At 7:00 am this morning, Steve and I rolled out of Italy to do the Prairie Hill Roundup 200k permanent. Nelson was supposed to join us, but wasn't there at 7:00 am. It turned out that he overslept.
 
Nelson, who is having knee issues, chose this route because it has a reputation as a fast and easy 200k, just what the doctor ordered for a problem knee, it would seem. But the route wasn't that easy on this day. All but about 30 miles of the route has become boulderseal, and the wind made things tough, too.
 
The route leaves Italy and heads east, then southeast, to Wortham at mile 53. The wind, which wasn't blowing very hard early, really started to pick up from the SSE by mile 25, which is where I had a flat. After I fixed the flat, and we started to ride away, there was Nelson, riding up behind us.
 
From Wortham, the route heads WSW to Prairie Hill. Right on cue, the wind changed from SSE to SSW. If the local weather reports here are to be believed, the wind was blowing much harder where we were. Nelson's knee was already bothering him by the time he reached Wortham, and this long stretch against the wind was brutal. By mile 66, Nelson had decided to nurse his knee back to the start by a shorter route, and we parted ways with him. The remaining 10 miles to Prairie Hill, with the roads turning a bit more south, were really tough, and by the time we reached the control there, I was toast. I was glad there wouldn't be hardly any more miles against the wind.
 
The Prairie Hill control turned out to be Mark M's double secret ice cream stop, and Steve sampled that ice cream, while I ate my peanut butter and honey sandwich. After leaving Prairie Hill, the route soon joins more familiar roads, down FM 339, then FM 308, and US 77 back to Italy. It was much easier sledding on this part of the ride, but I was fried enough that I struggled on every small hill.  
 
With .3 in bonus miles, from a wrong turn the only time I rode out in front of Steve and Nelson, I ended up with 126.0 miles, with an on the bike average of 15.7 mph. I finished in an overall time of 9:30. My Garmin showed 3,600 feet of climbing. We rejoined Nelson for Subway sandwiches at Italy, and called it a day. The wind and boulderseal made it a tough day, but for a November day, it was truly nice, and I always have a blast riding with these two. I hope your knee is better soon, Nelson. Thanks for the ride, y'all!

Ah, yes. I forgot about the chicken manure being spread just south of us as we rode into Prairie Hill. I told Steve that I thought that was very chicken s__t of them...