Day 25: Wednesday, May 11 - Columbus, GA to Perry, GA. I rode 86 of the 96 route miles for the day, 3376' up, 3221' down

Beautiful Bike Trail

We had an awesome start of the day, following the Chattahoochee Riverwalk bike path along a river which led to Fort Benning. The path meandered through the trees along a river mostly flat with a few small rises, and we followed it at a leisurely pace, about 7 of us in the lead group. That stretch was been the most fun for me so far on this trip.

After about 19 miles, we were off the trail and onto the roads, and the gentleness disappeared. We hit roller after roller after roller, with the length and the height of them such that most ended up the last one-third or perhaps two-thirds in the granny gear. Our first SAG was at mile 40, and the big rollers lessened from there on. I was feeling OK, so the big rollers were not exhausting me, but they just are not fun when they are that large. The only consolation was that with only 3376' of climbing for the day, the rest of the route had to be less hilly.

Near the top of one hill at mile 64 my rear wheel did not feel right, so I stopped at a small intersection to inspect it. Darn, my first flat since very early on the trip. As I started to remove the wheel, a guy in a pick up truck turned around and asked me if I needed a lift somewhere. I asked him which direction he was going, and he said, "It doesn't matter. Which way do you need to go?". Well, the lunch SAG was at mile 74 and when I told him that, he told me to put the bike in the back and he would take me there. Wow! Southern hospitality. So, that is how I got bumped 10 miles up the road.

At lunch, Mike took a look at my tire and told me that that tire was toast, with it worn through in one spot. Luckily, we all had to bring an extra tire with us, which he installed after retrieving it from the support van. The rim strip tape had also moved, so it was lucky I did not try to fix it on the road, or it would have simply been a waste of time. It would also not have been much fun sitting in the dirt on the side of the road in the blazing sun either "fixing" the tire. 

At any rate, by the time Mike was done with the bike, I had eaten and was ready to roll. I was glad to get moving, as it was getting REALLY hot sitting there in the sun. I wet my skull cap and soaked my jersey before heading out, benefiting from the evaporative cooling as I rode. The terrain was favorable, traveling through Mennonite farming country, on very quiet roads, although a bit rough. It was clear sailing all the way to the motel at mile 96. By that time, it was 91 degrees, so no wonder it felt hot.
 
We only have two more days of riding, with tomorrow as follows: Day 26: Thursday, May 12 - Perry, GA to Vidalia, GA 101 miles for the day, 2,776 so far, 3,200' of climbing. Piece of cake, especially after an 86 mile rest day like today.

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For the ride leader's take on today's ride with photos, go here. 

Day 24: Tuesday, May 10 - Prattville, AL to Columbus, GA 113 miles for the day, 4,075' up, 4,147' down

We are finally "in the land of cotton, Old times there are not forgotten" (Just not planted yet.)

Today was looked forward to as the first of four pretty easy days. Unfortunately, the 3100' of climbing turned out to be 4,075', with some pretty steep "granny gear" hills.

I started out just taking it easy. It was warm at the start, no wind jacket or skull cap needed. The first 19 miles or so went pretty easily. Then we began to hit hills of the size and frequency that we were not expecting. There was one particularly long and steep, and I was soon sweating bullets, with sweat running into my eyes. My legs really felt these hills. The miles were definitely not "just flowing by" as they had been on some other days. 

I began to think that THIS was going to have to be the day that I treat as a training day and forget my intent to ride the entire 113 miles. After another hill at about mile 44, I had decided that was what needed to happen. Mike in the van did not appear until mile 51 and I immediately held my hand on top of my head (the signal that I wanted some assistance). Mike gave me a bump up to mile 63, under the rationale that it was only 10 more miles to the lunch SAG at mile 74, and it remained a possibility to still ride a century if I changed my mind.

At lunch, I told Judy to watch out for me as she moved up the van and trailer as I may wish to be picked up to be brought straight to the motel. After I started out after lunch, the first 4 - 5 miles did not go well. On a slight hill, I was riding 7 miles per hour, then on another one, 6 miles per hour. It was time to throw in the towel. Then I thought of those of you following me in the blog, and did not want to disappoint you by giving up. Then I hit another hill and thought "This is it, time to get bumped up in the van."

Then I recalled picking strawberries as a young kid with my mom at Wisti's. Mom had taught me perseverance, again by her example. In fact, we were indoctrinated into the FACT that the Finnish had sisu, or stick-to-it-ism. When I was 12, we picked strawberries for the Wistis. Another farmer offered the crew 7 cents per quart picked, versus the 6 the Wistis were paying. But mom had committed to the Wistis and she would not abandon them. So we picked. Mom and I were the only ones who stayed with the Wistis. Mr. and Mrs. Wisti picked with us, as we tried to salvage as much of the crop as we could (and their finances). One day, it got really hot with the sun beating down. I was ready to quit. I was very tired (and picking strawberries is not the most thrilling thing for a 12 year old boy to be doing in the first place). Mom said, “Just keep plugging along” and I did. That day, I ended up picking 106 quarts, the most I ever picked, well beyond the usual 50-60 quarts. Admittedly, it was a long day, with good picking, but it taught me how much could be accomplished if you just stick to it. I still remember being able to buy that new baseball glove that I wanted with some of my summer’s $45 earnings. Yea, I got that much because the Wistis gave us a half penny bonus per quart for sticking with them! Her admonition of "just keep plugging along" stuck with me. Lesson learned: if you just persevere, you can accomplish much.

I am a strong believer in "want power" vs. "willpower". Willpower is easily lost, but if you want something badly enough, it can be a huge motivator. My desire to ride all the way across the country - my original dream - was long gone. My desire to get better as a rider could easily be satisfied if I rode 50-60 miles today, so was not a big motivator to continue today. But, my desire to receive your approval as a blog reader was still strong. I did not want to disappoint "my team". So, when Judy went past me at mile 78, I made a snap decision - I would try to finish the day so I stuck my hand out horizontally (the signal that I did not need any assistance). I was then committed, with 34 miles to go. I just plugged along until I reached a store at mile 94, an objective I had in my mind for many miles. There I rewarded myself with some chocolate milk.

When you are struggling, you need to keep setting short term or intermediate goals, so you get a feeling of accomplishment when you reach them. This is motivating, and the treat at mile 94 was also helpful, not only physically due to the calorie content, but also psychologically.

Thank goodness, much of the up and down was not too severe in that stretch, and I regained my energy. The last eight miles or so were not so forgiving, but with not many more miles to go, I was able to continue. It was now over 85 degrees, so the heat was an issue, lessened by wetting my skull cap with water every so often so the evaporative cooling would cool my head. The winds again really were not much of a factor today.

Bottom line: I was able to ride 101 of the 113 route miles for the day. Another century down, which feels good when I almost gave up with less than 50.

See, when I said very early on in my training, you as member of my team are important, as "I could not be doing this without you."

Tomorrow should finally be an easy day: Day 25: Wednesday, May 11 - Columbus, GA to Perry, GA 96 miles for the day, 3,150' of climbing, with none of that supposed to be steep.

Only three more days to go!

Next page

For the ride leader's take on yesterday's and today's rides with photos, go here.

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!

Next page

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

Day 22: Sunday, May 8 - Aberdeen, MS to Tuscaloosa, AL completed 100 of the route's110 miles for the day, 4659' up, 4621' down

Home of the Crimson Tide (Sorry, Spartan fans)

We learned "all y'all" is plural, "y'all" is singular. 

Again I knew today's route would be challenging, with a lot of up and down, some of it quite steep. 

So, I began thinking I would treat this as a light training day, and would be satisfied with as few as 50 miles ridden. The up and down, with several decent size hills ascended only by dropping into the granny gear and grinding my way up the hill, really began to get to me. At the first SAG at mile 25.7, my goal was to get to mile 48 where there was supposed to be a store, where I could get a energy shot by buying some chocolate milk (which has become my drink of choice for an energy boost). However, when I came to the town of Millport, I saw no store. Bummer. I had had it with the hills, and had little motivation to ride much further for the day. I reverted to my thinking of looking at these remaining days of the ride as an extended training program, and thought 50 miles would be a good light training day.

Well, I saw no van either, so continued riding. I finally saw Mike in the van at mile 61.6 and gladly accepted a bump to the lunch SAG at mile 72. From there, I knew I could ride some more, so set up a plan with Karen to be picked up at mile 91.5. Before I got there, I caught up with Jerry, and we exchanged the leads several times over several miles, with me passing him on the steep hills and him getting by me on the level (what little there was) or downhill. I think the difference was I had a lower granny gear than he did, so it made it easier to spin up those steep hills than it was for him. At any rate, we reached Karen together at mile 91.5 and I was ready to stop. Jerry told me I should continue, as I was riding as strongly as he was. Karen told me to go for it. Well, go for it I did. There was some more ups and downs, but it was not too bad, and I rode with Jerry to the motel. It was beginning to get pretty warm by the end - 87 degrees, but at least it was not unbearably humid.

I thought Alabama was going to be flatter!

That last 19 miles was actually some of the most fun miles of the trip so far, as while I have ridden somewhere around 2000 miles so far, 95% of that has been all alone with no other rider nearer than perhaps a mile or so. I like to ride, but it just is more fun riding with friends.

The encouragement I received from Jerry and Karen illustrates how important it is that we be supporters of others and give others positive feedback and encouragement. It refreshed my view that we all should have some sort of support system, as we all have things we know we need to do or should do that for some reason we find it difficult to do or simply dislike doing so enough that we shy away from doing that. It is no sign of weakness to recognize those tasks and your tendency for avoiding them AND if you set up some kind of crutch to aid you in getting it done regardless.

A prime example is the Alcohol Anonymous support system of a sponsor to call when feeling the need for support, Another example is a personal or business coach who the client talks with periodically to discuss his/her progress. It sounds weird that we would allow someone else to get us to do something that we know we should do without such support, but the process works, so we might as well use it.

For everyday life, it is important to surround yourself with positive, supportive people. Negative people can just pull you down. So, for best results, sometimes you may need to disassociate yourself from the downers and find some new friends. Sounds cold, but.......

A crutch I used in my training program (and during this ride itself) is to have friends and family following my progress, and knowing they are doing so, that knowledge of them holding me accountable for following through on what I said I would do was motivating.

I had a few encounters with dogs today, but yelled off a couple, got off and walked past a couple and outran a couple. One was really a runner, not challenging me, but just wanted to run with me. He stayed with me for over 100 yards, over 20 mph!

Yesterday I wrote about breaking up the day's challenge into smaller bites. Well, today the bites were not 10, 15 or 20 miles. Sometimes it was, "Only 1.7 miles to the next turn." or "5.3 miles to SAG." and the like. But, the principle remained the same - setting short or intermediate goals which once achieved, serves as motivation to continue.

Thanks for following my progress, and putting up with my musings as I go. :)

Tomorrow looks like another fairly difficult day. The plan is that I will be bumped right from the start to mile 14, due to the great deal of climbing which I don't like. Then I will play it by ear, and if all goes well, I would still have another century done, but otherwise, I will treat it like a lighter training day. Day 23: Monday, May 9 - Tuscaloosa, AL to Prattville, AL 114 miles for the day, 2,466 so far, 6,200' of climbing.

I couple of days ago, I mentioned Phil's toughness. It again was challenged today, when his shifting stopped working, He rode the last 30 miles, with all of its ups and downs with only one gear! Wow, now that was tough.

Next page

For the ride leader's take on today with photos, go here. 

Day 21: Saturday, May 7 - Senatobia, MS to Aberdeen, MS completed 121 of the route's 138 miles 4791' up, 4860' down

Biker tan, anyone?

Wow, this was a good day. I knew this was going to be one of the toughest days of the trip, so determined that I would not totally exhaust myself for the days that follow by only riding a 100 of the route's 138 miles. There was a lot of up and down on the route and hills are NOT one of my strengths.

So, I rode to the first SAG at mile 39.6 not feeling terribly strong. Nonetheless, I was in with the group at the SAG, due to my leaving a bit earlier than most. So, I might just as well keep going, thinking I would need a bump before the SAG at mile 82.6. Along the way, Mike came by so I asked if I needed to be bumped, and he said, "No, you are doing good, and there are others behind you." So, I continued to ride to the SAG. From there, guys were still behind me, so I rode to mile 99.5 until I got bumped to the third SAG at mile 117. I felt I could still ride a bit more and wanted to complete a century for the day, so started riding again, expecting to be picked up before I reached Aberdeen. Well, the next time I saw the van was while sitting in Subway in Aberdeen, so I rode the entire rest of the way of the route, for a total of 121 miles.

When facing a big challenge, it is helpful to break the challenge up into smaller pieces. Today, I would think, "Only 12 miles to the store where I can buy a chocolate milk." or "Only 10 miles to the next turn on the cue sheet." or "Only 20 miles left to go." As I achieved those small goals, the feeling of accomplishment made continuing less intimidating.

Great weather again with the wind not a factor early and a slight help in the afternoon. Lots of up and down but nothing too long or too steep.

While I never felt terribly strong all day, it never got feeling any worse either, so was glad I was able to get the 121 miles in for the day.

Taking on a challenge like this cross country ride takes mental toughness as well as physical conditioning. Having some encouragement like Mike's "go for it" helps, as few of us have that intestinal fortitude all by ourselves. My roommate, however, is REALY mentally tough. Today he was struggling, as the accumulating miles were catching up with him, as even he willingly admits, he did not train well in the last six months for this trip, relying on his massive base of conditioning. When Mike asked him how he was doing at about mile 45, Phil replied, "Not well, but I am not accepting a bump!" He gutted it out and rode the remainder of the route. Tough!
Next page

For the ride leader's take on today with photos, go here.