Almost a LAMB

Yesterday I participated in the Spring LAMB Ride. I typically participate in this ride twice a year, once in May and again in October. Last Fall it was held in November and it was not a good day as far as the weather was concerned.

For yesterday's ride, you couldn't have asked for better weather. Though a little on the windy side, it was to our advantage for most of the ride. The ride has two starting locations, depending on rider ability. I departed my house at 4:43am to make the ride to Cadence120 to meet anyone that was leaving from there. It ended up being a waisted trip, as no one was there by 5:15 for the start.

Last Fall, as the 5:15 group headed south to the Laurendine Road and Rangeline Road start, we had riders join us at several spots along the way. Yesterday...nobody. I had to make the trip to the 6:00am start all by myself. Luckily I had a great tail-wind and aside from the uphills, I was moving along over 20mph.

I arrived to find seven other riders ready to roll. Unfortunately, none were planning on making the entire loop. We headed toward Dauphin Island with the wind pushing our backs. We picked up two additional riders just south of Fowl River. We made such good time that we arrived at the island at a few minutes after 7:00. Three of the riders had planned on riding to the island, take the ferry to Fort Morgan, and ride toward Gulf Shores, but turn around in time to take the next ferry back to Dauphin Island. Since we arrived so early, they decided not to wait nearly an hour for the ferry, so they headed back to the north.

The riders that joined us south of the river had parked one of their vehicles at a family member's home in Robertsdale, as they didn't think they would be able to make the entire loop around the bay. They had room for at least two other riders, so Tom and Jimmy who had planned on riding back from the island decided to continue on.

Along the way, Jimmy's bike shorts started falling apart, so we made a detour that added several miles, so he could stop by a The Bike Shop in Foley to purchase some new shorts.

After the Robertsdale group turned off, Felicia Beth, Cindy and I continued on to Daphne, where Cindy was having a friend pick her up and Felicia Beth's husband, Ben, was going to pick her up. Usually we have our lunch break in Fairhope at the Subway, but now that Lenny's Sub Shop has opened up in Daphne, I figured it wouldn't be too much farther to have a much better sandwich.

Even though I love Lenny's, the extra distance, though short, was not pleasant. We were all very hungry and the hills between Fairhope and Daphne made the wait for lunch that much worse.

I now had a decision to make, to continue and finish the loop by myself, or to hitch a ride back with Ben and Felicia Beth. For safety's sake, I am not a big fan of anyone riding by themselves. That, plus the fact that the cleat bolts for my new time pedals are pocking slightly through my insoles, I decided to finish the ride in Daphne as well.

I still got a full century in, total mileage for me ended up at 103.61.