SpringfieldCyclist.com

You know, you see the darnedest things on trips like this.  Case in point.  Check out the wooden panniers I spied in camp last night.

I just can’t imagine hauling those things around.  I mean, gee…those things have gotta weigh a ton!

You also can’t help but notice that the lady in the shot above has a pretty good biker’s tan going on.  Wanna see mine?

Pretty cool tiger stripes aren’t they!  That’s the benefit of wearing my Keen sandals all the time.

I kept hearing rumors in camp last night that today would be the best day of cycling this entire week.  When I heard it, I pretty much took it with a grain of salt.  Today’s route was pretty darn flat and we would generally be traveling southeast.  The wind was predicted to be from the south, so  there was a good potential that at least part of the day would have a tailwind.

As we left town this morning, we were headed due east, with a pretty brisk cross wind.  It wouldn’t have been too bad, except we were on another bad road for about 8 miles.  As I neared the end of that first section, I was resigning myself to the fact that it could be a long day.   Then, my fortunes changed!

The route turned to the north and the road surface improved greatly.  From that point on, all the wishful thinking I heard in camp last night was true.  The tailwind was behind me and I’ve gotta tell you, I was flying!  There’s something magical about days like that.  I knew I was pushing hard and it would probably catch up to me, but it didn’t matter.  I was having fun! 

At about 52 miles, all my fun caught up with me.  At that point, I was carrying an average speed of 18.4 mph, and we turned east for our final run into Miami with that cross wind.  The route hit a couple of hills, and it didn’t take long for me to figure out that I was running on fumes!  I stopped for just a couple minutes and ate a gel packet in hopes that it would give me enough energy to limp on into town.

One of the things I’ve enjoyed on this trip has been spending some significant time in the town’s libraries. 

I’ve spent three afternoons being lazy in small-town libraries.  It’s cool, quiet, and away from the constant crowd of folks that comprise Freewheel.  What I’ve been doing is throwing my tent up as soon as I get into town, then heading to the library for an afternoon of reading.  I know a couple of folks have given me some funny looks, because let’s face it.  It’s not often you encounter a stinky guy in cycling clothes huddled in an out of the way corner of the library with all his paraphernalia spread out on a table!

God bless….

TW

This entry was posted on June 18, 2010 at 12:56 pm and is filed under Cycling. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. You can comment below, or link to this permanent URL from your own site.