This past weekend 12 brave souls crossed multi-laned highways to make it to 71 East down to La Grange. Did I ever tell you getting OUT of Austin is the most difficult thing to do?

Not to mention getting a flat 7 miles out Austin is really NO FUN... Props to Nat and Richie for hanging back and helping me out.

Did you know that it takes longer to ride 68 miles than 80? Wind reeeeeally makes a difference.

Anyway, some interesting sights along the way included:

-A giant swarm of bugs (bees?) that I managed to ride under and past unscathed... you bet I was going 40 mph when I saw that hazy floating mass..

-An elderly lady leaning on her horn until she passed us

-An unruly dude in a truck screaming obscenities at us

-A gas station clerk that prayed for our safety

-Chris R's puke that everyone passed and wondered who it belonged to

-Another elderly lady talking to us about her new grandbaby at a gas station

But the absolute BEST sight down to La Grange was the exit sign Reading Business 71 La Grange.

However, the HILL UP TO Tommy's house was miserable. Nothing like one last obstacle to your lunch...

After resting up the legs a bit, we headed down to the MS150 site and promoted Texas 4000 a bit. Got hooked up at the Texas Exes tent and got a nice calf massage. It felt soooo goooooood. Pumba decided to surprise us by riding down to La Grange at 1 and arrived just as we were leaving. Crazy kid.

Dinner at the Neuman's was great. Nothing like homemade hamburgers with Ferris Bueller and fudgesicles.... mmmh. Even sleeping out in the tent wasn't bad.. although Bill might object to my snoring and nick's sleep yelling. Eric was out as soon as he hit the floor so I don't think he remembers any of it.

In the morning I was debating whether or not to hide out in the back of Tommy's truck and hitch a ride back to Austin, but I sucked it up and got on the bike and discovered how wonderful tailwind is... The rest stops were awesome because they had GOATS that Nat and I took pics with. I heard Bill and Eric also got some food too from some picky eaters.

I must say that it was an absolute joy getting to cycle back w/ 13,000 other riders. Nothing quite like that experience and it makes me look forward to this Summer even more.

Special thanks to Tommy and his family for putting up and feeding a bunch of stinky riders for the weekend :)