Is somebody trying to tell me something?

Forecast for today was 100 degrees. To be honest, I'm not sure it made it as I didn't get out of the house much after 11:00 am. I was, once again, going to try to ride at LEAST 100 miles and hopefully 150 or so, and I wanted them to be tough miles in preparation for the Gut Check. I got out on the road a little after 5:30 am and was intending to go to Wayne, NE which is about 55 miles away. I noticed when I left that I had a pretty harsh sore throat. The first 10 miles was "sinus cleansing" time, which isn't unusual, but this time it was a little worse than normal. As I approached the climbs of Nebraska, I was feeling "okay", not spectacular, but good enough to hit the rolls of Highway 15 south to Laurel.

One good surprise, the first six miles from Hwy 12 to the Hartington turn, which used to be moderately brutal with decent sized cracks is in the final stages of being resurfaced. It's as smooth as a baby's bottom now and I loved it! I rolled along at what felt like a snails pace into a slight wind and finally made my way to Laurel. When I stopped, it was only 8:00 in the morning but is was already nasty hot.

I went into the Cenex and grabbed a couple Gatorade Rain's and a breakfast burrito that was one of the best I've ever had at a gas station. Then, much like my last trip to Laurel and my conversations with the locals at the Pizza Ranch, a gentleman came right up and started talking to me asking most of the usual questions: "Where ya from?" "What time did you leave?" "How do you battle this heat?". Finally I invited him to sit down with me and we chatted and ate for about twenty minutes. I told him that I better get going and that I was abandoning my thoughts of going to Wayne as my sore throat seemed to be getting worse. He thought that was a good idea anyway with the heat.

I cruised on back home with the wind at my back and more downhill than up. Just before the bridge crossing into South Dakota I caught up with Holly S. and rode back the rest of the way with her.

Upon arrival, I sat around for a bit trying to decide if I could do a couple more loops to at least get 100 miles in. I decided that I was done for the day shortly thereafter as my throat was still hurting. I showered and then it was downhill from there. I was feeling worse. My head was stuffy, I didn't feel like moving, and just lacked energy. I tried to take a nap with Carson and that didn't go well as my head plugged up and couldn't breathe.

For the most part I was a slug on the couch watching movies with the kids today. Sometimes those are nice days, but not when you feel like I did today. I am probably feeling better now at 10:30pm that I have all day, and that still isn't saying much. All these recent attempts for long rides are being thwarted in one way or another. I have to wonder if these are all "signs" to give up on the Gut Check. Yeah well, I'm too stubborn so you know I have to give it a go at this point!

On another front, I just set up the kids road bike for Laura so she can ride to the bridge in the early morning. She is getting hooked and I love it!

Profile for today's ride is below. Other info from the Garmin can be found by clicking HERE.