Riding to Buddy Boys

Well..  got the Road ID last week.  Figured I should be ready for when Bob Roll shows up at my house at 0330 some morning…

With the younger kids away at camp last week we had ample opportunity to train…  and train we did.  17 hours total.

I got in 4 good sessions of TI drills last week…  I’m beginning to feel better balance….  Not just when doing the drills but even when I swim a lap or 2.  I’m cautiously optimistic at this point, eager to continue, determined to succeed.

We had a solid week of weights and core…  pretty important stuff IMHO…  but often the first to go when time gets shorter.

Only 4 runs last week but with a solid tempo, a nice hour long trail run, a good brick after a hundy, and a 12 mile long run I can definitely say that they were all of good quality.

4 spin classes last week and the aforementioned century on Saturday wrapped up a nice week on the bike.

Now…  a bit more about the ride on Saturday.  We basically have 2 routes that we ride.  From Jax Beach south to St Augustine, or out through rural St John’s county.  As I planned last weekend’s route I had the great idea…  since we need 100 miles maybe I could combine the two.  I figured a route that would take us to Buddy Boys a little country store right by the St John’s river at the apex of our loop.

We left home well before dawn and put foot to pedal in the grey mist of dawn.  The grey mist worried me…  visibility was poor and our stealth was pretty high.  We stopped 3 miles in and purchased a couple of batteries for our blinky light.  That taken care of we pedaled along to Buddy Boys with only a quick potty/water stop on the way.

Buddy Boys Storefront

Buddy Boys…  our oasis…  in the middle of BFE…  this place is pretty country…  more than kinda redneck…  yet the classier of the two stores we frequent in the vacininty…  this is a billboard out front.

Yes…  the life of a redneck girl right there…  fresh pack of smokes to take her beyond last call…

That was not the funniest part of our visit tho…  the guy who drove up on his lawn tractor…  filled it up with gas…. Then walked into the store with his cell phone hanging from his rubber boots who then paid for his gas with all change…  then wanted to swap another pile of assorted coins for dollar bills…  he was funnier.  He grinned at Judi with all three of his teeth and asked her how far we were riding.  Judi said 100 miles and he performed the most literal double take I’ve seen.

We reluctantly left Buddy Boys and the lifestyle it has to offer and pedaled home in the intermittent rain…  our average was almost 2 mph slower than last week but hydration/nutrition was way better.  We got off the bike feeling pretty good and banged out 4 progressively faster miles of running/fueling/hydrating…  all in all a very good day of training.

We put in another yeoman like 12 miler on Sunday too nice even pace finished feeling like we could have run further.