The Ride: Approaching 100

I did two rides this weekend:  One early-ish yesterday morning, when the weather was perfect; another this afternoon after church, when the weather was horribly hot and humid.  Each ride was a little over 47 miles, so my total weekend mileage was about 95 miles.  Fortunately, the cramping from last week didn't return.  And the gash in my leg has healed enough that I didn't need to keep it bandaged during the ride.

Some observations:

First, an early-ish start on a Saturday morning when the temperature is cool and the humidity low is not the same as an early start.  When I'm on the road before 7am, the other bike traffic is manageable.  If I start at 8am, however, I find myself in traffic jams like this one where we were waiting for the light to change so we could cross the intersection (and there were more bikers behind me):

Second, I need to learn how to fuel better.  The sport beans and gummies that I eat are great for medium-distance rides, but on long rides -- especially when the heat is high -- I think I need something more substantial.  Today's ride started very strong because I had pasta for lunch, but by the end I was completely drained, and no amount of glorified jelly beans was going to fix it.

Third, note the clump of Pickerel rushes gracing the banks of this golf-course lake.  I've got the same thing in my water garden.  (Also water lilies, but mine are way smaller than those.)

Fourth, I most definitely need to revisit the bike seat section of the bike store.  You're not getting any pictures of this one (obvi) -- let's just acknowledge that chafing is not our friend.