Saturday was the hardest day yet. We rode 55 miles with over 4000 feet of total ascent. Compounding the difficulty was the heat with strong direct sun. I thought I’d be in trouble due to every part of me being very, very sore…knees, neck, back and especially tuchie. I got on my bike this morning with great trepidation, but miracle of miracle I rode strong and with no discomfort. I guess there’s good days and bad days with no explanation. Today was overcast and cool for the first half of the day that went real far in helping to conserve energy. We road 54 miles of rolling hills. Its was 4 m.p.h up hill and a very cooling down hill at 25-30 m.p.h. found our first dairy queen today, which on this route has a tradition of never passing a dq so it was hot dogs and soft serve ice cream. Also, had my first flat tire. And when I say first I really mean first. I’ve never changed a tire. I got the tube and tire off but couldn’t figure out getting the new stuff on. Luckily after a few minutes so others in the group caught up to me and helped. Some sad news today. Jerry whose been riding a recumbent bike had been struggling on the hills and took a spill yesterday. He decided to bail out and go home. I know he’s disappointed and the rest of us will miss him. Other than the flat that can’t be helped my bike has performed perfectly. I must thank the folks at class cycles in southbury. Making the best recommendations on every part of my bike setup. So kudos to roy and his whole crew and robin who spent about 3 hours getting the bike fitted to me.