Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Day 25

99 miles (should have been 97, but I missed a turn) / 5:15 hours / 18.9 mph avg / 2760' climbing

Breakfast: oatmeal, bagel with cream cheese, orange juice, one egg.
Snack: banana, ice cream, oranges, 3 oreos, coke.
Lunch: sandwich, oranges, banana, oreos, coke.
Snack: cookies (Lori sent them!)
Dinner: salad, fish with overcooked veggies, hot-out-of-the-oven-muffins, coke, banana split and a hot fudge Sunday (from Dairy Queen).

Boy it was hot today, but the roads were nice and it was a "short" ride, my legs, butt and knees were fine so I made good time and I was done with shower, laundry, dip in the pool, some stretching before RAP (the time when they let us know about the route and details for the next day).

I'm not sure if you have noticed, but I am starting to eat a bit less. I have come to like eating like it is my last meal and I'm not sure I can go back to normalcy in a single day, and if I don't, I'll start to look like some of the locals we have seen around, you know, those that overflow their chairs.

Today's ride started on a 10 mile very nice an shaded bike path along the river.

It was beautiful and sooo nice. Just take a look a Randy's face, we were all very happy to start the day like this.
The bike path brought us right into Fort Benning, a huge army base so we got to see our share of tanks, soldiers jogging in the morning humid heat, officer's housing (much nicer than the soldier's barracks), the standard pristine golf course (paid by your tax dollars, but regardless of whether I agree or not, if your job description includes being shot at, I guess some perks are warranted) and the unnerving cracks we heard as we passed the sniper's shooting range (what can be more entertaining than brightly colored slow moving targets to spice the tedious morning practice). No photos here, we were warned that it is better that way, you don't want to make them nervous, they have weapons, we have spandex which makes them even more nervous. Fortunately nobody asked and we didn't tell.

After that and a bit of highway, we rode mostly through farmland. It is so green here that ivy and Kudzu (a vine that grows over everything not moving fast enough).

We got to see some more confederate flags...

...your standard road hazards...

...and this time we were unexpectedly showered as we rode by, hopefully with relatively clean water, but that is anybody's guess. Five minutes later we saw another one of these contraptions (they are everywhere), but the liquid coming out of it was olive green, I wouldn't call it water...

Of course we passed many abandoned houses and I just couldn't stop myself...


Two more days and I get to see Lori. I really miss her. Hard to believe, two more days and this adventure will be over. But wait, that means no more fast food, no more hotels and living out of a suitcase. That doesn't sound so bad. Even though I am ready for a rest, I know I'm going to miss this anyway; the effort has taken a toll on our bodies (the youngest of us is 35).

1 comment: