The Road Les Pedaled

October 27, 2009

Before I begin today's post, Steve emailed me the action shots he took on Sunday, day one, when he was undercover and I didn't realize he hadn't gotten on the road home yet.





So now for day three.  I'm so glad it's over!  But I really need to start this post with the way my day began.  Cindy at Nelson House B&B totally outdid herself on breakfast.  She told me she had done some research online to figure out what a good breakfast for cyclists is.  She made me a strawberry banana smoothie, banana bread, an egg casserole with broccoli and ham, et al., served along with decaf coffee, orange juice, some mini croissants, grapes and a plum.  It was a TON of  food.  My stomach for some reason was a little queasy though and I couldn't eat much of it.  I had about half the smoothie, all the yogurt, and then just nibbled on the rest.  It was so sweet of her.  She also was kind enough to put my clothes that I had washed the night before in the dryer because they were still a little damp.  She also helped me load up the Red Ranger.  She gave me a big hug and I was on my way.

It had started raining while I was eating breakfast, which was unexpected.  The forecast didn't call for rain until the afternoon.  I checked out my Weather Channel app on my iPhone and saw that the band of current rain was moving out of the area, so I decided to go ahead and get moving because the major weather was due in the afternoon. 

The beginning of my ride was wet, cold, and foggy.  Ranger was up to the task though.  He performed amazingly.  Not a single skid or slip.  And he looked so smart in his rain covers.  I took a picture of him decked out in his rain gear leaning against a street sign that said Marion Street in Blackshear, which made me think of my mom and what her reaction to all this would be, but I'll have to publish that one after I get home.

As predicted, I hit hills at about 19 miles.  Not sure how long they lasted, but it was LONG!  I kept thinking that has to be the worst one...the rest can't be that steep.  And then I'd crest it and see another one waiting for me.  Hills are a challenge to me under any circumstances.  Riding a recumbent I can't get out of my saddle and use my entire body to climb...plus most of the weight is in the back.  So now with the load...oy vey!  And it didn't seem to even out today.  I definitely was going up way more than coming down.  I was huffing and puffing and my glasses were steaming up with the humidity and moisture.  Ugh.  But what are you gonna do?  They're there and you really have only one option...you gotta go up.  Go up or go home.  Amazingly I didn't walk up any hills today though, so that's my mini victory for the day.  My legs are tired!  I decided that's one thing I'm going to treat myself to when I get home...a leg/foot/arm/scalp massage.  Forget the torso.  Nobody is allowed to get near my spine.  But the rest of it...just do it!

I didn't have reception for most of the day today, which was a bit scary.  There are signs posted all over saying For Emergency Call 911.  It would be nice if I could!  Fortunately no need.

I had a couple of on-road pit stops today just because civilization was few and far between.  My favorite stop of all though was in Surrency, which was at the halfway point of my ride today.  There's one convenience store...Parker's...and the people there are just lovely, both the employees and the customers.  They all wanted to take care of me.  A couple of guys even offered to drive me to Blackshear.  I graciously declined, but requested that if the thunderstorms came in that I'd take them up on it, that they could just come find me down the road and pick me up.  One of the women asked if I wore make-up, to which I responded not really, but definitely not on this trip.  She was an Avon saleswoman and wanted to give me a brochure.  Again I had to turn her down, citing (with a wink) not wanting to add weight to my load.  Several of them on numerous occasions took me outside to point out the right direction for me to go just in case I was confused.  The group of them came out to bid me adieux (kind of like Dorothy leaving Munchkinland).  I have no doubt they stood there waving until I was out of sight.  I regret not taking any photos of the Surrency gang.

Sights from the road:

I don't know what these are, but they sure were pretty.  Not flowers, some kind of leaves.


I mentioned before how many churches there are in Georgia...but COME ON!


Do you think this is a typo?


I had another on-road pit stop but had to cut it short because of biting gnats!  The bugs here challenge Florida's any day.  I can't stop at a convenience store without bees trying to get in all my bags.  Thankfully I'm not bothered by them on the road.

I realized today that I am going a little loopy being on the road by myself.  I talk to myself and I talk to Red, kind of in a Wilson kind of way.  I find that a bit disturbing, but it is what it is.

The last ten miles of my ride were tough.  I was already tired enough, but had a bit of a respite with some flat riding after Surrency.  But the hills picked back up the last five miles and my legs had had it.  I was going pretty slow, but I was so close that I knew it couldn't last too much longer.


There are dueling barber shops, the old-timey ones with the lit-up barber shop poles, right across the street from each other.  There are quite a few stores similar to this one.


After showering and reorganizing for my trip to the post office and calling Cindy to let her know I was okay and she didn't need to save me, I was starving and grabbed just what I needed...a cup of chicken noodle soup from Michael's Deli.  It was more like chicken stew with not much soup, but delicious with big thick noodles that were carbolicious. 

Back at the brand-spankin'-new Comfort  Inn in Blackshear, Red and I finally are sharing a room.  And it's a great room!  Plenty of space for both of us.  I even did a load of laundry!  I've been hand-washing all my stuff after my ride each day and was getting sick of it.  Took advantage of the opportunity since it was available to me.

Since it's storming outside, I went back across the parking lot to Michael's Deli for dinner.  Fish and shrimp with two sides for $4.99.  Highway robbery!  Here was my chance to talk to a few people and ask them the one thing I should know about Blackshear.

James - It's a great place to raise children (he has a six-year-old son).

Brandon - People around here give you their honest opinion.

Willie - People have strong faith and conviction (as evidenced by the above picture).

Cynthia - Blackshear is peaceful and you feel relaxation the minute you get here.

Dorothy (Cynthia's mother) - There's no place like it (she's lived here all of her 89 years...I told her being Dorothy she should have said "There's no place like home.").

Beth (Cynthia's sister and Dorothy's daughter) - It's amazing how when everybody passes you, whether they know you or not, people wave or make a gesture, that everybody is your friend even if you don't know them.

Brooke - There's nothing for teenagers to do except sit...and eat (although she's quite skinny).

Kaley - Everybody knows everybody's business.

Oh, by the way, I asked the girls (Dot, Beth and Cindy) about what the gourdheads are made of.  Their answer was...gourds.  I said, well, what kind of gourds?  Just gourds.

So tomorrow is a long day...69 miles.  My legs are shot.  I'm gonna be popping the anti-inflams tonight and hopefully do enough stretching to loosen them up a bit.  I haven't seriously checked the weather report, but I'll work around it.  I laughed at Leica's post about having a contingency plan.  My contingency plan is to get wet!  There are houses spread around with carports and porches and I figure most of the people (with the exception of yesterday's creepies) have been so nice that they won't mind me waiting out a storm on their porch if it gets too bad.

I want to thank everyone for all their words of motivation and continued support.  I haven't really been responding to too much.  Just seems like there's not enough hours in the day.  But I read everything and feel all warm and fuzzy inside just thinking how lucky I am to have such wonderful friends and family.  I love you all!

So from the home of the Pierce County Bears...g'night folks.