Cycling Ellen

74.3 miles today
3,019.3 total

Never mention a shutout.  Last night at dinner, we were tabulating who had had the most flats.  The statistics will be shared at our banquet tomorrow but several people were up into the double digits.  I was the one with the least number – one – and that one was in a motel room when I woke up with a flat.  I consider myself quite lucky that my second one happened today.  I was riding with Mary and Carol, two ace tire changers, and we were just pulling into the 40 mile sag stop where the sag has a floor pump and the gas station there has a restroom to clean up afterwards.  If you’re going to have a flat, there are no better circumstances that I could arrange!  Since they wanted to get going, they made quick work of my tire.  Mary pulled out a piece of metal with her teeth since we didn’t have tweezers and it was in quite far (but told me not to tell her dentist).  I pumped up the tube, put on the tire and we were back on the road in short order.  Thanks, Mary and Carol!

Before that, we had been riding on some beautiful backcountry roads through farmland and fields.  Mary lives in Gainesville and was right at home, literally.  We passed a couple of produce stands and got to eat some fresh cukes and tomatoes that Debbie had picked up for the sag.  I probably won’t get as fresh a tomato until August in Vermont.

The last 30 miles were not as much fun as they were all on SR 100.  There was a little bit of a shoulder but lots of truck traffic and a fair number of climbs.  Along that stretch, I passed the 3000 mile mark of this trip.  These miles have really added up.  In Palatka, just before the bridge over the huge St. John’s River (one of the few rivers that flows north), we stopped at Angel’s, the oldest diner in Florida.  I used my one last excuse for a recovery milkshake, my first with a maraschino cherry on top, and a crab cake sandwich for lunch.  There we got talking with Shelby and Brandon and their mom about our trip.  Shelby wants to ride her bike across the country some day.  You can do it Shelby!

I had to take advantage of the pool for our last regular day on the tour.  There’s nothing like cool water on your legs after a ride in the sun.  Jane stopped by the pool with some bits of calamari and fried alligator.  The alligator did taste a bit like chicken only a little chewier.  A little music on the I Pod, the sun to dry me off and the day was complete.  Almost complete actually, as we have one more of Linda’s delicious dinners to anticipate.

Tonight, we’ll all try to get a good night’s rest for our final ride into St. Augustine.  If I don’t get a chance to post tomorrow, be patient and I’ll give you a final accounting in the next day or so.  Maybe we’ll even have tailwinds tomorrow (shhhh and no flats)!