Toucan Sam's Revenge

Tuesday night is Chick-fil-a night.  I know that.  Jenn knows that.  The members of the TnT team who ride on Tuesday nights know that.  Now you know it.  While the Team and I were discussing how wonderful Tuesday nights are because of that, the topic then swung to other foods which are equally awesome.  When "What our favorite breakfast cereals were as a child?" came up, I couldn't decide between Fruit Loops and Captain Crunch w/Crunch Berries.

Fast forward to Friday morning.  I knew I was going to go out for close to a 50 miler through Powhatan today. Breakfast was going to be a must.  Problem, no cereal as I ate the last of the Frosted Mini Wheats and we were also out of milk as I put the last little bit into Jenn's coffee this morning.  Solution, go to the grocery store and buy the missing breakfast components.

Once at the store, the internal debate of which cereal to choose began once again.  I tried making a list in my head quickly of what I could remember liking the most of each one as a kid but it came out pretty much even.  I looked at the price which was the same which meant I couldn't use it as a viable reason to pick one over the other.  I was going to have to hurt someone's feelings.


The inner 5 year old came out, this would be decided by "Who would win in a fight?".  I won't go into too many gory details of the happenings of the frontline itself, but it ended with Toucan Sam trying some long distance voodoo mumbo jumbo against Captain Crunch but would ultimately be lured in closer by Captain's crunch berries.  He would fall victim to a poisoned crunch berry.  Captain Crunch it is then!

After getting home and finally eating, taking out the trash, doing the dishes, playing with the pups and thinking about cutting the grass it was time to gather the gear and head out onto the road.  As I mentioned before I headed for the Powhatan border for a nice 50ish mile loop.  I really enjoy that loop as it has a couple of steeper climbs, a lot of rolling terrain and a few flat areas to recover.  Once on the bike I knew it was going to be a painful day.  There was a headwind blowing out of the west at 15mph.  The first 38 miles where either into it or a crosswind before finally a tailwind for the return trip home.

If this farm ever goes up for sale, I am going to buy it

At mile 28ish I was really struggling with the warmer temps and noticed I was going through my bottles pretty fast.  No problem I will just stop to quickly refill as I grabbed my card just prior to leaving the house.  Or not, I pulled it out but it never made it's way into my pocket.  I was just about ready to slam into the "wall" when I started to see quick random clips of the cereal war run through my head.  Had I picked the wrong one?  Was Toucan Sam now aiming his voodoo mumbo jumbo at me?  If a Korean nuclear missile cannot reach Virginia am I really to believe his voodoo spells can reach all the way from the jungle?

Someone's way of saying I am going to be swimming with the fishes?

Through the hallucinations, it became clear to me that there is no limit to the range of the spells he can cast with his rainbow striped beak.  I choose the wrong colorful box this morning and now I am paying for it.  The remaining little bit of Powerbar Endurance drink was to be reserved for when I took on a Gel Blast or two.  Both were soon gone as I desperately tried to get some sort of energy from eating although I knew it wasn't going to be much help as dehydrated as I becoming.  Mother Nature did me a solid one when she blew me the finally 9 miles home with a nice tailwind.

Once I was home, I turned on the tv, filled a bottle up with 3 servings of Powerbar Recovery, chugged the bottle and repeated.  I then sat down in front of the tv while taking my shoes off and I feel asleep err, passed out for a couple of hours.   When I awoke the dried salt on my face made it look as if I had been antiqued.  A quick shower, another bottle of recovery and then an endless glass of water for the rest of the evening had me feeling much better.

I am left with the life changing question of whether I eat the remaining Captain Crunch, throw it away or return it?  If I tried returning it, would the ladies at the grocery store go in search of a straight jacket?  I'll probably just eat it and stop thinking about it...