Steve, Peggy, Nelson, Ray, Greg, Paul, and I left Bolivar this morning at 6:30 am to ride Ray's new St. Jo 125k permanent. This route an out and back that goes through Forestburg, then on to the turnaround control at St. Jo. It's plenty dark at 6:30 am these days. Lights were definitely needed for the first miles.
 
It's pretty steady elevation gain from Bolivar to Forestburg. I pushed pretty hard to keep from falling too far back, but lagged behind anyway. We made an unofficial stop at Forestburg, then rode on to St. Jo. There are some pretty tall hills between Forestburg and St. Jo, made even more scary by wildly driven trucks hauling some kind of wide load monstrosities. They looked poised to tip over at any second going down these hills. I didn't see it, but heard that Ray got a closer look at one of them than he wanted.
 
Nelson had some bike issues starting in St. Jo. I struggled coming back on the hills to Forestburg, but there's lots of downhill on the rest of the route, and I finally started to feel like I was moving decently. This was a truly beautiful day, mostly cloudy with a low in the upper 60's and a high in the lower 80's and not much wind, just great riding weather.
 
I was a tired camper by the finish, and a cheeseburger from the Valero that's the start and finish control was very good. I finished in 5:35, ended up with 78.6 miles, and had an on the bike average of 16.8 mph. It was great company as usual with this bunch, thanks everyone. To rest and recover from this hard ride, I went home and hung a ceiling fan. Nothing like relaxing on a Saturday afternoon...

Thank you Ray for a good route. Definitely a good route to get prepared for the TT's. It was good to see Greg & Paul again. AND it's always good to see Nelson, Ray & Bud(and Peggy of course).  
 
The scary part was hearing that Ray had a close encounter of bad kind with a semi-trailer carrying a wide load(as Bud mentioned). There was more vehicle traffic on the route today than I remember from a few weeks ago when we rode Nelson Live Long & Prosper.
 
Since I had my Kazoo helmet on today, I couldn't hear much as we rode together early. There was a fair amount of "Coneheads" today on the ride. Nelson, Peggy, Ray & myself all wore our TT helmets.
 
 

Paul - let me know if/when you post the video/pictures of the truck that could have taken my life!  That's by far, the closest call I've ever had.  Was descending that hill at 30 plus, and no place to pull over when that "wide load" truck decided to graze me, then the flags in the rear slapped me hard enough to knock me off the bike. I was very fortunate.  
 
Great ride everyone - it was a pleasure to ride with our group again.  Everyone rode strong, except me.  After the first 25 miles to Forestburg, I found brake rub.  Thought I fixed it, and didn't check it when we got to St. Jo, as I focused my attention in trying to help Nelson with his bike.  The return from St. Jo to Forestburg has some tough climbs, and I went off the back. I started cramping just before Forestburg on the return.  Found the brake was rubbing still, almost locking out my wheel.  Loosened the brake all the way and Nelson and I left for the last 25 miles to Bolivar.  Upon my return to Bolivar and mounting my bike on the bike rack, I said something to Greg, who had already finished. He came and looked, and guess what...
 
My rear wheel was way off center on the drop outs.  Paul mentioned something not looking right around mile 30, but I didn't think about this being the issue.  
 
So, I rode all day with significant brake interference.  No wonder it was a tough day!  I can be so dumb sometimes, over looking the obvious.

I agree with Greg we need to ride together more often. I had a great time. What a fun group of guys, never a dull  moment. I felt good all day, I rode the last 26 miles hard. I love that part of the route bent perfect rollers with a few hills thrown in just for the fun of it.  
 
After the TTT I think we need to do a just for fun ride and all stay together like we did back in the day.
                 Good luck to all!!!!!           Ride hard and fast.
 
                                                                   Pedalin Peggy

Anybdy able to read the plate of the rig or truck?  I sure couldn't.  crap.

Yes:  Permits are required if you get caught.  Permited loads are not allowed on some roads.  Your are required to have permit for over lenght , over width and over weight.
Tom

Rght there wit'cha....   take that lane, whenever feasible...  this was a little unusual, in that it was a pretty good downhill and the bikes were going 30+ mph with NO shoulder, but the "advance warning" pickup truck that passed me (safely) was what made me start checking my rear view mirror for what he was leading...  I'm just glad that nobody got seriously hurt.

Paul - great pictures and video. You can hear me yell "that truck hit me", as I'm pulling over at the bottom of the hill.  Please email that video to me:
 
ray_torrey@msn.com
 
You can see that first wide-load, the one that grazed me just before it passes Paul, that is it no where near the middle of the road, but all the way to the right.  Then after it passes, I move into the middle, then pull off the shoulder just ahead of Paul.  Very scary...