Yesterday, I participated in the Arkansas Bicycle Club prediction ride. The rules specify that riders may not carry a watch, speedometer, or any timing device. Each person predicts how long it will take to ride the 37-mile course, and whoever comes closest to his predicted time, wins. I won last year.

The course was challenging. We started at Pinnacle Mountain State Park and rode around lake Maumelle and over Wye Mountain. Many, many hills! The weather was pleasant with a forecast of sunshine and warm temperatures. However, I never saw my shadow at any time during the ride and certainly didn’t need all the sunscreen I had slathered over all my exposed flesh. The sun was obscured by a rather thick fog. That meant it was very, very humid. That meant I sweated a lot. Rivulets of sweat eventually found their way to my eyes and became relentless. A steady stream of sweat laced with sunscreen irritated my eyes. My glasses got wet with sweat, making it even harder to see. My eyes burned the rest of day. The best thing at the rest stop was a roll of paper towels that I used to wipe my eyes and clean my glasses.

Last year I predicted 2 hours and 34 minutes. I remembered that I had stayed a few minutes at the rest stop last year, which added to my finishing time of 2 hours and 33 minutes. I felt like I was at the same level of fitness this year as last, so I predicted 2 hours and 30 minutes, vowing not to spend quite as long at the rest stop this year. I finished in 2 hours and 20 minutes. On reflection, I believe the 10-minute improvement in my time this year was mostly because I rode harder. I was really exhausted after the ride.

I remembered asking myself while riding up the longest, steepest hill, gasping for air with my leg muscle burning and my eyes on fire: Is this fun? I didn’t answer until I had finished the ride. With my endorphins peaking, I was high as a kite! The answer was: Hell, yes. This is awesome!