Nice to be back

Today was my first day of this final leg and boy am I glad that I made the trip. I’ve been looking forward to it for a few weeks since I finally decided that I’d be able to make it and booked my flights. But I’ll admit that I had some trepidation. I’ve been so busy with work and family that I hadn’t really trained at all. I rode my trainer a bunch of times and got outside for a couple of rides, but I haven’t ridden more than 30 miles at once all winter, so really I wasn’t sure how I’d hold up!

I arrived last night at about 8pm after a pleasant day of travel. My bike crate was already at the hotel since I’d shipped it ahead of time, so I put it together and turned in for the night. After a fitful night of sleep (I was inexplicably up every couple of hours) I was ready to start the day. We all ate breakfast together and then bid goodbye to Beth and rolled out from the hotel around 8am.

The ride out of Tallahassee was unremarkable except for the nice smooth pavement and bike lanes. I was, however, surprised by the rolling hills. There was nothing steep, but we faced rolling hills fir the first 30 miles until the road suddenly went completely flat in Monticello. I was quickly reminded how much more friendly everyone is once you get away from the northeast! Cars going past us crossed all the way into the other lanes to give us as much space as possible. The logging trucks doing so was especially nice! Cars going the other way often waved or smiled, as did people in their yards.

As usual, we stopped every 10-15 miles for a snack and so the brothers could make fun of each other. The breaks definitely help make the miles go by, and we finished our ride of a little over 60 miles right as Beth arrived at the hotel. After beers and snacks (and some phonetically challenged reading out loud…cough, cough…Dad), we all split up to rest for a couple of hours before heading out to dinner. Tomorrow is a longer day, so a good night of sleep would be really nice tonight! Here are some pics from today’s ride: