River Nymph Sightings while training for the IA State Road Race

How do you prepare for a 108 mile Cat 1/2 road race?  I don't have a clear-cut answer, but it seems obvious that putting in lots and lots of mileage couldn't hurt.

To that end, I decided to head to West Branch on Sunday to pre-ride the Iowa State Road Race course. 
Man, I gotta say, that sure was boring...  The course is great for the race, but hard to endure as a solo training ride.  I decided that this had a lot to do with the fact the roads are somewhat straight and wide open... right after you crest one gradient, the next one presents itself, so you sort of end up anticipating the next climb, even though it is way up the road... very mind numbing.

I almost started wishing some bike-hating motorists would heckle me, just to give my mind something to process.  Whatever happened to the art of 'mooning'.   It would have been somewhat entertaining to have someone's ass streaking by me at 55mph.  I suppose if I could hand-pick the method of interaction that I was 'exposed' to, I would have to request some sort of drive-by female 'flashing' scenario.  That would have kept my mind off of the various aches and pains that were occupying my thoughts as I endured mile after mile, under the hot summer sun.

Thankfully, I was rewarded with some heat-related delusions toward the latter part of the training ride that helped get me through the effort...  This race course crosses the Cedar River twice per lap.  I began to envision myself jumping in, enjoying how refreshing it would be.  Some of the cheerleaders that had flashed me earlier, just happened to be sunbathing along the bank... and offered me some ice-cold Cytomax and a six-pack of GU.  They then grabbed some of the sponges that they had been using at their fund-raising car wash earlier that day, and trickled ice cold water across my forehead and on the soles of my burning feet.  As I prepared to leave, they asked if I wanted a lift back to West Branch, but I heroically declined their offer, and rode off into the sunset as they gasped in awe.

The delusions continued and got a little bit odd as I crossed the Cedar River for the last time, at about mile 95.  I looked over the bridge and was delighted to see three River Nymphs... some sort of a flashback from the movie 'Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?"...

What a welcoming sight, as the three of them approached me and began to pour a delicious brew of mysterious fluid down my dry throat.  I wasn't sure what exactly to make of the jug's label...'XXX', but I could definately say that it wasn't filled with Gatorade. 

Ahh, how refreshingly intoxicating... but then reality set in, as I came to my senses and realized I still had several miles of riding left.

It seemed important to finish the training distance, so I completed all 109 miles.  I basically felt good, just mentally bored (aside from the delusions)... Putting in a fair amount of milage year after year seems to be having a cumulative effect on my strength as an endurance athlete and should put me in good form for this Saturday's State Champ RR.

Well, getting there is half the fun, so I won't have any regrets, regardless of the outcome, I can't wait to ride the course with the company of some of the state's finest athletes on race day.  I would suggest not following my wheel during the river crossings, however, as you never know when the urge to search for those river nymphs and their triple X brew might cause me to launch off the bridge.