Good News and Not so good news:
The riding was good today in every respect except one, it took too long - nearly 8 hours in the saddle!
Another cold morning gave way to beautiful sunshine in the SC hills so that by noon time all the extra layers of warmth were discarded for another day. It's a good thing I brought my cold weather gear for this trip. I actually thought I would need it in Colorado, where I didn't; The chill in eastern Tennessee, western NC and SC came as a surprise.
The forecast is for gorgeous weather for our ride into Charleston and on to the Ocean!
IF there was a highlight for me today, it was getting my last massage as today wore on me. Matt, one of our riding trio had food poisoning in Asheville so he didn't ride yesterday or the first half of today's ride. He left from lunch (mile 59) before Archie and I reached the feed zone, leaving Archie and I to continue our ride sharing lead duties. It is much more work when you only have two in a group rather than three or four.
No pictures today as there were no pictorial highlights to capture along the way. The ride was either through tall Southern Yellow Pine forest or farmland. The odor was quite distinct when we passed many of the farms. I guess farms in SC are not as large as the ones in Oklahoma so the barns, etc are closer to the road. The scenery was nice; the roads were better than most. For most of the ride we had very little traffic until we closed in on Orangeburg.
Tomorrow we have 110 miles to the Ocean, the rollers are nearly finished as the route sheet calls for 1,200' of climbing; we had over 5,000' today just on rollers. Too many rollers. I'm looking forward to the flat land tomorrow as my legs are tired.
Today's key stats:
122.7 miles
7:51:56 in the saddle for a 15.9 avg mph
2,775 kcals burned over the final 6.5 hours (too cold for the SRM again!)
No flats
5,099' of climbing, all from rollers!
We're 203' above sea level; not much more to go!
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3 comments:
Hi Mark! Do I detect both a note of relief and one of regret in your blog today? It must be bittersweet to have the end of the ride so near. Your guardian angel has served you well and I have no doubt you will finish in fine form. Now the challenge will be finding another adventure to get excited about. I know that I and, I'm sure, many who have followed your blog but have not left commentaries, feel as though we have to some extent accompanied you on this ride. Have a great ride tomorrow. Can't wait to "debrief" you when you return home. By the way, I think I will be riding the Hilly Hundred in Dade City on Sunday. I'll probably do the metric century. That's a warm up ride for you.
Ride on....
Rick
Mark,
As the trip winds down...don't stop till you're soaked in the salt of the Atlantic. That is a "head to toe" spalsh down! What an accomplishment, any champagne to celebrate? Maybe add that to the soaking.
See you next week.
Dave
Wow Mark, by now you should be celebrating in Charleston. I, too am anxious to hear about your next adventure.
After you wash all the Atlantic salt water and sand off your bike, and celebrate royally with champagne, remember you can sleep in tomorrow and not have to get on a bike.
Congratulations!!!!
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