Back on the Bike

One of the folks at our table on the last night of the Eastern Seaboard ride threw out the question "when do you think you will get out on the bike again?" My initial thought was the first day I am home. However reality intervened and I spent most of the first few days catching up on chores, dealing with real estate matters and calling contractors to get the house up to the requirements of the inspectors. But over the weekend I did get the bike out and had two very different but equally great rides. And for anyone from ES11 who might be reading the two photos above are a bit of a sample of the colors we all hoped to see in New England. New Jersey is not quite at it's peak yet but the trees have definitely turned and I had a whole bunch of pretty views on Saturday's ride. More than anything it was simply a good feeling to get back on the bike. It was cool but clear and sunny and even with a bit of a breeze a perfect riding day. After riding 1600+ miles I feel like I'm about as fit as I've been in a while and as I started out my only regret was that there were no big dogs to throw down a challenge. I did have one moment where I had to yell "on your left " at another rider and must admit that there was some satisfaction at cruising past this (younger) person at an easy 20 mph. I also re-discovered the world of hills - I was only three miles from my house when I hit a 8% grade - something of a surprise after the relatively flat Southern states. For the day I had 2600 feet of climbing over 51 miles and as I recall we had about 600 feet for the 55 miles or so we did the last day into Daytona. And about halfway through the ride I stopped at a country deli for a moment and bumped into a crowd of Anchor House folks, most of whom I knew from past rides. After a few minutes of ES11 stories I joined them for the next 10/12 miles - almost the same feeling as riding with the groups on the ES11 ride, fun stuff. Sunday's ride was completely different but as much fun as anything I've done this year. My daughter and family came down for the afternoon and Timmy, the five (almost 6) grandson brought his bike with him. His mom followed the blog and told him about the ride and he wanted to ride with Papa. And so, Tim on his single speed little fat-tire bike and Papa on his Cannondale set out to explore the neighborhood. We live in a developement with only minimal traffic and with sidewalks so we set out together to explore. Tim is nothing if not 200% energy so his little legs were pumping like crazy as he set out to prove he was at least as fast as I was. We went up and down the streets, waved at neighbors out raking leaves, and even struggled up a couple of short climbs. It was great fun and truly a rare treat to be able to call my grandson my riding partner for an hour or so. All in all, an almost perfect weekend.

Home again in NJ

What happened? Where did the time go? Why am I not writing about a ride down highway A1A in Florida? We had our final dinner together in Daytona Beach on Saturday night - and I was most pleased to be joined by Susan. We all toasted our successes, recounted both the rainy and sunny days, listened to everybody's little testimony of the ride and then most of us also met for breakfast overlooking the ocean on Sunday morning. Then it was time to load the bikes onto the car (I took Tom's home too) and hit the road. This time it would be I95 going north and every time we saw a sign for a familiar spot, i.e. Amelia Island, Brunswick Ga, Savannah, the North Carolina ferry system...Susan would just sigh and say "you really haven't left the ride behind have you". The reality is I won't ever leave the ride behind. The reunion with old friends from XC09, meeting and riding with new friends from other years, riding with Bill, Chris, Doug, Tom, Champ, Hank, Larry - how can you leave that behind? The Reunion Ride of 2011 was everything I expected and then some. Tracy and her staff were terrific - super organized and responsive to both the ordinary issues and the totally unexpected problems (e.g. my bike problems for starters). We had more rain than anyone thought they needed or wanted...yet I can say that I feel more confident than ever about riding in the rain and in the end it really didn't bother me. I got a little tired of cleaning the bike but I also learned new tricks about cleaning the bike and especially the drive chain and am much better at it than I ever was before. I hit a new high for one day - 121 miles exceeding the old record by 2 miles. I also learned some new skills in a paceline. I ride solo probably 95% of the time and I thank the Pedigrees for their patience while a learned to keep a fairly steady speed and pace - you can teach an old dog new tricks. And to Mac, Don, Larry thanks for a couple of rides where we could crank it up just a bit and let fly. To all the folks I rode with, had dinner with, shared a beer with...thanks for a terrific three weeks. It really did go too fast. So....21 days of riding, 1600+ miles, three flat tires and one busted derailleur, 5 DQ root beer floats and countless fig newtons, packages of trail mix, and Endurolytes. And finally to Susan thanks for putting up with all the bike talk and more than anything, thanks for joining me in Daytona and sharing the last few hours of this marvelous experience.

Daytona Beach Florida!

I was thinking of titling this entry "Reward at the End of the Trail" and then loading only Susan's picture. After 1600+ miles and over three weeks Susan is here to help celebrate the end of the ride. She is standing on the balcony of our hotel room where we just sat and watched the water and the beach. Perfect end to a great ride and another good day. Tonight we have a last dinner with all the riders and guests (including Jack's wife and daughter from Israel) and tomorrow pack up and go our separate ways. Unbelievable. After weeks of riding in pace lines, watching out for traffic and calling out the road hazards, helping each other change flats it doesn't seem possible that we will soon be returning to our separate realities. Again this morning we woke up to an almost perfect riding day - a bit overcast but no rain and in the low sixties. We had a flurry of picture taking while waiting to load luggage and get our "go" signal for the day. I'm showing the photo of the folks from the '09 cross country ride - a terrific bunch of people and I'm not sure I can express how great it has been to share another ride with such good friends. We were back on A1A almost immediately and rode along the ocean the entire way into Daytona. The scenery was either ocean beaches or beach homes that range from very nice to truly magnificent. I was actually pleasantly surprised at how much open beach there is in this area - further south where Susan and I have taken a few winter time vacations it is much more built up and only occasionally does a passing cyclist actually see water. And something else we saw a lot of this morning was motorcycles - and "a lot" is an understatement. We literally saw thousands of motorcycles going both north and south, and the closer we came to Daytona the thicker the packs became. I posted the one photo above which was in a little beach town north of Daytona - a little side of the road eatery whose parking area was just jammed with the bikes. As we came into the real city part of Daytona the road becomes a four lane boulevard with hotels on the beach side and touristy shops, motels, bars/restaurants and the like on the other side. The streets here for several miles were jammed with motorcycles and the occasional unwary motorist. And NOISE, overwhelming noise as the bikers revved engines, idled at red lights, and moved out when the green light flashed. We on our bikes made our way along the side of the road feeling like ants caught in a cattle stampede. It was a bit intimidating but also exciting in a way that makes your heart beat just a bit faster and definitely heightens your senses. Needless to say we made it through the heart of the turmoil and found our hotel. There are also number of bikers here and it was quite a contrast in the lobby with the bikers in their attire and we cyclists in our spandex all checking in together. Great way to end a terrific ride. And for today we did 55 miles for our finale - everyone rode today and everyone finished. It doesn't get any better than than that. Susan got here in time to join us on the hotel patio for lunch and meeting of a few people and tonight the final dinner. I know I will have a few thoughts over the next few days. But for today I can say that it has been a terrific experience, I am very happy to have done the entire ride without mishap and can only say it is a beautiful thing to be alive.

The Sunshine State

The Sunshine State lived up to its motto today. We had another sleep-in day with a 9 AM departure and the sun was up without a cloud in the sky when we left the hotel. We immediately picked up A1A and headed south along the ocean. The water was glistening with the rising sun and the temperature was 67, a cyclist's dream come true. We formed into our usual group and headed down the road. I don't think I mentioned yet that the really fast riders, five very good riders, are known as the "Big Dogs". They usually ride at 21/24 mph and are almost always first into the hotel for the day. Our group has a core of 5 riders with 3 or 4 others who join us when they wish for all or part of the day. We generally ride at 16/18 mph and have adapted the name "Pedigrees" - we also stop for photo ops. So today the Pedigrees were at full strength and with only a slight tail wind and a great road we cruised along the ocean and up and over a number of small bridges linking islands and crossing over the tidal rivers. We crossed one new bridge (photo above) that was interesting in that when the built the new bridge they left the old one intact but it is now used exclusively by fisherman (and women). We had the ocean on our left and mostly marsh lands on the right where I kept looking for alligators. I know they are not really plentiful in this area but I have been entertaining this fantasy that we would see one sunning himself at the side of the road so I keep looking. We came to one larger body of water (small sound?) where we had to take a ferry across and the photo shows the Pedigrees plus a few others who were part of the waiting crowd. When we got off the ferry on the other side we split up - I joined with a couple of our occasional members and we took off at a bit faster pace than before. We followed down the ocean again although this time there were segments of housing and a couple of actual towns along the way. Among other signs of civilization we went by the Mayport Naval Air Station, one more military town on our route. Again, a very good ride. We were doing 21/23 mph almost effortlessly and it was not too long before we were approaching St. Augustine. We took a left at the signs for the Fountain of Youth - as you can see by the beards all of us could use a shot of the famous elixir. Alas, even after posing with Ponce de Leon himself the beard is still white and my driver's license still shows the same DOB. And so we made the ritual stop at the DQ for a quick lunch and headed for the hotel. We did 60 miles today under cloudless, sunny skies and, unbelievably, have but one day of riding left to Daytona Beach. I am very much looking forward to seeing Susan tomorrow but must confess that the ride is ending too soon.

With a relatively short day of 60+ miles we slept in this morning and woke up to sunshine and a warm day - we took it as a favorable omen for our final state line crossing into Florida which, after all, is the Sunshine State. I actually had to pull out the sunscreen with the weather forecast calling for temps into the mid-eighties. We left about 9 AM and almost immediately jumped back onto our now-very familiar US 17. Although a repeat of yesterday and the day before it is a good road to cycle and becomes a little more attractive in the sunshine. The photo of the cyclists in my group ahead of me gives a good view of what the road has been like - all pine tree farms on both sides of the road only occasionally interrupted by an occasional tidal river or marsh or residences, many of which are very similar to what is also pictured above. Another thing that is a constant along 17 is the churches. There seems to be at least one every couple of miles. Most are Baptist, AME, or a seemingly endless variety of independant and frequently very creatively named churches, e.g. The Church of Universal Deliverance for All Peoples Inc or the Carpenter's Home. And finally, with all these tree farms comes the presence of log trucks and today they were out in full force. They move along these roads at speed and keep me constantly checking my mirror and sticking close to that white line on the edge of the road. The truck in the photo was off to the side of the road and the driver became my new best friend almost as soon as I stopped for the picture. He let me know that he always try to give us a little note on his horn when he sees cyclists - I didn't tell him that the blast of that horn can also scare the living daylights out of the biker. We crossed a bridge over a little river and were almost immediately into Florida - great feeling after almost 1500 miles and now 13 states. I was looking for the Welcome to Florida tourist information building they have on I95 and mostly because I wanted the free orange juice they hand out. But, alas, I guess there is not enough traffic on 17 - no tourist booth and no orange juice. We did not go too far before we took a left turn onto Florida's A1A, the highway that runs down the entire east coast of the state. And one change for the better was almost immediate - we got a real bike lane on a very busy 4 lane divided highway. I had long since lost my group today and so was sailing solo and actually enjoying the thought that I was chasing them down. So with a bit of a tailwind after the turn I was cruising at 20/21 mph and really enjoying myself - that bike lane is a real gift. I crossed over one final bridge for the day and came onto Amelia Island and Fernandina Beach. After the obligatory stop at the DQ - another root beer float - we headed for the beach which is maybe a quarter mile from our hotel. The sight of a half a dozen cyclists on the beach and taking pictures drew a few funny looks but it is also great fun to tell people that we just cycled down here from Maine -" omigod don't you own a car" is just one of many. So for today - 62 miles at a 16.5 mph average and about 1000 feet of climbing, almost all of it on bridges. Tomorrow is another relatively short day to St Augustine and with more sun in the forecast it should be just a nice fun ride. And Saturday is Daytona.....

Into the home stretch...

We are sitting in the sun in Brunswick Georgia, the only sun we have seen all day. We started in Savannah with wet streets and the threat of some scattered showers. It was warm and humid, I didn't even bring my rain jacket - figured if it rained I've had lots of practice, could I be any wetter than I was coming into Savannah? We were not more than 10 minutes away from our hotel and still riding as a big group when we ran into a train just sitting on the tracks. Traffic was already backed up and considering that it was rush hour I'm guessing there were a few unhappy folks sitting in vehicles. We managed to work our way to the front but still had to wait 25 minutes before the train started to move. This was also the closest we came to real rain - it sprinkled lightly for a few minutes but never really came down as real rain. Once we were clear to ride we were back on highway 17, the route we have been on for the last several days. In all honesty it was something of a boring ride. We had miles and miles of pine woods, mostly tree farms owned by a couple of big paper manufacturers. The roads occasionally rumble with the passing of the big trucks hauling the logs down the highway and I would like to say I got a photo of one of them-however, discretion is the better part of valor: by the time I'm ready to take a picture they are long gone. The only relief from the miles of woods is the occasional tidal rivers that wind all through this area - I did stop at one bridge and also caught the heavy clouds that marked the day. The little church was the only real stop (other than the SAG) that we made all day. The sign calls it the World's Smallest Church and while I'm sure it ranks right up there it seems to me I've seen the same claim in at least a couple of other locations around the country. For the day we did 83 miles over mostly good roads and at 15.5 avg mph we didn't push as hard and even if the scenery was pretty repetitious it was still a good day. Tomorrow we cross into our 13th and final state and because we have shorter mileage days - 60+ tomorrow - we get to sleep in. And I'm about to start that process any moment now.....

Day of rest in Savannah

We had a rest day in Savannah today and we couldn't have asked for a better day: charming city and a beautiful day. I slept in this morning to almost 8:30 - a real luxury after days of 5:30 wake-ups and lots of road miles. The streets were still wet from the overnight rain but I had some chores to do anyway - house discussions with our attorney, clean and oil the chain after yesterday's ride, and check in with Susan who is in Florida with her sister (the latter is not really a chore). My roomie left to go touring early and so I wandered out with camera in hand and wandered through the historic district and the waterfront. And today I do have the photos I could not take yesterday. The white pillared structure is an Anglican church built pre-revolutionary war and the sign on the front was announcing a Gregorian chant concert coming up soon. The building with the pillars is a house also built late 18th century and still occupied as a private dwelling. It looks out on one of the many squares or little parks that show up every couple of blocks in the old area of the city. They are wonderful additions to the city design and the photo of the oaks and hanging moss is one of them. The houses are simply a typical street scene, all private homes originally and now kind of mix - some, like those pictured here are still private homes or apartments and others have been converted to stores and offices. And finally a picture from the waterfront of the Savannah river and the Talmadge bridge which we crossed yesterday in the rain. The city was originally British and developed into a major port for cotton and tobacco. Today it is still Georgia's major port but most of the shipping activity has moved from the site from which I took the photo further upriver and right under and beyond the bridge. I walked just enough today to get a feel for the city and get a few photos to take home. So the mileage today is all on the shoe leather and I never once checked to see how fast I was going. Tomorrow we head to Brunswick Georgia which is also a port city with lots of history. It is an eighty+ mile trip and hopefully we will have the same dry roads I'm seeing now.

And now to Georgia

I truly wish that I had some photos tonight but today was not a day for taking pictures. It started raining last night and it just kept coming down. We had a short day from Beaufort to Savannah, only 47 miles, so we slept in and left at 9 AM. The whole group left the hotel together in a kind of respite from the rain we had had through the night - wet streets but more of a mist than real rain. This gave us a chance to ride through the streets of Beaufort without too much trouble and get a chance to see some of harbor as well as the town itself. Almost as soon as we hit the outer limits of the city the skies opened again and we were pelted with rain. We rode through some interesting tidal river areas and into an area of island residential areas including Hilton Head. However, the rain never really let up and the result was that we simply put our heads down and rode without stopping for anything. I have a pretty decent rain jacket but with the kind of rain we had today you are basically soaked from shoes to helmet and you simply ride to get off the roads and into the hot shower at the hotel. The border into Georgia is right at the Savannah River and so we had another long bridge to cross but it had a very wide shoulder and no steel mesh so it was pretty easy to climb and cross. Once over the bridge we were in Savannah and it was just a mile or so to our hotel. The rain did finally let up in late afternoon and a couple of us went out to explore the waterfront and find a place to eat dinner. We did both and although the restaurant was very touristy it turned out to be pretty good. And then the inevitable: we left to walk back to the hotel and it was raining again...our lucky day. So tomorrow is our rest day and with a little luck we will have a day to do a little exploring in this charming old city. So today we did 47 miles and my top speed was 27.5 miles on the flats and our average was 17 mph - both testimony to hard we pushed today. Hopefully our next day on the road will be a dry, sunny one.

Sunday is for churches

Tonight finds us sitting in Beaufort South Carolina - and that is pronounced Bufort with just a bit of a southern drawl. We also passed through Beaufort North Carolina but that is pronounced Bofort...go figure. Although we haven't seen much of it Beaufort has a nice harbor with lots of island communities similar to most of these coastal lowlands areas. It is also home to a Marine Corps air station and Parris Island, the Marine Corps boot camp. We had an 81 mile ride today and leaving Charleston at 8 on a Sunday morning was a pretty much non-stress event. A few traffic lights but no traffic to speak of and we were pretty quickly out of town and back into the country side. We were on highway 17 for a good part of the ride today...it seems to be the main non interstate route following the coast. In spite of a forecast calling for rain we had sun and a nice following breeze - can't beat that for perfect riding conditions. Our group now stands at five which is a good number - big enough to be seen by traffic but not so large that we start becoming an obstacle. We have also evolved into a pretty good team, rotating the lead on a two miles on/8 off basis and running a fairly decent paceline most of the time. I am so used to riding alone that I've always found leading the paceline difficult. I tend to start pulling away from the group and I look down at my mirror and see everyone way back there instead of right on my wheel. So I am acquiring a new skill set and enjoying it - so far nobody has threatened to have my relegated to the caboose slot. We left 17 for a awhile and got on a true back woods country road. Still mostly pine woods and the occasional swamp but with houses fronting the road at regular intervals. It is a poor area, almost all the houses are modular, mobile home type structures ranging from well kept, pride-of-ownership places to real shacks. And about every mile or so is a church or sometimes a couple of churches across from each other. Most are either Baptist or AME Methodist and it was at one of the latter that we had our first SAG today. Our support van set up in the sandy parking lot and we pulled in with our bikes to take a break. As I was getting off the bike one of the church ladies came over to welcome us and chat a bit. She turned out to be one of the ministers and was so nice and friendly - we felt truly welcomed. She was joined by another younger lady who turned out to be the minister of music and they both very sincerely invited us to join them for worship or least part of it. We politely declined (the road was waiting, another 4o or so miles to go) but we did get photos. And, of course, all along the road were similar churches and at that hour all had full parking lots. I did notice however, that many of the church folks were women and at some of the little crossroads stores along the way there were always men just hanging out....Our second church stop of the day was the ruin that is pictured above. If I remember correctly it is named St. Stephans and one of number who is from South Carolina thought it was originally either Episcopal or Catholic, probably Episcopal. In any case it was originally built before the Revolution but was then set fire by the Union army in the course of the civil war. And so now it stands with an historical marker and visits from passing tourists. I don't know whether it comes through in the photos but it had to have been a very impressive structure at one time. Also, and not so incidentally, the grounds all around it are a huge breeding ground for mosquitoes. Getting off the bikes with our sweaty, warm bodies we must have seemed like filet mignon to the little critters. Needless to say it was a quick visit and I for one did keep moving and swatting - I think I escaped with but one bite. We rode past the Marine Air station on the way into Beaufort - our two former pilots had to stop and take photos of the planes on display at the main gate - its nice to have someone with us who can identify and talk a little about what we are seeing. So as we came into town the clouds were looking a little heavier and sure enough we were not more than 5 minutes into the hotel when it started raining. Unfortunately we can expect more rain tomorrow and perhaps even the next couple of days. Actually, I talked to Susan tonight (who is now safely in residence at sister Ellen's place) and they had rain all through Georgia and Florida, not a good omen for us. Tomorrow we have what I think is our shortest day, only 46 miles. We even get to sleep in a bit leaving at 9 AM instead of the usual 7:45. And then a day off in Savannah. Susan and I spent some time there a couple of years ago so I am looking forward to revisiting - stay tuned.

Saturday night in Charleston South Carolina

I haven't done so well with photos the last couple of days so tonight I'll make up for that omission with a few that cover the last few days. Working from the bottom up is the lighthouse on Okracoke Island along side the keeper's house. It is open and they allow you to climb to the top. I walked only a few yards down the path and was fighting off the mosquitoes (a constant scourge in North Carolina - I am convinced that the mosquito is the state bird of NC) so I took a couple of quick shots and was back on the bike. The harbor shot is from the hotel docks and you can see the same lighthouse in the distance. The final shot from Okracoke is the peaceful little river with the boat and the ocean in the background - taken about halfway down the island (which is about 14 miles long) on the way to the Cape Hatteras ferry. The DQ sign is because Dairy Queen is such an important part of these bicycle events. Every day we have a cue sheet for the day's route and without exception every DQ along the way is marked - my personal favorite is root beer float with a grilled cheese - fuel for the miles still to be ridden. And the last three are scenes from South Carolina: a shot of the spanish moss that is so prevalent in these parts, a shot of me mid-span on the bridge (more below) that crosses the Charleston harbor, and a shot of the harbor showing the WWII carrier Yorktown and in the distance Ft Sumter where the first shots of the Civil War were fired - literally where the war started. And so today's ride. We started out on quiet Saturday morning streets and headed into Myrtle Beach and the beach/ocean areas (betcha didn't know that Myrtle Beach has more golf courses per capita than any city in the world). It is a lot like other beach cities with lots of condos and townhouses - actually reminded me a little of A1A in Florida - but it was nice this morning. It is off season and so not the hordes of people I would imagine in the summer time. We were still a pretty large group when we went through so it was kind of neat going down the main drag in a fast moving group of maybe 18/20 cyclists. We did see a lot of the ocean and beaches and for one maybe 3 block period actually rode along the boardwalk. Leaving Myrtle Beach we worked our way onto highway 17, a four lane divided highway that is the main route to Charleston and were pretty much on this road for the next 80/90 miles. The road is a good one with one huge error in its design - they build a great shoulder perfect for cycling but then go and ruin it by creating rumble strips right down the middle. This, of course forces cyclists to the edge of the right lane of traffic, not exactly the optimum situation. Fortunately traffic for the most part was relatively light and saw us and moved to the left with no real problems - needless to say, however we did virtually the entire trip in strict single file. It was otherwise an almost perfect day for a long ride. The temperature was in the upper 70s, and the winds were tailwinds all day. Our group of 8 or 9 lost a couple of people today who chose to go a little slower and one other who went solo for the day - the four of us are pretty compatible so for most of the day we really let it out and rode at anywhere from 19 to 22 mph most of the day - our final average was about 18.5 mph which is easily the best I have ever done on a such a long ride. Coming into Charleston we had to cross a 2 and 1/2 mile bridge (pictured above) that spans the Charleston harbor. It was constructed with a separate cyclist/pedestrian lane that is wide enough for both and made the crossing much more enjoyable than most of the bridges we have seen the last several days. Most impressive for me was the view of Ft Sumter - I truly wish we had enough time to take the tour and see it up close. And once off the bridge we were routed through downtown to give us just a taste of this historic old city...certainly hope I can come back with Susan one of these days and do the tourist thing a little more thoroughly. So tonight Tom and I found a nice little Italian restaurant for dinner and will soon be asleep getting ready for tomorrow. For today we did 122 miles and put out over 8000 calories. Tomorrow is a little shorter, somewhere around 85 miles - all told we will have done about 400 miles in 4 days ending tomorrow. And there is a nasty rumor floating around that tomorrow my bring a return of the rains...ugh. On that note, good night.

Moving right along....

We are in the midst of three fairly tough days. Yesterday we left Ocracoke well before the sun came up to catch a ferry to bring us back to the mainland. It was a 2 and 1/2 hour ride with breakfast on the boat as we sailed across the sound. We actually started riding at about 10 AM, a pretty late start for such a long day (typically we start at 7:45). The good news was that the sun was out and it was a summer kind of day. Much of our route was right on the ocean - however, we could not see the water. There were dunes and vacation homes or townhouse/condo complexes along much of the way. Our only climbing was over bridges but some of these go pretty high up over the intracoastal or some of the rivers feeding into the Atlantic. I don't mind standing at the rail looking out over the water but riding over the bridge on a bike when I have to look down really spooks me out. I keep my eyes on the road or the rider ahead of me and just keep moving to get to the downslope and off the bridge. And many of these bridges, just to add to the fun, are drawbridges and so have sections of steel grating that is also a ton of fun to ride on with our skinny little tires - give my solid road anytime. So we rode into Jacksonville right in the middle of rush hour, another fun time. We went right by Camp Lejune the large Marine training base - David did much of his initial training there. And as you can imagine Jacksonville is very much a military town. As we counted miniature golf courses in the northern shore towns here we could have counted tatoo parlors and barber shops specializing in marine haircuts. Leaving Jacksonville this morning we again caught the morning rush but we were against traffic and close to the edge of town - once we got through an initial series of traffic lights we were on country roads and traffic was steady but not too bad. We did make one stop at a country version of 7/11 where one of the good ole boys warned me very seriously to be careful out there, some of these boys would just as soon run you down as look at you...welcome to back county North Carolina. Much of the first part of the day was on roads that were basically all pine forest and lots of isolated, mostly poor looking houses or mobile homes. That being said the day was perfect for riding with a nice little tail wind and clear, sunny skies. I got stopped at a light early on and had to play catchup for much of the first ten miles or so. And then I hooked up with the ride mechanic, a man about my age but also a very strong rider. We decided to take advantage of the wind and just took off passing our group and heading up the road alternating the lead and thoroughly enjoying the day...at the 23 mile mark I had a 18.2 average, much more than I would usually be doing - really fun stuff for a change. Ultimately I rejoined my group and we went from rural roads to busy highways, sometimes with decent shoulders and sometimes not so great. We made good time with the two elders of the group leading the way (me and Hank who is self-styled patriarch at 76). Tonight we are in Little River which is North Myrtle Beach (did I mention that we crossed into South Carolina ?) after doing 111 miles with a 17.2 mph average. I should also note that according to my computer I expended 7201 calories - would take a lot of ice cream to make that up...Tomorrow is another century day - we head for Charlotte and expect to do about 120 miles. If we go over 119 I will have a new personal best. And on that note I am off to bed to get ready. Sorry no photos tonight, just too tired to manage it.

OBX

Sorry for the lapse the last couple of days. Obviously the photos tell some of the story. We crossed the North Carolina border a couple three days ago, came into Kitty Hawk on the Outer Banks (OBX), journeyed to Ocracoke Island via both bike and ferry yesterday, and have our day off/rest day in Ocracoke today. The best news this morning is that we finally are catching a break on the weather. We lost the rain a couple of days ago but it was cold and windy coming into North Carolina - it almost seemed that the further south we got the colder it became. An extra layer under the jersey and a jacket was the order of the day. But this morning the sun is out, there is not a cloud in the sky and the breezes are the gentle kind that come off the water. Ocracoke is actually an island in the lower of the Outer Banks just south of Cape Hatteras. Because the highway from Kitty Hawk to Hatteras is still out due to Hurricane Irene we had a change of routes yesterday. Instead of the coastal route and a short ferry to Ocracoke we had to come inland for a considerable distance - 70 some miles to be more accurate - and take a ferry out of the tiny village of Swan Quarter, a ferry ride of 2.5 hours. The logistics are a long story but the bottom line is that we got up early, were "bumped" forward about 30 miles along a road in the middle of a huge swamp and rode 40 miles to the ferry. When we pulled over to offload the bikes from the support van and begin riding the swarm of mosquitoes was almost overwhelming. I do believe they might have carried both me and the bike away if I had not been waving my arms like a lunatic. The only way to avoid them was to get on the bike and get moving which we did and quickly. In any case the roads were good, the sun was out even if it was cold and windy and the scenery turned out to be interesting. Miles of swampland with dark sloughs along the side that probably held alligators but it was much too cool for them to be out and about. Every few miles there would be stretches of farms, mostly cotton but also soybeans and a bit of corn. The occasional town or village had all the pretty little churches that small towns down in this part of the world always seem to have. The previous day was also very cold but was the first day without any rain - started out overcast and kind of dreary but eventually the skies broke and the sun came out for the last several miles. The highlight of the day for me was the visit to the Wright Brothers Memorial/museum in Kitty Hawk. I had not realized that they actually made four flights that day , each powered only by the gasoline engine on the plane and each progressively longer than the first. They might have made a couple more but a wind gust caught the plane after the fourth flight, flipped it over and rendered it unflyable. I toured the grounds and museum with a couple of pilots - they were most interested in everything about the exhibits and it made it all the more interesting for me too. So today is a day of leisure and I'm taking full advantage. I slept in this morning, went out to a neat little coffee shop down the road a bit for breakfast and simply sat in the sun by the waterfront with a couple of other folks for awhile. I'm thinking of heading out for a short exploratory bike in few minutes but you can bet it will not be an 80 mile ride...save that for tomorrow.

A hard day's work

Today was not an easy day. I'm not complaining, mind you, but it was hard work almost from the opening bell. With a weather forecast last night of only a small chance of rain I packed away my rain jacket only to open the curtains this morning to watch the rain drops pelting the parking lot. We do get up pretty early and fortunately by the time we actually were ready to leave, i.e. 7:45 the streets were still pretty wet but the rain had turned into a fine mist. However, a little front came in last night and it was 51 degrees when we left the hotel. The rain jacket went on immediately as windbreaker and never came off. Once we got out of Pocomoke we pretty much had the roads to ourselves. Traffic was light all day even on four-laners that we had for part of the trip. We had a bit of a tail wind early but very soon learned that we were not going to be so blessed for long a maybe 8 or 10 miles in we made a couple of turns and started heading south for the day and our wind became a very strong cross/head wind for the rest of the day. I'm guessing it averaged 15 to 20 knots and gusts up to 25 or so - easily the toughest of the trip. And to add to the fun the last 4o miles or so were on a chip and seal type road (mix of gravel and tar, supposed to be hardened and flattened by car traffic) that is bumpy and produces constant pounding and vibration for the bike and rider. We had six riders in our group and set up a kind of jury rigged pace line with each of us taking a turn of a mile in the lead and it helped a little but in the end it was just a matter of persistence and trying to keep the pedals moving. The country was pretty much farm country from beginning to end but with quite a variety of crops. We saw our first couple of cotton fields today along with the very familiar corn and soybeans. There were also a number of large chicken farms, a sweet potato farm, and several tomato farms with what I would estimate were 4o to 60 acres worth of tomato plants - never have I seen so many. And miles and miles of very poor looking houses, tiny structures close to the road, some frame, lots of mobile homes. The photo of the church was taken in the midst of one of these poor areas. They had allowed our SAG to set up there while services were going on inside. The sign outside said "The oldest continuous Sunday School in the USA". We did 77 miles today on the bike and then another 20 miles by van. We had to cross the Chesapeake bay and, of course, bikes are not permitted so the support folks shuttled us across and under the water. It is one long bridge that at two points goes underwater in a tunnel mode to allow for shipping to get through. It was the first time I had crossed and I found it most interesting. It must have been quite a lengthy project and must have cost many fortunes. And did I mention we crossed another state line - almost a daily occurrence. Tomorrow we head for Kill Devil Hills NC, the spot where the Wright brothers changed the world with the first flight of an aircraft. And, to end for tonight, it is worth noting that the Wright brothers were bicycle mechanics and salesman.

Another day, another state...

Who ever heard of Pocomoke? And Jacob that is not Pokemon...We are in Pocomoke Maryland tonight, a little town not too far from the Atlantic coast and, logically enough, right on the Pocomoke River. I'm trying to say Pocomoke as often as I can because I think it is such a neat name for a town. New York, Lawrencville, Chicago - what prosaic words for a town name. But Pocomoke - you tell people you are from Pocomoke and they have to sit up and take notice. The light house photo will give you some idea of this little town - it is the view we had from the little balcony on our hotel room last night...note those ominous looking clouds coming in. We got a nice sleep in this morning. Instead of leaving at our usual 7:30 we left at 8:45. A day off yesterday and a sleep in this morning - it just doesn't get any better than that. And I thought the late start was because we were doing only 51 miles but it turned out I had not read the cue sheet correctly - we actually had 65 miles and much of it into a head wind. We had heavy duty thunder and lightning storms last night but when we got up this morning the sun was out and the streets were dry - reason to cheer. Along with the rain last night however, it did turn cooler and for the first time we all had long sleeves and some even went for jackets. But even with the cooler temperatures the sun stayed out and we actually had a full day without a single raindrop. We worked our way down Rt 1 from Dewey Beach through a couple of small towns, crossing a bridge or two, and through miles of beach houses condos and eventually came into Ocean City. Even in the off season it is a busy town, lots of traffic and people going out for breakfast on a Saturday morning. The main drag is all multi-story condo's on the beach side and tourist "stuff" on the other side of the street. I do not think I have ever seen so many miniature golf courses in my life - every tourist in town must be forced to play miniature golf at least daily as condition to being allowed to rent a unit in town. We officially crossed into Maryland in the middle of Ocean City and, of course, we all had to stop and take the required photo of the state welcome sign at the border. I added a picture of one of the 9,473 miniature golf courses just so you could get the idea. We left Ocean City crossing another bridge over the bay and headed inland. We first came into several miles of farmland and in a way it was like Warren County New Jersey - all corn and soybeans and much of it already harvested. A couple more turns and two or three more small towns and we came into a long stretch of mostly pine forest that went on almost until we got to Pocomoke (see how much I like saying that word?). The roads were flat for the most part so even though we ran into some headwinds we made pretty good time and just enjoyed spinning. We only had about 1300 feet of climbing today according to my Garmin and I think a good part of that was just the climbing involve in going up and over several bridges. Tomorrow we head for Virginia and will cross the Chesapeake Bay. It is a 20 mile crossing via the Chesapeake Bridge/tunnel and since bikes are not allowed we will be shuttled across in our support vehicles. And with the sun coming up a little later these days they have changed our getaway time to 7:45. I guess that means 15 extra minutes of sleep time, what a deal. And a final statement for today...for all who may be interested Champ assured me tonight that in fact he knows that it is the Atlantic Ocean on his left.