Day 43 - Ocean Springs to Dauphin Island - Hello, Alabama!

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 happened to Mississippi? Onto Florida!

We are staying at a beachfront condo for two nights. I am spoiled writing this and watching the surf. The last thing I can think about doing right now is getting on a bike and riding 85 miles tomorrow. I will be there though.




LAJ TodayLAJ TotalRide Total
Miles Rode:74.571815.022396.26
Elevation Gain (feet):108353871
Pedaling Time:6:10
Average Speed (mph): 12.1
Maximum Speed (mph)23.3

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Days 20 - 21 - Van Horne to Marfa to Marathon - High winds OMG!!

Image
The winds only increased in severity. The Wolfpack, the crew that sets up and tears down the tents, struggled to set up the tents. Finally, they gave up and we stopped in a motel in Marfa. The staff is great. Think of what they had to do to find housing for 50-55 people. They did an amazing job. We all had a warm bed. We are now in a motel & RV park in Marathon. Rick and I are sharing a room with another couple and everyone else tents. How nice.  Today was Laundry Day. This ride is unique in that they do our laundry about every four to five days. That is such a luxury. This is the only cross country ride that does laundry that I am aware of. It means on rest days that we can relax and be tourists. We don’t have to do laundry. We sort the laundry into bins or into laundry bags. Those bins leave at 7:00 a.m. and at the end of the day everything magically returns clean. Some folk have various methods for keeping it organized. I just remember how biking kits (outfits) I wore and le...
Read more

Preparations - Bike and Body

Image
  First, the Bike The preparations started, sort of, when I purchased my new bike, a Trek Domane with disc brakes, electronic shifting and carbon frame and wheels. Here I am (March 2019) the proud owner of the new bike I named Zin. (The bike is purple. Zin is short for Zinfandel, one of my most favorite wines. Zinfandel grapes have a dark purple skin. The name makes sense to me.) Once the snow melted and the temperature rose above 40 F, I had to take it for its shakedown ride. Verdict - Sweet!!!!! Then, the Body Now I had to get into endurance biking shape. Getting into shape and climbing the mountains was what made me the most nervous about this adventure. In addition to getting in as many miles as I could outdoors, I did three things. I started training at a studio called    PowerCycling in Ann Arbor. The training program is individualized to your needs and goals. The owner/trainer, Marc, keeps a detailed log of all workouts and has incrementally challenged me over tim...
Read more

Day 7 - Dateland to Gila Bend - Amazingly Tough

Image
This was a short day (50 miles), but hard. Yesterday’s tailwind shifted to the north and then to the northeast. We were headed east. Yuck. We spent about 20 miles on Interstate 8 and so there was no drafting during the toughest part of the day.  Today Ride Total Miles Rode: 49.67 361.98 Elevation Gain (feet): 636 11984 Pedaling Time: 4:08 3:14 Average Speed (mph):  12 Maximum Speed (mph) 17.9
Read more