Today: 84.2 Miles – AVG Speed 14.5MPH – Top Speed: 39.7MPH
Total: 4,696.15
A day of adventure and curious meetings, then. A welcome change from the previous 24 hours in purgatory, at any rate.
It was a late start as I was up until midnight attempting to soothe an irritation in my right eye. I don’t think this titillating revelation was mentioned earlier, but some time ago I misplaced my spectacles, which has meant that every waking hour since has required that I wear contact lenses, (revelation No.2 is that I'm -7.25 in each eye. Fascinating.) that’s approximately 16 hours a day with an alien object in my face. Related or not, over the last few days I’ve had to endure increasing discomfort in said aperture and so I decided to waltz around with 50% vision for the first two hours of the morning in order to deliver some relief. It wasn’t ideal as it meant my 84 mile ride wouldn’t begin until late morning, but then again, maybe these things happen for a reason.
First port of call was the only diner in Milford and the usual breakfast of farmland offal and ovaries. When I walked in, all I was prepared for was a quick feed before setting off on the ride when I heard the one syllable guaranteed to grab my attention.
“Shaun!” Came the voice, even stranger was that it was delivered with an English accent.
“Err, yes?” I said.
“It’s Anna!”
What were the chances of this? For the last few weeks Anna and I had had a casual correspondence on Twitter. We were “introduced” by Super Cycling Man and had been back and forth ever since. I had no idea we would cross paths, in fact, reading into our last chat I was sure any serendipitous meeting had passed us by. This was oddly like meeting with an old friend, albeit after a simultaneous amnesia experience where we both required a re-acquaintance on the basics of each others character. It's a shame it was so brief as we both had schedules to keep, but what a treat it was to meet someone who I had been knocking around with only on a digital level previously.
Do check out her website, she is an incredibly impressive, talented and driven human being. All of that with a smile, too. She is winning.
The ride itself was one of the loneliest of the tour and I still haven’t hit the Loneliest Road in America, yet. That’s tomorrow. There were three good climbs over the 84 miles today, the crest of all revealing the same view as the last; an enormous basin. It was all very Groundhog Day. The forecast had been for thunderstorms and heavy rain, and they were right, except I missed them all by the briefest of margins. In every direction for the final 55 miles there were violent storms and teeming sheets of grey, I could even see them covering the road, only to depart by the time I arrived in their place, the only remnants being a discoloured asphalt and puddles in the rumble strips. The final 30 was spent outrunning the lightening strikes at my rear.
Only 8 miles out of Utah, I’m in a town of 69 people with four bars. My kind of place. And after some shopping around I found a motel annexed to a bar, again, my kind of place. It was when I popped to a restaurant that another lycra-clad prodigy walked in. This time, it was Matthias, a 21 yr old German. We are on the same route to San Francisco, and although he may go a bit quicker than me, we’re going to ride together for a couple of days. He had churned out a whopping 150 miles today and his legs seemd to be involuntarily spasming. A good nights sleep is what he needed.
My legs were not jolting around, however, so as a semi-earned treat, I went back to the bar at my motel where I had a a good evening chatting to some locals, a couple from Mobile, Alabama and the barman, Eric, who’s reaction when I told him about my bike-ride was not what I had expected
“Yeah, big fucking deal, pal, last winter I lived in Antarctica”
How rude is that? Very is the answer, or it would be if that’s what he actually said. Eric was very affable, in fact, and I’m sure he would never speak to anyone like that. He did live in Antarctica, though. So, in one day I’ve met a woman who’s doubling my mileage on a 50 state tour and someone who has lived in the outer reaches of our planet. Show-offs.
Total: 4,696.15
A day of adventure and curious meetings, then. A welcome change from the previous 24 hours in purgatory, at any rate.
It was a late start as I was up until midnight attempting to soothe an irritation in my right eye. I don’t think this titillating revelation was mentioned earlier, but some time ago I misplaced my spectacles, which has meant that every waking hour since has required that I wear contact lenses, (revelation No.2 is that I'm -7.25 in each eye. Fascinating.) that’s approximately 16 hours a day with an alien object in my face. Related or not, over the last few days I’ve had to endure increasing discomfort in said aperture and so I decided to waltz around with 50% vision for the first two hours of the morning in order to deliver some relief. It wasn’t ideal as it meant my 84 mile ride wouldn’t begin until late morning, but then again, maybe these things happen for a reason.
First port of call was the only diner in Milford and the usual breakfast of farmland offal and ovaries. When I walked in, all I was prepared for was a quick feed before setting off on the ride when I heard the one syllable guaranteed to grab my attention.
“Shaun!” Came the voice, even stranger was that it was delivered with an English accent.
“Err, yes?” I said.
“It’s Anna!”
What were the chances of this? For the last few weeks Anna and I had had a casual correspondence on Twitter. We were “introduced” by Super Cycling Man and had been back and forth ever since. I had no idea we would cross paths, in fact, reading into our last chat I was sure any serendipitous meeting had passed us by. This was oddly like meeting with an old friend, albeit after a simultaneous amnesia experience where we both required a re-acquaintance on the basics of each others character. It's a shame it was so brief as we both had schedules to keep, but what a treat it was to meet someone who I had been knocking around with only on a digital level previously.
Do check out her website, she is an incredibly impressive, talented and driven human being. All of that with a smile, too. She is winning.
The ride itself was one of the loneliest of the tour and I still haven’t hit the Loneliest Road in America, yet. That’s tomorrow. There were three good climbs over the 84 miles today, the crest of all revealing the same view as the last; an enormous basin. It was all very Groundhog Day. The forecast had been for thunderstorms and heavy rain, and they were right, except I missed them all by the briefest of margins. In every direction for the final 55 miles there were violent storms and teeming sheets of grey, I could even see them covering the road, only to depart by the time I arrived in their place, the only remnants being a discoloured asphalt and puddles in the rumble strips. The final 30 was spent outrunning the lightening strikes at my rear.
Only 8 miles out of Utah, I’m in a town of 69 people with four bars. My kind of place. And after some shopping around I found a motel annexed to a bar, again, my kind of place. It was when I popped to a restaurant that another lycra-clad prodigy walked in. This time, it was Matthias, a 21 yr old German. We are on the same route to San Francisco, and although he may go a bit quicker than me, we’re going to ride together for a couple of days. He had churned out a whopping 150 miles today and his legs seemd to be involuntarily spasming. A good nights sleep is what he needed.
My legs were not jolting around, however, so as a semi-earned treat, I went back to the bar at my motel where I had a a good evening chatting to some locals, a couple from Mobile, Alabama and the barman, Eric, who’s reaction when I told him about my bike-ride was not what I had expected
“Yeah, big fucking deal, pal, last winter I lived in Antarctica”
How rude is that? Very is the answer, or it would be if that’s what he actually said. Eric was very affable, in fact, and I’m sure he would never speak to anyone like that. He did live in Antarctica, though. So, in one day I’ve met a woman who’s doubling my mileage on a 50 state tour and someone who has lived in the outer reaches of our planet. Show-offs.
now, where did I put that water?
Whoops.
A whole lotta nothing.
15 down, 1 to go.
10 points if you guess which one is Anna.
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