"Labor Day" ride, Vino, and Kazakh trivia

When I left the house this morning at 6:30 am, it never occurred to me that I would crack 100 miles of riding... 25 miles to get to the shop, 46 miles with DaveS , Dave S, Raymond, Jose, Alex, Billy.. and the in-line skater guy whose name don't know (yes I should be slapped for that, but $10 says he doesn't know my name either), then another 30+ mile ride to get home. Remarkably, I didn't cramp at all until mile 103, just a few minutes away from my house. I'll admit: I lengthened my ride a little bit at the end to make sure I broke 100 (99 miles would have been upsetting to my OCD). That I did, racking up 103.9 miles in 5:21:25 (100 miles were covered in 5:08:30) Needless to say, the leg muscles are over-cooked and tender, and I wonder if this much riding in one day is a benefit or a detriment to form and speed. I hit the split timer on my Polar when I arrived at the the shop, and again when I left it to go home. Here are the average speeds for the three phases of my ride:
25 miles to shop: average 19.7 mph (avg HR 143)
46 miles with Union team: 20.2 mph (avg HR 150)
32 miles from shop to home: 18.9 mph (avg HR 153)
Clearly I had a tailwind on the way to Attleboro, and a headwind riding home to West Warwick.
It was a good day to be out on a bike, especially with other riders for a change. Doing all of my training solo is getting to be a draggggg. You know you're bored when you stop and scold little kids on the bike path for going helmet-less.
In other news, 'Vino' won his 2nd stage in a row yesterday... I wonder if he's offended by Borat. (I hope not- the Kazakh government is suing Ali G for these parodies) According to the latest Velonews headline, Vuelta is now Valverde vs the Kazakhs. I'm not so sure... but Vino's stage 9 victory was quite convincing. He tends to get stronger as the race progresses, especially after winning. As for Kazakhstan, did you know it occupies an area the size of western Europe (1.05 million square miles- 9th largest country in the world) and has a population of only 15 million? ASTANA is also the name of the Capital of Kazakhstan. Thanks for reading.
PS: The original and correct "Labor Day" is actually May 1st according to The Anarchist Library.