“When the clouds, take the sky 
Does the storm give you life?”

 – Led Zeppelin

25^th Annual Bone Ride.  5/18/2011.  Schuler’s house.  7:30am.  50 degrees and raining.  155 miles to go.  Awesome.

Not sure how many riders rolled, but it was substantially less than last year’s idyllic conditions.  We were rained on for the first 20 miles or so, then the rain gave way to mist and wet roads.  Roads stayed wet for most of the day, and the sun decided to come out for 10 minutes when we were almost back, then it disappeared again for good.  I’m no Andy Hampsten, but rolling 155 miles in the grimy rain felt pretty cool – not unlike our own “Spring Classic”.

I rolled out with the group and immediately felt the effects of my “over-hydration”.  With the low temps and no real sweat happening, all that water was just sitting in my bladder waiting to go somewhere. I spent half of the ride to Madison looking for places to stop and then bridging back up to the group.

A delicious burrito in Madison with the Team, a group picture and then back on the road.  Since I was so hydrated on the way there, I neglected to drink much and found myself with empty water bottles halfway back.  Not good.  At 135 miles I started to feel like a raisin, so I ducked into Attitude in Pewaukee and slammed a Gatorade and rolled back to Schuler’s with a strong guy from Appleton.

I had enough foresight to put a 6 pack of Anchor Steam on ice in the morning, and I handed them out to anyone standing around when I got back.  Success never tasted so good.