It’s been a
couple days of riding without Brent so and they have had there ups and
downs. After deciding that Brent was
going to head back to Columbia for rehab we went through all the gear that we
both had in order to make sure I was good to go the next day. I was able to drop a few things but gained a
lot more in the process. After packing
all the bags to make sure it still fit they seemed to weigh at least another 15
pounds. That may not sound like a lot
but it sure does wear on you when you’re dragging it behind you all day. The thing we were both more concerned with
was how the balance of the bike was going to change since the backpack was
heavier and higher on the bike.
As I got
ready to take off by myself the next morning I was still a little concerned
about how things were going to go by myself.
Without having someone to talk to as we rode or in case something
happened have someone else there to help out.
But as I left and started riding those worries disappeared a little
bit. Our worries about the weight and
balance turned out to be nothing to really worry about either. As I first rode out the next morning it was a
little wobbly but nothing terrible and it felt normal after riding for just a
few miles. The weight didn’t bother me
that much either although I could definitely tell the extra weight was there
when I was going uphill. Thankfully we
were not in North Carolina anymore and the hills were a lot smaller and for the
most part they were a lot less steep.
It was a
pretty leisurely ride most of the day but I definitely hit the wall around mile
75, which at that point was already the farthest we had rode in one day on this
trip. But I still had another 13 miles
to go in order to make it to the house I was staying at for the night. I was really starting to feel the weight and
luckily the steepest hills of the day were all in the last 10 miles. There was one point where the family I was
staying with offered to pick me up a couple miles away from their house but I
told them no because I needed to do it myself for the trip. But every minute of those last 3 miles was
agony. Finally I made it in to the house
and had a great steak dinner with the Campbell family. It was a fun night hanging out with them and
watching football. Thanks to them it was
also a lot easier to get the replacement poles for our tent because the took me
to the post office to pick them up instead of having to ride miles out of the
way to get them myself.
The next
morning I planned to go about 60 miles to Cedartown but I never quite made it
their. I started the day feeling pretty
strong and thought it was going to be a pretty short day. But as the day progressed I realized that I
had nothing left in the tank. The 88
miles from the day before had really taken a lot out of me and then being in
the sun all day just drained my energy even faster. I was a few miles out from my backup start of
Rockmart, GA and I decided I was just going to need to stop and stay there for
the night.
The next
day I woke up and decided it was time for another semi rest day because I was
still feeling pretty tired and knew I would not be able to put in a full day of
biking. So I just finished off the ride
to Cedartown, which was only about 16 miles.
That took me less than 2 hours so I swung by the firehouse to say hey to all the guys there since that would be my home for the night. They were a very entertaining bunch to hang out with so I just stayed there the rest of the day. Today was a good rest for the legs and in the morning its off to Alabama and Cheaha Mountain for our 4th
high point.
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