Day 23: Monday, May 9 - Tuscaloosa, AL to Prattville, AL. I rode 100 of the 114 route miles for the day, 5,419' up, 5,327' down

Prattville, Alabama Pride and Joy, their artesian well

We awoke to another great weather day. We have been soooooo lucky. I did not need my windbreaker or skull cap to start out this morning. It was cloudy, about 60 degrees at the start, and about 82 degrees at the end, versus about 87 yesterday - so a more comfortable temperature. Wind was negligible all day and not a factor.

I started out getting bumped to mile 14 in the van to get ahead of the group of faster riders. My tentative plan was to ride perhaps 50 miles or so and call it a light training day, due to the amount of climbing on today's route. I just took it very easy. There were a few dogs to contend with, but Mike's instruction turned out to be handy, as I got off my bike twice when challenged, and the dogs kept their distance.

I made it to the first SAG at mile 41 with many of the group still there. I resolved to ride until I had the 50 miles or more, then see if I could be bumped ahead to the lunch SAG at mile 82. The first opportunity to seek a bump happened after I had completed 60 miles or so, but Mike in the van said that he was not moving forward to the SAG as he still had riders behind me that needed to be serviced. So, I kept riding, all the way into the lunch SAG. I was hoping to get a chocolate milk at the store that was noted on the cue sheet at mile 56, but it was no longer in business. Disappointed, as the chocolate milk sure gives me an energy boost.

I was still feeling OK at lunch, a bit tired, but OK, so I decided I would continue riding. Jerry was there again as he was yesterday and said he would ride with me, all the way to the motel. So, I checked the profile on the cue sheet, and it did not look bad - except for one big climb. The first 15 miles went by pretty quickly, even when we were not pushing it, and we then came to a store. I satisfied my desire for the chocolate milk, and then we pushed on. The hills were not done with us, however, and we hit several more decent size hills that challenged our tired legs. However, the big hill we saw on the profile turned out to be a rather long, but not steep climb that went far better than expected. Whew!

Bottom line: we rode all the way into the motel, to mile 114, and when you deduct the 14 mile bump at the beginning, by golly, I had completed yet another century!. A pleasant surprise when my goal was 50 miles or more as a light trainning day. That makes three days in a row in which I exceeded my initial target for the day, logging in 121, 100 and 100 miles the past three days.

We have only four more days to go,and they all look to be easier than the past few days. The next four days look like this:

• Day 24: Tuesday, May 10 - Prattville, AL to Columbus, GA 113 miles for the day, 2,579 so far, 3,100' of climbing
• Day 25: Wednesday, May 11 - Columbus, GA to Perry, GA 96 miles for the day, 3,150' of climbing
• Day 26: Thursday, May 12 - Perry, GA to Vidalia, GA 101 miles for the day, 3,200' of climbing
• Day 27: Friday, May 13 - Vidalia, GA to Savannah, GA 104 miles for the day, 900' of climbing

With these all looking like relatively easy days, I am not planning on getting bumped ahead at all and ride the entire routes. The weather forecast is for no rain along our route until next week, so we just might luck out and go the entire cross country route without getting rained on at all. Keeping our fingers crossed!

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For our ride leaders' take on today's ride and photos, go here.