John and I headed up to John Stretch Park at 5:30am and arrived a bit over an hour later. A massive storm cell had passed through at 4:30, but it was clear and overcast when we arrived. There was 5 other riders, the rest had cancelled due to the weather. We mounted the levee at about 7 am and it was cool with no breeze. Weather radar indicated no storms, and indeed we had none. The ride progressed well but Rene turned back a while to ride solo. We pressed on and reached the first rest stop at 38 mi. We were 1/3 done. We continued on the roads as the levee was under construction. When we reached Okechobee we stopped for lunch. We were soon back on the road, and soon heading east into the wind. Progress slowed. We turned south and we had a cross wind. The 93 mi rest came just in time. After a short rest and refull, we continued on with a slight tail wind. The pace picked up and after 7 mi I felt cramping in my legs. We backed down the pace and I spun it out. At South Bay we did a Cyclocross over the golf course to get back on the levee. This was the final leg. 8 mi to go. We picked up the pace again, but I kept the cadence up. With about 2 mi to go they really picked it up from 22 to 26, but my HR hit 87% so I backed off with .7 mi to go. When we got back to the car the sun was out and it was hot. The last 8 mi on the levee was bug infested, and when we arrived we were covered in little back flies sticking to our sweat.