After eating a motel continental breakfast, I loaded up and started on my way. Roll out of the parking lot, turn left on Rt 17, turn left on Rt 70. WHOO, WHAT IS THAT! While sliding out a bit. Of course a flat tire. I can still see the comfort of my motel room and I've got to sit in the heat fixing a flat. It took me two tubes to fix it. The first was wasted to extra vigorous pumping. I broke the stem off trying to get to 120 psi. A piece of glass was the culprit. Ok lets start again.
Today was not near as interesting as yesterday. Not near as many creatures. Just snapping turtles to add to the list. Lots of very straight, very long roads with headwinds. Again I feel quite recovered. My legs are good. My butt on the other hand has not recovered as well. In all my years of riding I've never had such a sore butt. I imagine too much time on the couch and too much time off the saddle as the general cause. It doesn't help that I'm spending most of my day in time trial mode. Without the climbs and ever so welcome descents, I'm in the seat for very long periods of time. All the same, this should do wonders for my overall fitness.
Finally, I found a bike shop. AMCE BIKES. Can you believe that. I was looking for the wilily coyote and road runner to come riding in. I was able to get a much needed new helmet. Whew I made it. And a new rear tire. I went with a kevlar 700x25 tire to handle the extra weight of the panniers. The folks at the shop were kind enough to let me use their repair stand and floor pump. It is very rare to have a shop let a costumer use shop tools and shop time. Thank you very much. They told me that they have done this type of trip many times thru Florida. Following the same set of maps that I'm using. They added a very important step. A follow vehicle. What a great idea.
Mid day I start thinking 'ouch' this is boring and killing my butt. Wondering what the heck I'm doing to myself. Should I just throw in the towel and get a rental car to complete the trip. Today I used magic to get me though the day. Headphones to be more actuate. I don't ever use headphones while riding normally. I think you need to be able to hear everything around you. I usually sing out loud to get me over a hill. I wasn't able to do it alone. Today I needed the distraction. I needed to forget about riding and the extra straight boring roads and sing at the top of my lungs to the buzzards overhead waiting for me to topple over in exhaustion. I slugged though, got to the hotel, got a hot shower, some good food and I'm ready to go again tomorrow. No problems. Tomorrow we will see what my butt thinks!
52 miles today.
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