Picture album here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/xeS4w5MBXtK9f5iY7 This was an amazing experience but I'm sure glad it's over. No, I'm not referring to the Brown's losing streak I'm talking about yesterday's century ride🤣 Six brave (some might say demented) Impromptu riders assembled at Xenia Station yesterday morning to attempt a 100 mile ride in the late autumn heat. They were George Mills, Richard Myers, Jim Cook, Laurie Schlegel, Marilyn and me. We were met by Impromptu Sag Hero Gary Gulden who informed us he would be with us all day to provide support, cold drinks emergency pick up services. That he did! Gary was at almost every stop we made and turned out to be a vital part of making this venture a success. Thank you, Gary!! We all took off together heading east toward London. After a few miles Marilyn and I picked up the pace and left the group. It was my idea that to be successful we needed to stay above 12 mph. We rolled along at somewhat faster than that at times and got to S. Charleston in good shape where Gary was waiting. Then on to London as the wind picked up at our back. We were doing 18-20 mph for good stretches of this segment as the wind and downhill slope really made pedaling easy and fun. This would be the fastest stretch of our whole ride. 30 miles down and at the London stop Gary re-hydrated us with water and Gatorade and we were raring to head back to Xenia. We passed the other 4 about 2 miles out as we began to push into the wind. We returned to S. Charleston, ate some PB&J that we brought and set sail for Xenia. We had a quick potty stop in Cedarville then finished the trail back to Xenia. At this point we had 60 miles in the bag and we're pretty tired. We stopped at our van where Marilyn removed her flag and changed her shoes. It was very hard to get back on the trikes at this point and head south knowing we were very hot, mostly exhausted and had 40 miles to go. But we were on a mission (and Marilyn had already told her sister that we were doing this) so on we pushed. We were aiming for Oregonia and the Little Miami Trail is mostly downhill in that directing so we felt ok for the first 10 miles. Marilyn was drafting me for a good portion of this ride (when our speed was high enough to make this useful) and so it was that we both ran over a black snake that was sunning itself right in the middle of the trail. I don't think that ended well for the serpent😥 We actually saw another larger snake a few miles later but we managed to avoid hitting him. With 10 miles left to go to Oregonia we took a break. This was probably the low point of the ride. We were really tired and hot. We knew with every rotation of the cranks we were extending the distance we would have to ride to get back. So what did we do? We had an oatmeal chocolate bar and rolled on! We stopped in Corwin soaked our shirts in water drank as much as we could and did the last 6 miles to Oregonia. At the turn around there our spirits were lifted as we knew we could accomplish our goal if we could just pedal the 20 miles back to Xenia. Then back to Corwin where I got a message from Jim. He said that Laurie had dropped out with heat related issues and Gary had picked her up. George and Richard had made it to Xenia but were calling it a day. He was at McDonalds resting up and would continue. We set off again at a very slow speed. Marilyn was doing fine but I was struggling. We spotted Jim and Cindy Durall Gulden (who had joined him for this section) coming at us and stopped to talk. Jim was looking good and said that Gary was at Spring Valley (a few miles up the trail) waiting for us with cold drinks. He and Cindy were going to push on and he would try and finish his century even if it was after dark. We wished him well and pushed on to Spring Valley where, sure enough, Gary and Laurie were waiting in the truck. We drank a full bottle of Propel and rested for 15 minutes knowing we had the hardest 7 miles of the ride yet to go. So on we rolled feeling every pedal stroke and counting down the miles to our van. I had nothing left but no alternative but to continue. My Ride with GPS announced our 100th mile as Xenia Station came into view! I can't really describe the feelings of joy, relief, accomplishment, exhaustion and pain I experienced in that moment. We did it! I was really happy to see a message from Jim after we got home that he had done it as well. So all in all a momentous day for our Impromptu riders. 3 of us managed to do 100 miles. George, Richard and Laurie each had monumental personal best trike rides on a very difficult day. Gary Gulden was a sag man extraordinaire and quite possibly the difference between success and failure for all of us. Thanks again, Gary! And thanks to all our riders for their hard work and perseverance. I'm proud of you all.