Day Three of Cycling

Greetings from Columbia, South Carolina! We've now had three cycling days, with the last two days being about 55 miles each. I'm pleased to say that I feel pretty darn great! Yesterday I was riding sweep, which means me and my sweep partner Andy had to be the last rider in at the end of the day. Two riders are designated sweep every day, and they are not allowed to pass anybody all day. As you can imagine, this makes it a pretty slow day. We had a couple small stops in the morning, but two hour long waits in the afternoon, one when we had to wait for someone who got lost, and one with someone with a flat tire. It was actually really fun though, because we did a lot of sitting in the shade under trees and talking about physics and the Discovery Channel and alligators and other hugely important topics. Also, the enforced rest left me hardly tired at all at the end of the day, even though I'd biked 55 miles. We arrived at the campsite around 5, jumped in the lake (though I could only stay in for about 60 seconds for fear of gators) and had a very pleasant evening lounging around.

Today was a spectacular day. We had a 5:30 wake up, but being on the road at 7:30 was awesome. It wasn't hot at all, and the first 20 miles or so were on a really awesome road through the roads. Flat roads can be just as hard as hills, or harder, if there is a strong wind, and there often is. But this road, while flat, was in the woods so the trees blocked the wind. Bliss! I road with Sarah K today and we had a really awesome pace. There were a few long but not steep hills in the second half of the ride, but I didn't mind them at all. I actually feel like with a bit a rest I certainly would have been able to keep going today.

Anyway, another 55 miles tomorrow, 70ish the day after that, and then our first day off!