Longest Ride to Date after a week of ....

This weekend I did the longest ride so far of the season. I did NOT back it up with another ride on Sunday for one reason. I was just getting over a fairly consequential case of upper respiratory infection. I had it for over a week and "finally" went to the doctor on Friday. She said that the current "crop" is lasting about 7 to 10 days and I was at the point I would either get over it or it would turn into a "full blown" sinus infection. I got meds and am on my way to feeling much better, however and almost more important, I missed more than a few good days to train....but the thinking is that there is a reason for missing time....I just don't know it yet. Anyway, I went out long on Saturday, and thanks to my fellow North Raleigh Ride group riders (4 of us in all) , I was able to "survive" the 63ish miles to Oxford in fairly decent shape. Sincere thanks go to Tim Tripp for taking some pretty long pulls out front.... a Strong rider Mr. Tripp is!! I added the miles to the ride by riding over to Blue Jay Park to start the ride and by the time I got back to the house the "time in saddle" was a little over 4 hours 20 minutes and 75.37 miles. I was pretty well "spent" but EXTREMELY grateful that my conditioning was on track to be able to "pull this off." I am now looking very much forward to this weekend's ride at Elizabeth City NC . 100 miles should not hold as much foreboding as it would have had I not done a lengthy ride this weekend. AND....it (the Elizabeth City ride) is the FIRST event of FIVE AT FIFTY!!