June 19
Madison, FL to Gainesville, FL
121 Miles
1990 ft of climbing
Map:
http://www.mapitpronto.com/index.cfm?fuseAction=routePlanner.viewDBRide&rideID=2089
(Complete)
http://www.mapitpronto.com/index.cfm?fuseAction=routePlanner.viewDBRide&rideID=2090
(Partial)
As I write this we find ourselves in Gainesville, Florida anticipating our final ride day. Just as life seems to accelerate as we age, so too have the final riding days of this adventure.
We have had such good weather we've been riding between ten and fifteen additional daily miles this week than we had originally planned to reduce the mileage for the last two days. As we watch the weather forecast it appears we leave heavy rain in our wake. We've been unbelievably fortunate to have a total of less than eight hours of riding in heavy weather. That doesn't include high wind days but at least we were dry for those.
Thursday was one of the best riding days yet. The humidity is down significantly though the temperature is up. Riding along at an average between fifteen and sixteen miles per hour, the breeze we create helps cool us.
It was a day full of rollers, as evidenced by our climbing statistic. Nothing steep or stinging though. Northern Florida and the panhandle have shown us beautiful countryside. The people seem to be getting a bit friendlier as we get further East.
We're left with somewhere around one hundred miles to go today and we are getting a late start. I had the best sleep I've had in days. I think drinking a gallon of sweet tea daily has saturated my body with caffeine. Add to that copious amounts of coffee, on days I make Peet's, and it's not too different from Chris's Red Bulls and Rockstars.
I can understand how people can adopt this as a perpetual vagabond kind of lifestyle. If I had no anchors and if I liked sweat soaked dry camping it could be me.
Poor Chris was not so fortunate with his sleep. The mold, fungus, and general rot left him heavily congested. Florida has brought with it the greatest concentration of airborne bugs yet. We take at least a dozen hits a day each. Some so big that they rock you on impact. Somehow most are at head level. I actually had a small knot on my noggin from one that managed to hit me square in a vent hole. They often have great mass.
Time to get our travelling act moving. The next post will be after our arrival, providing we experience no serious breakdowns or other delays.
Stay tuned.
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