2015 Key-To-Keys Ride Day 5 (For Tom)

Reporting live (kinda sorta maybe?) from the Sunshine State, it's day 5 of the 2015 Key-To-Keys Ride.  During this morning's dedication circle, I dedicated my 100 mile ride to the memory of Tom W.

I met Tom through Team-In-Training back in 2006. A cancer survivor, we cycled many roads together and shared a lot of laughs.  He was one funny dude. He also (with my permission) stole all of my March Madness pool ideas. The old saying "Plagiarism is the sincerest form of flattery" was certainly true here! A few weeks ago, Tom was out riding his bike near his home in Texas when he was struck by a vehicle.  He died on April 7th from those injuries. As I write this, I still can't believe he's gone. Rest in peace Tom. You will be missed.

Today, our route takes us for a 100 mile jaunt from Jacksonville to Daytona Beach.  It's an optional century day so if you don't want to, you don't have to. But as those of you who know me know, I WANT TO!! :)

Today's team is as follows (from l to r): Patti, Holly, your humble blogger, navigator Julie, Lee, Danny and driver Wes. We are known as the "100 Miles of Fun" team.  The night before, we had to decide what pace we wanted to ride at. There were three sign-up sheets: 16-18 MPH, 14-16 MPH and 100 Miles of Fun. Being a slow poke (mostly) on the bike, I decided to sign up for Fun. My reasoning was let's just ride and see what the day brings.  And boy was I not disappointed!  My day started off with a flat tire. I suspected a slow leak from the previous day and that proved to be the case. At least it didn't happen out on the road so that was a good thing. I change the tube and then after pictures, we were off on aour adventure. We had an awesome time riding together! We went fast. We went slow. We laughed. We chatted. We saw snakes alive and dead. We saw turtles. We saw lizards. We got pelted by large rain drops that stung. We saw the Atlantic Ocean. But most importantly, WE FINISHED!! :) Holly, Lee and Danny completed their first ever century ride. Cheers! And my thanks to the Fun team.  I could not have completed 100 miles without your help and teamwork. Thank you Funsters! :)

Our day 6 destination takes us to West Palm Beach. I will talk to you from there.

Stopping!

Gary