98..99..100

Got back in front of my place with 98 miles. Instead of a reasoned approach, I just couldn't be that close to 100 miles and not get it, so I added a small loop over to Belt Line. Well, that brought the total up to 99 and a little change. Three lookin'-silly laps around the parking lot topped me off at the first century of the season, and it was hard!
Lot of people showed up for this...maybe 15.
We rode through the U of M past the State Fair Grounds (I'm still craving cheese curds), up by Como Park and Lake Phalen, and then turned east with our sites on Stillwater.
Once we got out of the city, and away from most of the stop lights, we were able to establish a rhythm and a pace line. The shared effort got us to Stillwater quick.
We stopped at a coffee shop called the Bikery. The Star Tribune did a write up on this coffee shop yesterday claiming, they have the best pastries in the state. I confirm what the Strib wrote. There's also a serious bike shop in the back, so a couple of guys were able to take care of some minor maintenance issues. Very cool place. I highly recommended it.
The area we rode today is just one long set of rollers...rollers beyond rollers, and it only gets worse north of Stillwater, which is where we were heading. By the time we got to Marine on St. Croix, heads were hanging, shoulders were slumped, not a word was being spoken and we still had to climb out of the valley on Nason hill.
Nason wound up being the last nail in the coffin for just about everyone...not a whole lot of smiles, or sounds, except maybe a whimper or two. It took a while, and a cross word or two, for us all to regroup, but we finally all got back together.
The slight tailwind and a few less rollers made the last 35 miles a little less painful, but there was still plenty of hurting going on.
March was a good month, and I'm definitely getting stronger, with a couple of 80 mile rides well over 19mph. Gotta work the centuries now through April and get them up into the high 19mph average, which will have me ready for the Hammer Hundred season start in May. Don't ya just love it? Hard, hard ride today...oh yeah, it was cold out there too! 100/18.8