Endurance Athlete Or Bored?

I busted out some serious miles this week to get out of South Carolina in hopes that North Carolina would provide some nicer biking conditions. I passed up many photo opportunities because it would have been too dangerous to pull over and pull out my camera. That’s okay though, I guess I can leave some of this tour to just myself from time to time. Met some incredible people this week that shared loads of wisdom for the road and I was even called an “endurance athlete”. That’s really been trippin’ me up. I don’t think of myself as an endurance athlete… I’m just a guy who watched his industry collapse and got bored waiting for it to come back… so I decided to bike 3,000 miles to pass the time and raise some money for Stage Notes. Anyway, enjoy this weeks disjointed thoughts from the road.

April 19, 2021 74.15mi

I finished off the Spanish Moss Trail as I started week 3. There weren’t that many people on the trail as it was a Monday morning. The most action I saw was from a lady that was walking along the trail and feeding all of the stray cats. She had food and water bowls lining a section of the trail. I’m unsure what luck card I drew but the first few hours on 17 weren’t that bad? Sure there were trucks and some bad areas of shoulder but it wasn’t as bad as I expected it to be! I had somehow ended up on a logging road that I wasn’t able to ride due to deep sand that made up the road. I glanced at the map and it looked like it was going to be a four mile walk! Thankfully, it only ended up being a few miles, which was much more manageable with my 85lb bike. The sun was really beating down so I stopped and sat under a tree in the back of a parking lot for over an hour just to get a break from it. Great people watching, that’s for sure. Finished up the day on the Western Ashley Trail that brought close to where I was staying in South Charleston. Ending the day on a mixed use path is such a treat, letting me decompress from all of the traffic I had to deal with throughout the day.

April 20, 2021 80.32mi

Got up early to get in to Charleston before the traffic hit. Well, I still hit some pretty gnarly traffic. What’s up with all of the fast driving down here? I thought things were slower in the south… it sure doesn’t feel that way. I spent way too much time tootin around Charleston. I knew I had a long day but I wasn’t sure when I’d get back down this way. I ate a very bland bacon egg & cheese on a biscuit which made me a little bummed so I took that as my note to leave town. Good thing about that biscuit is that I realized that maybe my biscuits aren’t so bad. I was feeling quite tired as I pedaled the Arthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge. I guess I was still warming up for the day, or it was the 75 miles I started my week with. Here is where the true SC biking started. I spent the last 25 miles of the day on a completely shoulder-less section of Hwy 17. Finally limped it to camp, mentally and physically drained. After setting up camp I met Adam. As he approached me I knew exactly who he was. He was the cyclist I had passed last week before my last 0 day. He was under that oak tree and it turned out he had just taken a nasty crash on 17 after hitting a pot hole he didn’t see. He had quite a few scrapes and bruises and had cracked his helmet in half (ALWAYS wear a helmet, kids). I was hoping we would bump in to each other but didn’t expect it to be so soon. He’s ridden the Trans Am route, and is also doing the ECG! He’s going to take a break from it to complete the C&O and GAP routes with a friend, and will be riding every linear mile of the recently completed NYS trail system before heading back to the coast to finish the ECG. Incredible.

April 21, 2021 78.70mi

I’ve done about 160 miles in two days. That’s wild. My body hurts.
Started the day off riding with Adam in to Georgetown where we ate a fantastic breakfast at Aunny’s, placed along your typical small town America downtown strip. Aunny was the only one working the restaurant and we sat outside to take advantage of some charging ports that were in the street light posts. Adam and I busted out some real fast miles on 17 before jumping off to follow some safer bike paths that brought us up close to Myrtle Beach. It sure was nice having a drafting partner for a bit! Adam was so generous with his tips for long distance touring, and I soaked it all in. This was the first person I’ve been able to talk to in person about touring since I decided I wanted to do this over a year ago. Adam and I split ways for the day after he met with his friend, who he was staying with for the evening just south of Myrtle Beach. Well, two miles down the road a 4 inch screw punctured my rear tire. Adam and his friend stopped to assist me with my tube swap and Adam gave me one of his tubes, as I wasn’t riding with a spare because I was going to stop tomorrow to get a new set… I’ll never forget the generosity that Adam constantly poured out of him. I’ll also never forget his beard. The rest of the day consisted of my dodging sketchy traffic and blazing heat on my way up to the SC/NC border. I am staying with a Warmshowers host tonight, Bruce. Another fantastic host! We sat in his hot tub and he shared stories from his many tours throughout his life. He recently did a tandem tour with his wife along the Northern Tier. He was in his late 60s when they did this! Kind of makes me feel funny for how my body feels most days doing this at the old age of 30. Hopefully a shorter day tomorrow?

April 22, 2021 63.50Mi

Had a great morning with Bruce. We rode to his favorite bike shop where I picked up a spare tube. He ended up riding about 20 miles with me before turning around. He had a lot of knowledge about the local area, and most importantly the roads I’ll be riding after we split ways. I biked another long road out to Southport to catch the ferry across to Carolina Beach. It looked like the cars coming and going in the distance were disappearing in to the mirage on the road. That’s always a cool thing to see. When we pushed off it was 43 degrees out! I get out of SC and suddenly real spring is here? Or is this just a random cold front? The ferry across the Cape Fear River was nice. Loads of birds following us the entire way across. I saw my first mega tanker, those things make the ships we see on the St. Lawrence look like toys. I am feeling quite tired. Looking like rain on Saturday… maybe that will force me to slow down.

Oh yeah, hit my 1,000th mile today!

April 23, 2021 74.59mi

Another cold morning. I don’t mind the cold but man did it come fast! My sleeping pad is def not stoked on it. It’s been going flat since I was in Georgetown. Leaving Carolina Beach was nice. They have a good mixed use path that brings you up to the bridge that crosses over to the mainland. Oh yeah, I biked out of my way to a donut shop that my cousins recommended. Turns out it doesn’t open until 4pm on Friday’s? What’s up with a donut shop opening that late? Made my way out to Wilmington and stopped at a local bike shop, Two Wheeler Dealer to get a quick tune up on my bike. Super cool shop, everyone was super nice and they were fully stocked! Took some nice paths out of town but it got dicey quick once I left town. Poor road conditions and angry drivers aren’t fun to deal with for 4+ hours. I was yelled at, cut off, honked at, and buzzed more today than the entire rest of my tour so far. Staying at another Warmshowers host tonight. Beautiful place on the water and we watched the sunset and talked a little about boating and fishing around these parts. Will tomorrow bring my first rainy ride of the tour??

April 24, 2021 59.72Mi

Today felt terribly long even though my miles were shorter than any of the other days I rode this week. Kind of the perfect storm for a rough day in the saddle, bad wind, scary drivers, poor road conditions, and an upset tummy. I was stopping way too often and it added quite a bit of time to the day. I limped in to my cousins place where I’ll be taking my 0 day tomorrow. I only had a few miles of rain today, but it was all the other issues that made for such a long day. But that’s okay. Oh yeah… I got ANOTHER rear flat today. This time I was about 100 meters on to 17 on a bend when a steel wire punctured my tire. Just to put it in to perspective, people I’ve spoken to on this tour usually only average 3 flats…. and they were riding across the country. This was my 5th. Also, someone called me an endurance athlete earlier this week and I can’t stop thinking about. I don’t feel like one, I’m a pretty average guy that just got bored. That one will hold me up for a while, stuck to my thoughts.