ES11 - Last Day to Daytona

Miles 53

Well you would have thought that on the last day of riding the riders would have slowed down and smelled the roses a bit more. It was a sunny day, roads with bike paths, and favorable winds. So off everyone went with the Big Dogs recording split times and making sure Stuart didn't chase them down. I rode with Hank and his friend Ron who joined us for the day. I do have to admit we didn't let much grass grow under our wheels.

This was the day of the Bikers. And I am not talking about quiet cyclists. The October Bike week was just ending and there were over a 1000 bikers participating. We had no problem with them on the road. They gave is plenty of space as they went by. It was a little tricky getting through downtown because the streets were packed. At one point we gave up and got on the sidewalk.
And at the hotel it was really questionable who was rowdier - cyclists celebrating the end of a great journey or bikers just celebrating. I do have to admit the bikers lasted a lot longer into the night.

It was a great trip. My husband, Norm who joined us in Daytona, said we talked more about the challenges (rain, rumble strips, logging trucks) than the good days. And that is true. Meeting those challenges without any serious injuries made us all stronger as riders and brought us closer together as friends.

I am grateful for the opportunity to become even closer to my fellow XC10 riders: Chris, Stuart, Michele, Sam, Dougie, and Bill. And I made lots of new friends along the way. Of course Hank is very special as we spent many a mile on the road together starting in Charleston. His companionship made for very enjoyable riding. He is a high class man.

Thank you Tracy, Tom, Mac, Robin, and Carol for your superb support. Crossroads is definitely the company to ride with. Everyone was always upbeat and so helpful. And they even listened to us complain about 17S and eating at Denny's.

I have officially been titled a Runaway cyclist by Doc Olson. So there will definitely be another adventure down the road.

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ES11 - Fernanda Beach FL to St. Augustine FL

Miles: 60

Today was a wonderful riding day. This is the kind of day we have all been looking for. The sky was blue and there was a tailwind all day. Coming through Amelia Island the roads were treelined. Then we crossed a bridge and were in marsh lands and then sand dunes covered with scrub trees. We had one 10 minute ferry ride where we got to see some mighty big pelicans.

There was some traffic coming through the outskirts of Jacksonville. After a few miles we had bike paths for nearly all the rest of the trip. It was really nice coming down along the ocean. And we never saw a single logging truck all day long.

One more day and the trip will be over. That will be a sad thing.
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ES11 - Brunswick GA to Fernandia Beach FL

Miles: 63

The riding today consisted of sunshine and 100s of logging trucks going by at 70 mph. The sunshine was great. I think it was the first day I have left the hotel without a jacket. The logging trucks were not so nice. In fact they could be rather scary at times.

We are now at the ocean at Amelia Island. The beach here is very pretty. We have been told the next two days of riding will be extremely nice.

Today was the final state crossing into Florida. It is hard to believe we only have 2 days of riding left.

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ES11 - Savannah GA to Brunswick GA

Miles: 85

After a great rest day in Savannah, we left in the fog this morning. It was a little dicey getting out of town. It took about 20 miles before the fog lifted. And today we were once again on 17S. Sometimes there were shoulders but most of the time there were rumble strips or no shoulders. We are all a bit tired of 17S.

Today we stopped at the smallest church in the US. It really was a small church. There were seats inside for 12 parishioners. We also came across a couple fishing with their grandaughter. They had 6 or 7 poles dangling in the water. But I guess the catching wasn't very good because of the high tide last night. But the little girl was pretty excited when Hank gave her a package of M&Ms.

Remember the Kingston Trio song MTA? Well Ilze and I made up a song to that tune. Then Hank, Ilze, and I sang it at route rap tonight.
"Let me tell you a story of a man named Bubba
On 6 tragic and fateful days
He put his cue sheet in his holder
Kissed his wife and Robin
Went to ride on 17A.
Did he ever return
No he never returned
And his fate is still u learned (poor old Bubba)
He may ride forever on the rumble strippy shoulder
He's the man who'll never return."

On to Florida tomorrow.
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ES11 - Beaufort SC to Savannah GA

Miles: 48

Today was a day when you had to be certifiably insane to get on a bike and rode down the South Carolina roads. The rain was coming down and gusty winds were blowing. The prediction was for several inches of rain and continuing rain. But off we went. We rode through some areas that would have been beautiful if it was not raining so hard. As it was you had to just put your head down and watch for the puddles in front of you and the cars behind. We were soaked within 10 minutes but never got too awfully cold. Fortunately I was riding with 3 other riders all day. It was a day you needed strength in numbers. The picture is of a very wet Hank, Mike, Charlie and Jan at the end of the ride. Tomorrow is a day off in Savannah.
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ES11 - Myrtle Beach SC to Charleston SC to Beaufort SC

Miles to Charleston: 82 of 116
Miles to Beaufort: 82

I didn't get the blog written yesterday because of a long day of riding and visiting with family in the evening.

The ride to Charleston was scheduled to be a very long one. So I decided to ride to the first SAG, then take a bump to the second SAG and ride in from there. To ride the entire way, I might have been on the road until 6 pm. I had not realized how far down the ocean Myrtle Beach extended. It seemed like it would never end. The majority of the day was spent on 17S. There was a lot of traffic and the small shoulder was filled with a rumble strip. It was not a pleasant ride.

One interesting part of the day was a Harley rally that was occurring. We were at the second SAG when Harleys started arriving. There was over a 100 of them and they completely filled the parking lot of the store. It turns out it was a charity ride to raise money for indigent women with breast cancer. It was really interesting talking with them.

The other riders really enjoyed the Ravenel Bridge. The view from there is amazing. I heard that Will Smith's yacht was docked on the Charleston side.

Norm was waiting at the hotel when I got there. Then a while later our friends John, Michele, and Nickolai came. We all met Robert, Jill, Charlie, and Cate downtown for dinner. That was really fun. After dinner we went to hear Robert play jazz. Bill, Doug, and Chris (riders) joined us. It was a very nice evening.

Today we rode down 17S for 30 miles. More rumble strips. Then we got on countryside roads. The ride became very pretty. Hank, the senior citizen of the group, pulled me all day. That made it so nice. We stopped at a historic church that was burned twice. Once by the British and once by the North. Incredible that a building of that size was out in the middle of nowhere. However the mosquitoes tried to carry us off while we were looking at it.

Rain is in the forecast. I hope it doesn't come down too hard tomorrow.
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ES11 - Jacksonville NC to Myrtle Beach Sc

Miles: 72 of 109

As you can see from the miles, this was not a good day for me. I was riding well for thje 72 miles. The problem if that was the worst combination of roads and traffic I have ever encountered. There was an area through a wildlife preserve that was really nice. But then we went around Wilmington and it was a nightmare. Then we hit 17S and the shoulder consisted of a big rumblestrip which left no room to ride. So at the second SAG I decided I wasn't very excited about riding alone on those roads. So I am not happy about the day. Maybe I should have kept riding. I guess tomorrow is another day.
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ES11 - Ocracoke Island to Jacksonville NC

Miles: 88

I am starting this blog early in the morning on the ferry going to Cedar Island. We won't start riding until 10 am. Then we have 86 miles to ride. The forecast says we will have a 15 mph tailwind. Boy I sure hope that is true. Otherwise I will be out on the road until dark.

Yesterday was a rest day on Ocacoke. It was a nice place to rest. One of the things we do on a rest day is catch up on laundry. There were no facilities for washing clothes. So there was a lot of laundry hanging on balconies and the bushes.

The island is still quaint with no high rise developments. But you might not be moving there to join the 800 permanent residents. We saw a completely run-down house that was not even on the water for sale. The price was 495K. Seems a bit high.

The ferry ride was nice. The Crossroads staff prepared a great breakfast for us. That was greatly appreciated.

We departed the ferry about 9:45. Fortunately the wind was primarily coming from the north. So depending on the road, we were able to be pretty speedy. That was good because there was a lot of ground to cover. I only stopped for the SAG and to take a short break off the bike. I really wanted to do the whole ride. I did ride the whole way.

We went through a lot of swamp land then down along the coast with lots of expensive houses on both sides of the road. As we got near Jacksonville the traffic got bad. One of our riders was hit by the mirror of a pickup truck. Fortunately she kept her bike upright and was not hurt too badly.
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ES11 - Kill Devil Hill NC to Ocracoke Island NC

Miles: 37 of 80

Today was an interesting day and showed the quality of leadership by Tracy the owner of Crossroads. The original route was to go down the Outer Banks on US12. As you might remember this was washed out by Irene. A temporary bridge has been built but is not open yet. Tracy was hoping it would be open by the time we came through. Alas it wasn't. So we had to be rerouted on an inland road to another town where we could catch a ferry to Ocracoke.

Tracy had never driven this route so had to get all the information off the internet for the cue sheets. Fortunately there were not many turns. Just a lot of long bridges and long roads through swamps and farm lands. We had to be at the ferry by 12 and it was 80 miles. So if you do the numbers, that is a faster ride than several of us could do. So she loaded the two vans with bike and riders and took 12 of us to the first SAG stop. The problem was finding a place to pull off the road to unload us because this was the middle of a swamp. Once we found a place, the mosquitoes were horrific. We saddled up as soon as possible in order to get moving. The ride was interesting. We went through the swamp and then came to farms growing cotton. There were also a couple of small towns, one of them was a fishing village with lots of shrimp boats at the docks. Oh yes, more side winds and head winds. But it was sunny

The ferry ride was 2.5 hours. It was a nice day so that wasn't bad. The Crossroads crew served us a nice lunch from the back of the truck. That was really appreciated. A lot of restaurants on the island are shut down. Once the hurricane came through, they never reopened. So we had a little trouble finding a place to eat.
Today is a rest day. I really need this because of a rash on my butt. The joys of biking in the rain day after day. Other than that I feel great.
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ES11 - Virginia Beach VA to Kill Devil Hill NC

Miles: 82

This group kind of takes over the hotel we are in. At least that is true in the mornings when we all come down for breakfast. As you can see from the first picture the halls were lined with bikes this morning.

The picture of the four bikers is Ilze, Barbara, Beverly and I as we headed out for the day. We leave 30 minutes earlier than the rest of the riders. Of course we are always caught during the day, but this helps keep the group closer together.

We crossed into NC today. I thought the bear crossing sign to be quite unusual. Maybe this state is wilder than I thought.

We are right on the ocean tonight. I have the door open to the balcony in my room. So I will be able to hear the ocean all night long.

On the way in today, several of us stopped at the Wright Brothers Museum. This is where they did their flights. It was interesting to see replicas of their plane. Some of our riders were/are pilots. So they were extremely interested.
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ES11 - Pokomoke MD to Virginia Beach VA

Miles: 78.7

This will be a pretty short blog with no pictures because I never stopped to take any. We left the hotel with rain falling, a headwind, and 48 degrees. One wonders why one would go out on a bike in weather like this. Because that was how to get to Virginia Beach. Of course I could have chosen not to ride. But I committed to myself and my coach that I would start every day. I was soaked all the way through pretty quickly. It finally stopped raining after an hour but the wind never stopped.
We rode through farming areas, woods, and small towns all day today. The beauty of the area was kind of lost because of the weather. The crosswinds and headwinds and another rainstorm pretty much beat up my body. I was glad when the ride ended.

At the end of our ride we were loaded into the vans for a ride across Chesapeake Bay. It is a 7 mile stretch that involves bridges over the water and two sections of tunnel under the water.

We were loaded on the vans in the order we arrived. I would have been waiting for over an hour for the van. A full load was leaving. But wonderful Hank (the oldest rider of the group) got out and insisted I take his seat. That was very kind of him. I cleaned his bike because it was on the van I came in on. But that was hardly a payment for the opportunity to get warm, dry, and clean two hours earlier.
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ES11 - Dewey Beach DE to Pokomoke MD

Miles: 65.5

Today was a great ride. A cold front has moved into the area so we had to bundle up a little more this morning. The wind was blowing all day - from the side or a headwind. This was my kind of riding - flat roads and wind. Been there done that a whole lot.

There are a few of us slower riders who leave early. Today we left 45 minutes early. Since there were no hills and I didn't have trouble with my saddle, I made it to the SAG before the Big Dogs. The Big dogs are the first ones in every day. When we get to the SAG we have to sign in. I took a picture of the nearly empty sign in sheet because I was so excited to not be the last one there!

The roads were pretty good. Most places there were wide shoulders. However, there were a few miles with rumble strips on the shoulder. Unfortunately there were a couple of places where the shoulder was so narrow the rumble strip filled it all up.

The first part of the ride we came down the Delaware coast through the seaside dunes and towns. Once we got into Maryland we rode through some very pretty farm areas.

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ES11 - Hammerton NJ to Dewey Beach DE and Rest Day

Miles: 65 of 80
Elevation gain: flat

I am writing this on the rest day - a day which was sorely needed (in more ways than one.). We have gone 622 miles in 8 days and 6 of those days involved a lot of climbing. That does take a toll on the mind and body. So everyone was glad for a rest.

The ride to Dewey Beach was a great ride on nice roads that were flat. We had five bridges to cross. They were all narrow with no shoulders. However the traffic was light so it was really no problem.

I made it about 15 miles into the ride when the saddle went nose up again. Because the roads were flat, I was sailing down the road at that time. Needless to say, I was not happy. I sent a text to Tracy the Crossroads leader. When the first van came by they picked me up and took me to the SAG. When Tracy got there in the truck, she went to work on a Rube Goldberg fix. The nose of my saddle is now held down with zip ties and electrical tape. It doesn't look very elegant but worked.

Off I went through the towns along the ocean and over the bridges. At one point the sky opened up and it poured and the wind started blowing. I was seriously considering flagging down the van if it came by. Fortunately it did not come by and the rain stopped about 10 miles down the road. I have never ridden in so much rain in my life. Of course if I was home, I would never go out in rain like that.

This was the day of our first ferry ride from Cape May to Lewes. The ferry only went at 11:00, 1:00, 2:30 and 4:30. I was planning on the 2:30 ferry. Then at 12:00 I realized I was 10 miles from the ferry so the 1:00 became a possibility. The problem was the 4 miles through a town with a streetlight at every block, most of which I hit on red. So coming out of that town I knew I would just make the ferry or just miss it. I really wanted to make it and started the after- burners. My power interval training came in handy and I went for it. I was just rounding the corner for the ferry when I heard the whistle blow. Fortunately it was the warning whistle and I made it on. Other riders were up on the deck cheering me on. I was quite happy.

There was a 10 mile ride to the hotel after the ferry ride. Kind of hard to get back on the bike. It was a very busy road but had a wonderful bike lane. Our hotel is a block from the beach and is very nice. This will be a great place to spend the night. Last night Chris, Stu, and I had dinner at a great little outdoor restaurant on the sand where we could watch the sunset.
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ES11 - Somerset NJ to Hammonton NJ

Miles: 85

This might be short because I am really tired tonight. I heard rain all night long and expected the worst for the morning. The roads were wet but it wasn't raining. The first miles going out of town had heavy travel and little or no shoulders. So it was a bit dicey for awhile.

I was having a good ride until I started having problems with the saddle again. The problems continued all day. So that was a bit discouraging.

I got caught in a big rainstorm. Since it was hard to see down the road I took shelter on a porch until it let up. Then I went half a mile down the road and found other riders having lunch in a restaurant. They missed the whole storm. Lucky for them

There are a lot of nurseries along the road. All of them have loads of beautiful mums. The countryside changed to more open spaces and farms. There were cornfields, soybean fields, and blueberry fields. There was much less climbing today.

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ES11 - Suffern NY to Somerset NJ

Miles: 67.9
Elevation Gain: 3000 ft

Yesterday was such a beautiful ride. Today was a ride of 100 turns. Well it might not have been 100 turns but it was a lot. We basically wormed out way through the streets, towns, residential areas to get here. The views were not nearly so great. The traffic was pretty heavy and the roads were rough. However I had no trouble with the drivers. In fact some stopped to let us make safe left hand turns.

It was rather foggy when we left this morning. Once that disappeared there was a cloud cover which kept the heat down. Some of the riders saw deer today. Unfortunately I only saw a couple of dead ones along the road.

There was a lot of climbing today. They were not long climbs but some were quite steep. The picture of the cemetery was taken at the top of a really steep hill. I thought it was appropriate for how I was feeling at the time.

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ES11 - Fishkill NY to Suffern NY

Miles: 53
Elevation gain: plenty

Last night during the night I woke up and was hurting all over. I was wondering why I was putting myself through this. During the ride today I remembered why. I think this was by far the best ride I have done in a long time. That is until the last 5 miles coming into town.

We left Fishkill and rode down the valley along the Hudson River. We couldn't see the river but the countryside was pretty. Soon after we crossed the river we started a 1.8 mile climb through Bear Mtn park. I didn't even mind the climb because there were trees changing colors on both sides of the road. I went down the descent as slow as possible because I didn't want to leave the sights, smells, and sounds. There were several small lakes that were perfectly still and the reflections were pristine.

After the SAG stop we rode along Seven Lake Dr. Yes there were at least seven beautiful lakes. At one point we came across a section of road that had been washed out during the storms. The water just picked up a section of the road and moved it about 30 degrees headed into the lake on the other side of the road. The section that was moved looked like a lava flow.
The ride into town was not so much fun. The roads were busy and full of potholes. We always get to a point where the ride out of town is as easy as possible in the morning.
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ES11 - Windsor Locks CT to Fishkill NY

Miles: 81 of 95
Elevation Gain: 5000 to 6000 ft

The picture tells the story. Remember what goes down must go back up in this area. I have never seen so many grade warnings in a stretch of road in my life. This was one tough day of climbing. It was up and down all day with four long steep climbs.

I was riding by myself today. I had a good day. But at mile 81 I just decided it would be 7 pm before I would get to the hotel. So I decided to live for another day and rode in with the SAG van.

This is really pretty country. There was a lot of traffic on the roads. I think people are starting to come view the foliage. The weather was perfect - mostly cloudy with no rain.

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ES11 - Worcester MA to Windsor Locks CT

Miles: 70
Elevation gain - around 3000 ft

This morning we woke up to a pleasant site - no rain. In fact there was no rain all day even though the humidity was high. The roads were wet so we (and our bikes) were quite grimy at the end of the day. Tonight there were a lot of bikes with mechanical issues due to the climbing and the rain and the rad grime. My trusty bike is holding up well. There was a little adjustment required in the shifting but no other issues.

This was a very hard day for me. I started the day out with an energy deficit. Yesterday I did not take in any recovery nourishment when I finished the ride. I know better. But I came in late, was soaking wet, etc. So this morning I paid the price. I could feel the lack of energy the moment I started. And I never recovered all day. There was a lot of climbing but that was only part of the problem.
The countryside was fantastic. Lots of pumpkin fields and stands selling pumpkins. The leaves are starting to turn. I came down one hill with trees on both sides. The bark was wet so was dark and the leaves were green and gold. It was so fantastic it made the climb up the hill worth the pain.

We rode through an area where a tornado touched down. If you look closely at the house in the picture, you will see the roof is gone and laying on the ground beside the house.

I will introduce you to the SAG Angels - Carol and Robin. They drive the vans and supply us with nutrients and liquids. The best part is that they great us with happy smiles and words of encouragement. And they are a phone call away if we get in any trouble on the road.

Tomorrow will be a killer of a day. We are going 95 miles to Fishkill NY. And rumor has it there will be some serious climbs. Wish me luck.

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