So if I’ve put off my “weekend update” until after hours on a Tuesday, does it really bear typing in?  Whew, what a day.  I would love to ramble off a lengthy complaint about it, but then that would be the “Tuesday update” and I still wouldn’t have the weekend covered.  Rats.

Said weekend kicked off slightly out of the ordinary.  Instead of sauntering down the Brooksider to sit on the patio, I picked up Munkirs over at his house and we drove south to beautiful Pittsburg, KS.  We had an early-morning bicycle ride scheduled there on Saturday, so we got the drive knocked out and stayed at a hotel.  Nice little town.  We dropped our bags at the hotel, then hit all the clubs and checked out the local college scene.  We got back to the hotel just in time to grab a few hours sleep before the ride.  (Or we might have watched a little ESPN and gone to bed at 9:30.)

Saturday morning we got up and headed out to our ride, the Gorilla Century.  This was pretty much the culmination of all the summer’s riding, at least for me.  Our goal was to ride the full 100 mile route, preferably under our own power.  There are lots of century rides available throughout the summer, but we had chosen this one based on the date, the cheap entry fee, and the irresistible allure of seeing the Big Brutus coal shovel along the route.  Indeed, it did not disappoint;  That is one big shovel.  Unfortunately it was a mere 30 miles into the ride, leaving the remaining 70 miles feeling a bit anti-climactic.  Overall ride impression?  Well, given a two-day recovery time, I will say it was a good ride and I’m glad we did it.  Shortly after finishing I was ready to sell my new bike on craigslist.  Whew, it was a warm ‘un.  We sort of saw trouble in our future when it was 83 degrees at start time.  We had a relatively good ride though despite the heat, up until the 75 mile mark.  We pulled into a rest stop there, averaging a very respectable 17.4 mph.  By this time the temp had gone over 100, and the discomfort was evident in the very few riders hanging out there.  We filled up with water and took off, and both of us sort of broke down shortly there-after.  Cramps, nausea, profuse sweating…  The entire remaining 25 miles effectively consisted of pulling over under shade trees every few miles and praying for a little relief from the leg cramps.  Geez we paid money for this?  But, to our credit, we both finished the whole ride, so we can claim mission accomplished.  They said they had to haul more people back in trucks than ever before, which I would certainly believe.  We may have suffered severe dehydration and possible organ damage, but we did get some really sweet tee-shirts out of the deal.  And, I have to point out that I beat Munkirs to the finish line for the first time in any organized ride we’ve been on, fully justifying the purchase of my new bike and proving that you can’t beat the technology advantage of carbon fiber.

After the ride we limped back to KC, and after dropping Munkirs off I headed home to meet up with the Aushermans, who were in town visiting from DC.  I gotta say, while it is always good to see them, I wasn’t up to the occasion.  I did my best, but I called no joy after dinner and they had to take me home.  I was out of gas, even a 75th Street pizza couldn’t bring me around.  They pushed me out of the car in the front yard, where I think they found my inert body still laying when they returned from a wild night of partying.  Sounded like they had a good time carousing in Waldo;  Guess I’ll have to take their word for it.

Sunday and Monday I was still a bit out of sorts.  I took Teagan to the park for a few hours Sunday morning, then headed to the Brooksider to watch the baseball game.  Martin joined me down there and we hung out for a few hours, enjoying the awesome weather.  (Why couldn’t it have been that nice just one day earlier?  Just ONE DAY??!!  I’m not bitter though.)  After the game we sat on my back porch for a while and tore up a large Waldo pizza;  It was just too nice to be inside.  The girls were at the Maroon 5 and Train concert at Starlight meanwhile.  Not my favorite groups but given the 70 degree temperature it certainly didn’t sound like a bad option.  Then for the holiday on Monday, well, I just didn’t do anything.  Non-event.  Even if I did do something incredibly fun I wouldn’t tell you, because I’m tired of typing.