Delirious ducks finish 50 miles

Yesterday morning we woke up, a bit nervous about the University of Okoboji Cycling Classic. We registered for the 50 mile route earlier in the week, and had planned to do it for some time, but then the implications started to sink in. It was double the length of our longest ride previously, and we weren't quite sure if we were ready. But Gus and Betty talked us into it, so we headed down and got rolling at 9. (Strangely enough, we never heard from Bus and Gutty).

We started out in a ferocious head wind, and little did we know this would pretty much continue for the whole ride - except for about 2 miles. There was actually a wind advisory, and people remarked that they'd never seen such crazy weather in all 24 years of the annual ride. As we traveled down Lakeshore Drive, we honestly wondered if somehow we'd been transported to Chicago. Our ride continued around West and East Lake Okoboji, around Spirit Lake, then back South to finish the loop. It really was a beautiful ride, even with the wind, and we had a great time.

A couple more details:

• Matt took one break to lay down in a farmer's yard on the East side of Big Spirit. Thankfully the Clif Bar provided some motivation for him to get back on the bike.
• Minnesota Ironman was our buddy, although we ended up beating him to the finish (it still took us over 5 hours, but hey).
• It started raining on mile 49, so we were glad to be nearing the end when it started to come down.
• Before you clean out your fridge, consider biking 50 miles. Anything borderline in there will be unquestionably delicious upon your return.

Today we're a little sore but feeling really happy about the ride yesterday, and feeling optimistic about our training progress to date. Ready to take it to the next level and still pretty freaked out about that second 80 mile day in September.