After a first and only French toast breakfast, we pledged to not go fast. We even said we were going to hammer today, just so we could trick ourselves into thinking we would be doing the opposite of what we always have been doing lately. Well, the first couple of miles we soft-pedaled it through and out of the forgettable town of Orangeburg. Keith jokingly said all he wanted to do was not have to pull today. Pulling is something riders do to help other riders. Taking a "pull" means you are in the front of a line of riders breaking the wind. This requires exerting an extra amount of energy, and is only done for a short distance before you pull off and go to the back to recover and let the next person "pull". As the traffic abated, a blur when by my left side. It was Alex. Alex does NOT like anyone in front of him. Keith, Gerald, Nigel, and I jumped on. Some others were on our wheels as well, but there were multiple surges by Keith, Alex, and I and we dropped them. As we passed riders, some tried to jump on, but we surged past them. This pace was out of hand. The terrain was flat as a pancake. We pulled into the first rest stop at 29 miles with an average of 22mph. We stayed for a bit, no one showed up. Larry whizzed by us without stopping.
Back on our bikes we toned the pace down a bit. We were still tooling along around 22-24 mph, but there were no more 27-30 mph surges because we already had passed everyone (except Larry). We were on some lightly traveled back roads. Swamps were common, as were moss covered trees over hanging the road. The sun was shining brightly.
Our consistent pace finally brought Larry into our view. He hopped onto our paceline. At the second stop at a Baptist church, some of the ladies came out to meet us and Jameison got a picture of us with them. Jameison was sagging today and was being his usual entertaining self. We left as a group of six - Alex, Keith, Gerald, Larry, Kimberly, and I.
The sky gradually got cloudier. The air was getting more and more humid. We were nearing the sea. At lunch, which was at a pretty crappy crossroads, we took our time again. More sandwiches.
We left as a group. It was starting to drizzle a bit. The pace had knocked back another notch. We entered the Charleston area and traffic increased. The last sag was going to be a staging area for all the riders. We waited for all the others. They came in one by one.
We all left as a group of 60 to head to the beach. The hotel is right on the beach. Pictures of the bike in the ocean then a group picture. Pacific to Atlantic on a bicycle. I finally have this out of my system. What is next?
I hope everyone enjoyed my messages.
Thanks everyone for the support.
