April 30, 2007

Mike McLamb and I rode the Tour de Forts yesterday. Fortunately, much of the smoke from the south Georgia wildfires had not yet started blowing in the area we were riding. Later on in the day, the sky was filled with smoke and would have made the ride very difficult. More difficult than it already was. We rode in the lead pack from the start, until I missed a jump at the 27th mile just north of Big Talbot Island as we rode across a causeway bridge. Up to that point, I had held my own and kept up with all of the accelerations, but the speed coupled with the incline were too much. I pretty much popped and couldn't bridge the gap. Mike was hanging off the back of the lead pack hoping I could make it, but when he realized I wouldn't, he dropped and waited for me. We forgot to agree ahead of the ride what we would do in that scenario. I should've told him to ride on without me. We ended up in a pack of 6 guys that were all doing the 61-mile route. The other guys in the pack were all very strong and we were able to work together and still finish the loop in 2:40. Here is the Tour de Forts map with splits.

Fun ride, and a good warm-up for my inaugural long loop ride this Saturday.