By Bruce Grell
6/16/2007

It was hot, It was Hilly, but not so Horrible.

Jeff and I and 5 of the Team Skin members (Jean, Darcy, Jeff Dullard, Pancho, and Fingert), had a great ride. The girls were awesome and proved to be the toughest riders on course, (not that I would've expected any different from them, I just don't think most of you know how tough they are) way tougher than most of the guys I know.

We all did it in 8 1/2 hours. We could have cut some time off, but the course had a detour and we rode smart, so we could finish strong. Hammer had a great ride, it was the longest he's ever done, and on the hilliest terrain to boot. He's officially a climbing specialist.

We started out conservatively and proceeded to pass people the whole time we were riding. We even started a half hour late. At one time at around 90 miles in our group (Me, Dullard, Hammer, Darcy and Jean), had about 10 others sucking our wheels, probably for about the next ten miles. I was the official Todd Gillihan at the head of the Skin Pack. Those were big shoes and I felt a lot of pressure, as setting the pace was key, considering we were all trying to finish together. I think it worked out good, and I hope the girls put in a good word to the board for the Wannabe.

I stayed on the front of the group on the flats most of the time, tried to keep the pace nice and even, going fast down and controlling the adrenaline on the ups. Hammer Dullard and Darcy came through for some good pulls when I was getting spent and it was just what I needed. It's funny how some help from your pals can recharge your battery. Darcy gave me some great advice (she politely told me to put my ego in my back pocket and ask for help because that's what friends are for). Point taken and a humble thank you to her for that. It saved me from imminent doom later.

I rode easy up the hills to recover a little. I actually felt fine until the last few miles, which was all uphill. Then all the pulling caught up with me, but didn't beat me.

We had some good laughs and conversations at the sags and the morale was high all day.

It really was an awesome day for all of us. Jean beat every one of us up the finishing hill. We all felt like a million bucks even though it hurt a little, and the beer was mighty fine at the top of Blue Mound.

Darcy did it with 34-50 up front and an 11-23 in the back. JD had his 39-53 on and he tips the scales at well above 200. That's friggin' tough.

Jean was always there to finish the cheer for me, and JD and Hammer made some serious funnies that kept us laughing, which was hard on 15% grade. Jean's the energizer bunny with a quick charger when your battery is getting low. The ride would have been twice as hard without her.

We ended up with over 130 miles, and somewhere above the 11,000 feet of climbing in the brochure with added mileage.

This was the 3rd toughest ride I've done after Leadville and Trans-Iowa, but because of the company, it was #1 on the fun factor scale.