The Poofter does a century

With the Triple Bypass looming, I decided it was time to get in some miles, and it just so happened that some Birchwoodies were doing a 105 mile ride today, so I tagged along. It was billed as an easier ride than normal, 18 mph or so, so I figured it would be perfect for my first century of the season. A Birchwoodie named Tom led the ride, and Little Guy, Matt McDonough and some other Birchwoodies whose names I can't remember showed up. We set a pretty brisk pace from the beginning, and a couple guys dropped off in the first 25 miles. By our first water break at 50 miles my computer was showing an average speed of 21 mph, including making our way through the city from Uptown! Since it was my first century and I didn't know how I'd feel once I got beyond the 60 miles or so that constituted a 'long' ride for me, I just hung on. It was nice to really get out of the city into the corn fields of wherever we were (Victoria comes to mind as a little town we went through), and I was looking forward at least to learning some new routes. After the 50 mile water stop we headed back north into the wind and set up a rotating double paceline, but I was starting to feel it at about 60 miles, so I felt bad about messing it up because I couldn't always pull through. I took some consolation in the fact that the pace actually increased into the wind from mile 50 to our next water stop at 75 miles! The guys were nice enough to tow me back to the group a couple of times when I got gapped during that stretch. I felt better after the stop and some food, but after 80 miles the pace picked up again and that was it for me. I was able to find my way to Wayzata where I took a nice long break at Starbucks and then totally toodled my way home on the trail at about 15 mph. I was really annoyed that my computer spontaneously reset it self somewhere around 80 miles, because I was lapping the data at each rest stop. Anyway, in spite of getting dropped, I was pretty happy with being able to hang on for 75 miles at 21.3 mph! I hear the ride ended up being about 105 miles at 21.5 mph for those that finished. However, I don't think I'll be taking the Surly for the 120 mile, 3 mountain pass Triple Bypass after that humbling experience!