This morning we got up at 4:45 a.m. and after dropping off Scott's Dad at the airport (he was on Island for some college work), headed over to Smith's Cove. We were met there by a bus that drove us out to the Blow Hole in East End some 22 miles from where we parked our car. On Friday we had dropped off our bikes with the event organizers in a trailer which met us out in East End. We were participating in the Kiwanis Bike A Thon a 22 mile bike ride from the Blow Hole near the eastern coast of the island back to Smith's Cove on the western coast of Grand Cayman. At least 50 bikers participated in the event with many of them the "super bikers" we often see out doing the East End loop on Saturday and Sunday mornings. Most of the super bikers had actually biked out to the blow hole earlier in the morning and were now biking back.
At 7:00 a.m. the organizers started the rally and we all headed out. Very quickly we moved to the rear of the pack and set our own pace much slower than the peloton well ahead of us. Biking from East to West on Cayman means you have a tailwind and is much easier than heading in the other direction. We had brought our camel backs for water and some energy bars. We stopped a couple of times to top up on food and made it to Smith's Cove around 8:45 a.m. having averaged a good 12 miles an hour. We hadn't done a ride this long since January so we are both very sore and will have some recovery time the next couple of days. Never the less we were both very proud of ourselves for getting up that early and for finishing the rally.
We are not going to be able to do the Half Marathon this year as we will be attending the Jazz Festival that weekend. It is a three day festival though right now we just plan to go on Friday and Saturday. We will be seeing among others, Peboe Bryson (he of Beauty and the Beast song fame) and Alicia Keys. We haven't been able to go to the Jazz Festival in years past because it always fell on Graduation weekend. This year our graduation ceremony is in January so there is no conflict. The Horns continue to win meaning Scott is in a good mood most Sunday's. Next week is the big game in Stillwater so cheer for Texas next week.
