Harpeth River Ride June 12

The STtrainer Team rolled out to the Harpeth River Ride.  This was soon after our new team kits came in, and everyone was up for a big challenge.  Little did we know how much of a challenge this would be.  The instructions to the team were: 

"Ride farther than you have recently.  Ride farther than you ever have.  Ride farther than you can imagine."  The results were awesome. 

It was nice chilling as a team before the ride started.

There were well over 1200 riders in this event.  It started at Nissan USA Headquarters which was a welcoming location. 

Bonnie and Jen rode the 45 mile option, plus tacked on an extra 5 miles.  This was by far the longest ride for either of these two.  Congrats gals!

Our Team rolled out together.  Here are Beth M, Joleyn, Terry, and David enjoying the early cool weather.

The namesake of the Harpeth River Ride, on the outskirts of Franklin.

I am not always a fan of suburban living, but I will tell you Franklin has been growing on me lately.  Here Terry and Susan roll past the roundabout in the center of Franklin.  

Rebecca Cain started the ride with the team and also rode with her Husband.  Married couples that ride together....wait, how's that go? Nice work on this one Rebecca!

Soon our group had organized into a very nice pace line.  I coach these cyclists and actually most of us focus more on triathlon than traditional cycling, so it was nice to get everyone into a new activity of pace line riding.  It definitely helped pass the time and made the ride go faster.  

Perry and Walter around mile 70.  We were starting to feel it by this point.  Fortunately as the ride got longer, the aid stations got better.  This one had a hippy theme, good music, and lots of needed refreshments. 

Disaster struck! Perry had a flat.  Fortunately with some quick mechanical skills and generosity of a donated tire, we were able to keep riding.  

When the sidewall blows out, no $bill is going to patch it.  You need a new tire.  

I'm not going to lie.  The Harpeth River Ride was harder than I expected.  I rode with my cyclists but it kicked my butt.  We were all relieved to be getting close to the end of the ride.  

It was a hilly and horrifically hot day.  But this is exactly the kind of day to go ride 100 miles.  I did not even know some of those hills existed in Williamson Co.  I mean these were mountains!  

One of my favorite sayings is "Make hay when the sun is shining." You can quit or give up when conditions get hard, but you will get the most out of doing the hard work when the time is right.  Seeing the farmers baling hay while we rode through picturesque pastures drove the point home.  

Barry Smith rode the 100.  We waited around for him to finish, he really had to slog it in.  His longest ride before this was much shorter, so he really stepped up to get this one done.  Go Barry!