A hot (90+) and windy (15mph constant headwind, gusts to 25 or 30) day to attempt the hardest century I've ever done. I struggled more with this than Hilly Billy Roubaix, I think. Still a great day on the bike, though. The route was nice, but not amazing. Some sections of busy state highway where you were on the shoulder fighting rumble strips and debris. Only a couple roads (Polin and something creek) that I really thought were special; both were single lane with only white edge lines like in Europe. Polin was on a ridge and wound around a lot, with some super cool swoopy downhills; the other followed a creek. Constantly rolling terrain with some considerable climbs. Lily Pike was long and gradual; the Pottershop hills more comparable to Reynolds Rd or Chicken Coop. Sadly not a lot of horse farms, mostly agrarian like Ohio, but the tobacco fields (they turn a beautiful yellow!) and barns were a neat new sight. Unfortunately the rolling start, multiple route choices, and forecast (rain moving in late afternoon) seemed to keep us from ever being in a large group, which would have helped a lot in the wind. After lunch (where we met Father Terr Bradshaw and a couple of older riders who were super nice that we continued to see throughout the weekend) we did hook up with a group of three for awhile, so that helped. At one point we rode through a small town parade with them, where I briefly lost Dad; turned out he had hopped off to watch the parade! The rest of the day it was mostly Dad and I, though we did see others. After SAG 5 (rest stops were plentiful and well-stocked, even Krispie Kremes at the first one!), I really started to struggle. Thankfully we caught a tailwind for a bit so I could recharge, then we started seeing more riders, which helped the spirits. After climbing the first Pottership hill (the hardest), we were alerted to a quickly approaching storm and booked it out of there. Though we rode hard the last 10 miles, we didn't quite make it and got drenched about a mile from the end. It was a pretty epic ending, with it getting black as night and the wind kicking up even more. Unfortunately that meant the finish party was a no-go, so after showering and recovering at the high school (I got strangely nauseous as soon as we stopped), we walked into town for dinner at Mammy's Kitchen. Bourbon chicken sandwich and tots for me, open face pot roast with mashed potatoes, green beans, and pie for dad. Then we tried to go to Talbott Tavern (tons of bourbon but no ginger beer for mules!) but ended up at 3rd St Tap House instead to catch up on college football and share Kentucky mules.