Stupid Hurts

I know I have been slacking off, but I think I earned an off day or two.

Mileage for the day: 72 miles
Average speed: 12 mph
Max Speed: 28 mph
Grand Total!! 610 miles

Brundidge-[tag]Prattville[/tag]

I was pretty sore most of the day yesterday. I have realized that slow days make the fast days possible, and that I can’t go balls out every single day.

Luckily for a big chunk of the day I had a generous [tag]tailwind[/tag] from the south. At one point I was beating along at just a hair over 30 miles an hour. I saw a [tag]cop[/tag] sitting over the the grass to my left, and I assumed he would ignore me since I was on a bicycle. Then I see him raise his [tag]radar[/tag] gun and shoot me. I know he shot me because as I blitzed past him I saw him staring at the display on the radar gun clearly baffled. I could not help but smile to myself about that one for the rest of the day.

Somewhere after 50 miles I couldn’t get back onto my pace. I figured since I wasn’t going to get into a comfortable groove I may as well see how far I can go before I have to quit. I didn’t really think that one through very well. Because at this point I had eaten most of my snacks and was nearly out of water from fending off several dogs earlier in the day.

Realizing this after the 70 mile mark I decided to push ahead anyway. And thing were going great until my headlight started to get dim and I could see less and less of the road. Then I noticed all of the lights were getting dim, and I was having problems keeping my bike on the road. After a few more miles I realized what was happening. I was going blind. This had happened before once at a [tag]track[/tag] meet, so I knew what I had to do. Find food and water quickly, luckily for me I passed a well placed all night [tag]MacDonald’s[/tag] and was was able to rest and resupply. I would have hated to be taken out by a rookie mistake like that.

The Day In Numbers
Miles: 84
Average Speed: 11.8
Max: 33.7
Total Mileage: 538.1

[tag]Tallahassee[/tag]-[tag]Cypress[/tag]

I almost didn’t write about today. I really don’t want to think about it again. The combination of little sleep the previous night and high mileage combined with my first real day of hill climbing. Made for a morning that was less than stellar. In less than five miles every muscle was screaming for me to quit. My knees trembled and I wondered if I really was going to be able to continue.
[thumb:388:c]

Somewhere during the course of the day one of my [tag]chain[/tag] [tag]ring[/tag] bolts broke. So eventually I have to find a bicycle shop and pick up a new set. If for no other reason than to get rid of the groaning from my bike every time I turn the pedals.

Chattohoochie Florida was my favorite place of the day city limits starts with a 600 some odd foot climb over the course of a half miles straight up a hill, where you get maybe a mile of flat ground and town before you go down another hill straight down for about 3/4 of a mile before running into [tag]Victory[/tag] bridge

Victory Bridge marked a great personal victory for me. It is closer to the actual halfway point of my trip and it also is the point where you cross into the [tag]Central[/tag] time zone. I can’t help but be excited about the fact I will be back in [tag]Alabama[/tag] before the end of the day tomorrow.

I stopped somewhere east of Cypress, I wouldnt bother looking for Cypress on a map, the city limit signs straddle one intersection and that’s it.

This was probably my least eventful day so far. Most of the day was spent with my head down convincing myself to push for one more mile. Every ten miles felt like a war. And when I finally turned over the 60th mile I felt like I could go no further. I think I was sleep before I unrolled my sleeping bag all the way.

Statistics
Miles for the day: 62.11
Average Speed: 12.6
Top Speed 34.6
Total; 381.1

[tag]Orlando[/tag]-Hernando

I decided to go ahead and make my first day a high mileage day, probably not the best idea on earth. But then again neither is riding a [tag]bicycle[/tag] 600 miles.

My original route was going to take carry me up state road 441 until I reached Georgia. Unfortunately much of that road is under construction and lacks a shoulder. After an hour of worried if I was going to get mirror checked by a passing car I stopped and spoke with the awesome people of Sun Cycle Center. One of the clerks there had made the same [tag]ride[/tag] in the past and had a slightly more pleasant but little longer route in mind. So instead of shooting for Ocala for the evening. I will Instead be heading through Inverness and picking up a converted bicycle trail that runs to Dunnellon with should be nice since it is glass smooth and has no car traffic at all. Due to the change in plans it does mean I will be camping out tonight instead of staying with some, but after already bending my rear rim to the crappy roads of the 441 I think smooth [tag]trails[/tag] should be worth it.

I had decided sometime after 2 that I was going to stop for lunch at the next place I saw. Sometime after 3 when I finally came to a place I decided I couldn’t really afford to be picky and I should take what I could get. So I figured I could do worse and then cycled into the Colonial Fairways [tag]Country[/tag] [tag]Club[/tag]. Surprisingly enough they actually served me. The food wasn’t half bad either. But I have to admit the best part of lunch was hearing an old lay say “hard penis“ talking about her husband and then realizing I was sitting across from her chuckling to myself.

From there I continued westward until I got a little bit past highway 75 were I found a rarely used dirt road. Here I stopped for a bit and caught a nap, what can I say The miles caught up with me. It was also important I set up my tent once in the daylight first before attempting it at night. A few hours later I was back in the saddle and eventually reached Inverness where after stopping to get one of my favorite performance enhancers [tag]CAFFEINE[/tag]. I picked up the bicycle trail that runs north The trail is perfect: scenic well groomed and really smooth. I was able to turn my headlight off and ride by the moonlight while listening to the sounds around me for a few miles. Once I passed [tag]Hernando[/tag] on the bike trail I pitched my [tag]tent[/tag] and called in a night.
[thumb:377:c]

Daily numbers
Miles:101
Average Speed: 13.6
Top speed: 27.4

With my planned trip north now looming only a few days off. I find my level of anticipation rising steadily. The finally preparations are falling in quickly falling into place, and I have been tapering off my daily mileage so I will be reasonably fresh for the two weeks of torture ahead of me. My intended route is around six hundred miles of back roads and small towns. I want to average 60 plus miles a day with at least 1 one hundred mile day. The goal of making the trip in 8-10 days doesn’t seem really unreasonable. Sixty miles takes me about 4-5 hours to cover, so intervals of 2 hours on the bike with 2 hours off sound fair.

Unrelatedly, while leaving on of my favorite bike shops in town I saw a [tag]bicycle[/tag] tail light up ahead of me. I decided I was going to chase it down and pass it like I have done so many others lately. Unfortunately it wasn’t happening as I poured on the power the tail light up ahead of me seemed to continue getting smaller. Till it got to the point I was in a full on sprint. Finally on a down hill I managed to catch up with the rider. While trying to slow my breathing I huffed over to him. “Man you are fast.” He lazily looks over at me and mutters, “huh, oh I was half sleep.” So we talk for a bit, and decide to ride together since we were headed in a somewhat similar direction. We take off together and talk about our various injuries. Eventually we reach another incline and this time he stands up. I don’t know if at that point he began channeling the soul of [tag]Lance Armstrong[/tag] or what, but he shot away for me like my feet were on the ground. So I down shift and pursue him. This was my fastest ascent ever of that particular hill, but I still didn’t catch him. Only when he looked back to see me lagging back and coasting while waiting for me was I able to close the gap that suddenly appeared.

But in the end it felt really good, that fleeting moment, that spirit of [tag]competition[/tag], and pushing myself till it hurt in an attempt to catch someone. Gives me a goal to shoot for. Average is no longer good enough.

And now we wait.

I told myself yesterday that if the water park was closed due to cold weather that I would do something useful with my day. Needless to say when a supervisor called to tell me no one wanted to pick ice off the water slide and I don’t need to worry about reporting in I was less than shocked.

So after four hours of warming a seat in a coffee shop and bitching about the cold to anyone who would listen, I finally got my act together and set out to drop my bike off for service.

Normally I would cream my pants at a chance to ride 40-50 miles and get cool new stuff for my bike. But I find my self less than thrilled when it is only 48 degrees out. Eventually I did suck it up and head out. Luckily for me nothing really interesting happened on the ride with the exception of finding the Covert skate shop which I have to admit is pretty awesome.

The down side, is that due to backlog at the shop it will be a few days before they can get to my rig. I was hoping for same day service but the tech just shook his head and laughed. Which unfortunately means a 4 hour bus ride back home, and another one back out the shop in a few days.

Ride report
mileage: 26ish (unverified)
number of stores visited:like five
number of old ladies scared: enough. ( bet she had to change her depends after I buzzed her car)

Oh fu…. (cue internal monologue)

This must be what a lawn dart feels like. I look down at my feet and I see clouds between my shoes, I don’t want to look above my head. I already know what’s waiting for me. How did I find myself here I wonder. That’s right I wanted to ride my bicycle to the beach. I must have zoned out a bit back…….

WHOOMP!

Well that sucked. Let’s see, can I get up? Check.

Can I walk? Check.

Hmmm where is my bike? Good. Nothing seems broken, well back at it then .

It never feels good to hit the ground, at least this time I was lucky enough to land in the fairly soft dirt that caused me to hastily dismount my bicycle in the first place.

Sixty some odd miles later I did eventually make it from Orlando to Cocoa Beach. While watching the moon rise over the waves I had time to reflect. Honestly there wasn’t a feeling of accomplishment or anything. I had more fun pedaling out to Cocoa beach than I did visiting the beach. After a bit the fact I had just pedaled 80 miles sank in and I started to give thought on what to do next. Eventually I chose to ride back to Orlando that night. Unfortunately I learned that my limit for one day is about 120 miles before I collapse. So after a brief nap on top of a re-elect someone for something campaign sign I managed to pedal to a bus stop where I caught a bus back home. And I had time to recollect my thoughts.

Total mileage for the Weekend. 138
Total saddle time: 9 hours 48 minutes
Total signs defaced; 1

And further proof all the good names are taken. Cocoa has the worse name ever for it’s public transport. The Space Coast Area Transit. Who really wants to ride something called the SCAT.