The Tour de Crawdad Test Run

I ran across information on the Tour de Crawdad on Facebook and was on the fence about riding it. In the end, a professional colleague personally invited me and I made a game-time call - the night before the event - to try it out. The itinerary was simple. There were three ride distances: 20, 44, and 62 miles. The rides distances were staggered, with the 62-miler kicking off at 7AM and the 20-miler kicking off at 9AM, with the 44-miler on the hour in between. The ride ended where it began, at a fence company west of Springfield, at which point there was a crawfish boil and beer on tap from Springfield Brew Co.

Since it was a last minute decision, I didn't have much time to prepare and I didn't really have time to invite a riding companion or two. I pared down the gear on the Peugeot so that all I was carrying was my leather tool roll, which I stowed under the saddle, a mini-pump, and my bluetooth speaker. I arrived at Carnahan White's parking lot just in time to unload, pick up my swag and wristband, and hop on my bike for the start of the ride. The route was really great; unusually flat for the Ozarks, although we fought a treacherous headwind for much of the ride. Without companions to keep me occupied, I ended up putting my head down and cranking out the ride at a decent clip. A little over an hour later, I was one of the first riders to arrive at the finish.

Filling up on beautifully cooked mudbugs and washing it down with beer on tap was most definitely the best part of the event. Kudos to the chef, because the crawfish were fantastic. We emptied all the kegs before noon, which was a bit of a bummer, but I had to duck out early anyways to take over child care duty so that Ginger could work Rock n' Ribs. I heard rumor that the organizers were on top of the situation and that more beer was on the way. In the end, I had a great time despite the fact that I was flying solo. Next year I'll be bringing some friends along so that we can turn Tour de Crawdad into a real party.