazing thing to hear 14 thousand cyclists all go silent at the same time.  I knew they were going to have a flyby and shoot off a canon for the start, but what they didn't mention was that the canon was going to be about 20 yards to our left. After cleaning my drawers, I wobbled out, only hitting the barricade once when a DF tried to run into me.  And they say WE'RE wobbly!  The first 20-30 miles really seemed to take no effort at all.  Between the adrenaline and riding in a pack like that.  There were time when I couldn't see any road in front or on the sides of me, just bikes.  In fact, I hit someone's water bottle with my front tire because all I could see was an ocean of spandex butts.  Speaking of which, one guy cut in front of me and I'd really like to know who in the world is manufacturing see through bicycle shorts 'cause that's just wrong!  Anywho, I had a number of close calls and let a few explicatives fly in the heat of the moment but all-in-all I was lucky not to go down or have any flats.  I know I saw more accidents than rest stops, that's for sure.  That and water bottles.  You would think out of the 14,000 riders that every single one of them lost a water bottle at some point.  The road was littered with them.
 
I was riding along at 21-23 mph for the first 20 miles or so wondering why I was passing so many people when I started no more than four people back from the start.  I kept passing until Margaritaville when I started having knee problems.  I had taken some Tylenol at the start and took some more there at the 50 mile rest stop.  I had the absolute worst gatorade I've ever tasted. Probably because it was pickle juice. I downed a banana, orange, two cookies, water and juice, used the little boys room (which was surprisingly easy) and headed out at a nice 12 mph pace.  There are no words for the frustration you experience when .1% of your body is keeping the other 99.9% from doing what it wants to do.  I was slowly passed for the next 50 miles enduring the shame of it. I had one guy pull up and say, "Man, that just looks so hard." then pull off.  If I could have reached him, I'd have slapped him.  You try pedaling with one leg, jerk.  Then another guy came by and tried to be motivational by saying, "hey, you're doing pretty good for THAT bike".  The worst part of that was the fact that he could never have said it if my knee wasn't hurting because he would have been BEHIND ME!  My average at Margaritaville was 19.2 mph.  I felt great the whole ride, no cramps, no real soreness or tiredness, just that darn knee.  I took more Tylenol at mile 70 which was just a stand with watermelon and pecans.  The watermelon really hit the spot.  Amazingly, even going 16 mph on the flats I had people drafting me.  It was almost embarrassing.  That's like drafting a hand cyclist.  I started feeling a bit better around mile 90 but I think it was partially adrenaline again.  I was pushing 18 mph up the overpass into town and around 23 mph down the finish.  It turns into a race at the end.  Everyone seems to get really excited about the finish and there's a good amount of people there cheering so everyone was really cranking it out that last half mile or so.  I stopped and took a couple photos after clearing out of the finish line area, then headed back over to the church where I thought everyone would be waiting.  I was shocked to find that I'd arrived before a number of people.  Apparently Terry had tire problems before even getting to the starting line and didn't start until around 8 am and Paul was shooting for a PWI after an hour at the beer stop.  I had a shower and got loaded up for the trip home then we waited around for everyone else to arrive.  We were a little worried about not hearing from Bud after he mentioned trying to finish in under five this year.  Eventually he rolled up and gave us some excuse about trying to get a girl to rub on his butt at a rest stop. Speaking of which, we want an update Bud.  House the cheek?
 
I was going to return to MPEC and check things out a bit but it was getting later by the time everyone got back so Bud, Greg, Terry and I just found a Chinese restaurant.  I'd tell you where it is, but we turned around in so many circles getting there, I can't remember.  I had a really good time.  It's definitely worth going but I'd have to recommend starting up front no matter what the officials say.  I finished in 5 hours 50 min. at a 17.4 mph average speed, not too bad for being 31.5 miles farther than I've ever ridden.  I was happy to be under six hours but feel like I can do it in 5 if I can fix the knee problems.  Of course, that's with the wonderful weather we had.  I don't know how I'd fare on a 105 degree day so who knows?  Thanks to everyone who came out.  RBENTers are always good company.
 
Church accomodations:

 
Early to bed, early to rise makes a man slow to get ready in the morning:

 
Start, around 6:30am

 
Sunrise:

 
A fuzzy picture of the ocean of helmets:

 
Margaritaville, the 50 mile rest stop:

Here ya go, pal....
 

I saw a number of trikes. Saw two catrikes riding together at the finish, the yellow faired trike and someone flying along on a 26"rw trike in a paceline at almost 30mph. I was passing a little to fast and didn't have time to determine what kind of trike it was but that guy was doing pretty well. Think it was all black but wasn't sure. I think I saw one more. Some of the guys said they saw a back-to-back lowracer tandem at the finish line but I missed it. :^(

Didn't realize there were shorter routes!  My kids would have loved that!  And we would have brought the homemade Delta Wolf too.    I have to read up more on this next year.  By then we should have the Marauder 2 finished also, and maybe a couple more…working on a quad for my oldest daughter and a trike for my wife.  Hopefully it will be another cool one.  Looked like tons of fun, sorry we missed it.
 
I'm going to have to start riding more anyway, and get the kids out for the Saturday morning rides we used to do-to the donut shop!!!