Coast to Coast Ride on Two Wheels (2022)

I have had numerous folk ask me what a typical day on the ride consists of. They’re are all a bit different, but essentially the same. I will attempt a brief description of an outdoor camping day.  Previous evening : Organize your kit (bicycle clothes) for the next day. Shoes, socks, bibs/tights/shorts, leg warmers if cool, sports bra, base layer, jersey, gloves (long and/or short finger), jacket (for warmth or rain), etc. Depending upon the weather other accommodations may need to be made.  5 : 30 a.m. : Alarm goes off. Crawl out of the sleeping bag. This is really the toughest part of the morning if the previous day was long or hard. Stuff the sleeping bag in its compression bag, deflate the pillow, and take the bathroom bag to the restroom. Sometimes the restrooms are heated and getting dressed may be more comfortable in the restroom rather than in the tent. In any event, get dressed for the day. 6:00 : Coffee is ready. Get coffee and return to tent to finish organizing and...

Today was a long and difficult ride. We started with a short ride to the ferry and took the ferry from Dauphin Bay to Fort Morgan, AL. It was lots of fun moving 35 bicyclists and support vehicles via ferry. Everyone was in a great mood. Aboard we met 2 self-contained cyclists who were doing our ride, but in one month! That was humbling. Once ashore we started riding about 9:00. Great roads. Thank you Alabama! Nice temperatures and great scenery. We rode most of the day along the shore. The only downside - you guessed it, the headwinds. They were 18-20 mph with gusts up to 25. At dinner some folk said the gusts were up to 35 mph. They were the most exhausted. I’m able to handle the headwinds now. I get in the drops and focus on riding. Too bad I couldn’t spend more time enjoying the scenery. Once we reached Pensacola and turned inland the gusts subsided. This was my longest ride of the trip. It’s good to have it “in the book”. The highlight of the day was entering Florida. After my “mis...

Almost 75 miles of flat riding. The only “hills” were on bridges. (See the little peaks in the elevation diagram.) That was great except once again we were headed east to southeast and had head/cross winds (over 20 mph) most of the time. I know, stop whining about the #$%^ wind!!! That said, I was riding stronger than I had for a while. I was even leading at good pace for quite a while.  The worst part of the ride was the bridge to Dauphin Island. There were very strong winds that peaked at the top of the bridge. Some folk worried about being blown over the side. You just had to take it slow and steady. Earlier my feet were hurting and so I had loosened my shoes about 15 miles before the bridge. That was fine until I stood up to climb about two-thirds of the way up the bridge and almost lost a shoe. ARGH!!!! That made me stop and because of the wind I had to walk up the rest of the climb…. I am strong enough now that I do NOT like to miss a climb. We entered Alabama today. What hap...

75 miles of basically downhill riding. We started at about 300 feet above sea level and ended at about 30. Yet we had over 2,250 feet on the climbing rolling hills. We road though a national forest on terrific roads and little traffic.  This was one of the best days of the ride, except of course for the inevitable headwinds. I am riding stronger each day. This was an good day. Tomorrow we head for the shore.   LAJ Today LAJ Total Ride Total Miles Rode: 74.04 1740.45 2326.16 Elevation Gain (feet): 2254 52788 Pedaling Time: 5:58 Average Speed (mph):  12.4 Maximum Speed (mph) 26.1

This was a great first complete ride since the stitches came out. My legs were good and Rick helped me modify my biking glove so I could get my swollen knuckles into it. Essentially he cut the fabric between the middle and ring fingers to create one large hole for both fingers. It did the trick! I was able to ride the entire day pain free and in control. Hurray!!!! We are moving through the Gulf coast states quickly. Today we left Louisiana for Mississippi and soon we enter Alabama. Then it is onto the last state of Florida! …and in case you are wondering, Yes, the headwinds continue. LAJ Today LAJ Total Ride Total Miles Rode: 45.65 1666.41 2252.26 Elevation Gain (feet): 1581 50534 Pedaling Time: 3:55 Average Speed (mph):  11.6 Maximum Speed (mph) 22.1

I had the intention of riding the full 84 miles today. The day started cool and as usual I dressed in layers. The issue was my swollen hand. The only gloves that fit were my cold weather gloves. They were the only ones that my swollen hand could fit into and that was still tight. After about 20 miles my hand went numb. I stopped at the SAG at 25 miles and got a ride to the third SAG at about 70 miles. By then my hand was good and I rode the last 15 miles for a total of just over 40 miles. Tonight Rick and I will tackle the glove situation. The ride was usual - rolling hills and headwinds. So what else is new? LAJ Today LAJ Total Ride Total Miles Rode: 43 1620.76 2206.61 Elevation Gain (feet): 2838 48953 Pedaling Time: 4:40 Average Speed (mph):  9.7 Maximum Speed (mph) 23