Last night I shared a house with two riders. I slept in the living room on a comfortable leather couch rather than use the hide-a-bed within. One of my roommates snored all night. This wouldn’t have been a problem if I could have found my ear plugs. I searched my belongings for 20 minutes before giving up. I found them this morning. Ugh.

Breakfast was provided by the B&B. It was delicious.

Each day a group of two or three riders is responsible for dinner, breakfast, and lunch. Today the crew was Denise, Dave, and I. Someone had to get to the night’s camp and go grocery shopping in the van. Because breakfast started an hour later than usual, the three of us didn't think we could get to the next campground without delaying dinner. Independently, I decided to try to hammer out the day’s miles as fast as possible.

This went okay until Denise and her riding partner Josh passed me after 24 miles. Riding together is considerably faster than solo riding because the riders can take turns blocking the wind. I was pretty happy to see them because there was no way I could keep riding at 15 mph for another 69 miles.

Heart

0

Comment

0

Link

Log in to comment or reply

Heart

0

Comment

0

Link

Log in to comment or reply

Relieved that I could back off my pace, I deliberately slowed down; over the next 25 miles my body wanted nothing to do with speed, or the emerging headwind.

My legs rebounded for the last 20 miles and I arrived in camp as Denise rode off in the van to Walmart for dinner supplies.

After setting up my tent and showering I joined Dave in getting things set up. Denise was the boss chef and she cooked three types of goulash. Greg was in charge of frying the turkey burger and the okra. I was the gofer, back and forth to the van, water pump, and dumpster.

Denise did a fantastic job. Everyone was well fed.

We cleaned up and went to bed exhausted. I didn’t sleep a wink all night again which was becoming a problem.

In the morning we set up breakfast, made coffee and cocoa, and set up a table for riders to make their lunches. After cleaning up we were released to saddle up and take on the day’s 54-mile ride.