Tour Day 79 An Epic Ride And A Change Of Plans Sept 12 2010

I have to apologize for my blog yesterday. I know it was confusing to read and I apologize. I just know I have something to say I simply have not figured out how to word it yet.

Because I took a nap yesterday I found it very difficult to fall asleep. So really the nap was useless because I spent my nap tie up at night. Which meant in the morning I was not completely charged, but anything was better then where I was at.

I got on the road and felt pretty descent. I knew from my calculations that I had 100 miles to Miami which in my condition was going to be a nicely pace day. What made the morning even better was my helmet. I cleaned the pads last night for the first time in 2 weeks and lord was it gross. I squeezed them out and saw 2 weeks of sweat and dead skin drop out in a cloud of grossness in the sink. Once cleaned it took a lot of pressure off the cut on my head and made the riding a lot better.

I was getting down the road in good time and was ahead of schedule when I got passed by a guy on a tri bike. Thinking nothing of it I just kept riding. Then a lady pulls up next to me and we start talking. It was nice to see some other cyclists because for the past 4 days it had been nothing but the odd klunker in the rough parts of town. This lady was very interested in the trip and telling it to he students that she helps.

After getting a good talk in and being forced to travel a little quicker I ran into a group of triathletes. They were a little bit snooty to me so I jumped into there pace line and took a double pull over a few rolling hills. When they peeled off they collectively said that they did not see that coming from a bike as loaded as mine. That gave me a good boost of pride and energy.

That boost was quickly zapped when I realized my rear wheel was starting to rub again. Now I realized I had a lot of distance left and did not want to true my wheel so I just unhooked it thinking I was going to fix it later.

It was 12 and I was ready for lunch in Boca. Now I had my map closed because I felt confident in where I was going so I did not need it. I opened it to see where I was at and was shocked when I found out I was 130km into the day and still had 70km left.

At that point I braced myself for what was going to be a long day in the saddle and treated myself to some powerade. I figure it says power in it so it pretty much pedals the bike for me. Sadly this was not the case because when I got into ft. laterdale near the airport I promptly made a wrong turn because my brain was starting to get fried and I was stuck on the interstate again.

I was not going to get another ticket so I had to dismantle my bike and push it over a barrier that was roughly the height of a car. Once I crawled down and backtracked the 2km and started over I was cooked. I was just thinking get to route 27 north and that will be where I will stop.

Before I talk about the rest of the day I want to tell you about the change of place that has taken pace. I am not going to key west. It is 200 miles down the road with next to nothing for 50 to 80 mile patches. Adding to that I had planned to take a ferry once down there that would take me up the cape so that I would not have to ride the same road back. Unfortunately that ferry turned out not to exist anymore, which means it would be a combined 400 miles on the same road. For those reason I made the choice to turn around in Miami and take route 27 up to route 90 in Tallahassee. That also answers the next question; yes I will be continuing the trip from here until the weather turns.

Now this shows you how cooked my brain was at this point I thought that right in the middle of Miami I would be able to find a motel. Well that was not the case so after making a few wrong turns I was lost. Adding to it no one could give me good directions. So I was getting dehydrated because I was forgetting to drink, I was over 200km, and was still lost.

The was I ended up navigating was by planes. I knew I had to get beside the airport so I just kept watching the planes lading getting closer and closer. Fortunately a police officer final gave me some better directions and got me the fastest route.

I was running on fumes when I got into the Miami equivalent of the Mexican Compton. I had no gas to press on so I had to pick from one of the awesome motels in Hialeah. The one I decided on looked the worst from the outside which means it was going to have a good price which is all I cared about at that point because it was so late all I needed was a bed.

The best way I could put it is the motel in Baltimore had the murderer outside. This one had the inside. From the bathroom light that wont stop flickering in that way that you expect someone to pop up from behind you, to the duck tape on the floor. Everything has a pretty interesting vibe.
Trip Distance: 238km
Ride Time: 10:34hr
Avg. Speed: 22.53km/h
Total Distance: 11803km
Total Ride Time: 551hr
Destination: Hialeah, Florida

I was going to take tomorrow off and do nothing because I am fried right now and will need a day to rest from that, but I am not staying in this area. Instead I am going to put in a few hours spin the legs and get a good days rest.