Wednesday June 22, 2016

I was awake at 4:30 making a dash to the Porta Potty clutching my tummy and butt cheeks. I felt awful. I was awake again at 5:00 and eventually got up at 5:15 with another visit to the Porta Potty. Fortunately, there were no line-ups as there usually is at the rest stops during the rides.

I managed to eat a muffin for breakfast and then asked Ralf not to do the Century Ride and ride with me for the day. He looked after me today, ensuring that I was eating enough to survive without throwing up.

Fortunately, it was an easier ride today. A couple of steeper climbs early on in the day, then rolling hills and the last 10 miles were flat with a tail wind. The weather was also much cooler today which helped with the cycling. We had a couple of rain showers, which cooled things down a little.

After we had set up the tent, Ralf went back out to the last rest stop (10 miles out) he added another 32 kms to his day. It didn’t give him an imperial century, but it did give him a metric century+. He met Dick at the last rest stop and cycled into camp with him.

After showering, Sue (one of the other GOBA riders) said she was going to set up her friends tents. They were doing the century loop and the forecast was for rain. I offered my assistance. We got the first one set up easily, but the second was a little more complicated. Various members of the group came over to offer their assistance and advice. We did get it up and hoped that it would stay there, at least until the owner got back from his ride.

Forecasts for severe thunder storms and strong winds had the Dayton Cycling Club in a bit of a tizzy. GOBA organizer came around and told people that buses would be available at 9:00 p.m. to take anyone who wanted to sleep in the gym for the night for an extra $10.00. Sue commented it was a “chicken little” scenario – “the sky is falling in”.

The Fire Department announced that they were monitoring the situation and if it was likely the storm would hit our area, they would advise evacuation from the tents into buildings on-site.

We opted to stay in the tent.