Day 26 Vidalia GA (102 miles)

The perfect biking conditions in Georgia continue.  I know it is hot and the humidity is at 91% at 6am, but the roads are great, the traffic is minimal and the scenery gorgeous.  We set off mainly as one big group.  I actually take my turn at pulling shortly after we left the hotel, and end up dropping everyone.  It is a rookie mistake that I've made before.  I set a pace that is too high for this point in the day.  This group likes to warm up for the first five miles or so.  It has all the appearances of a solo breakaway, but we all know better.

Jay brings the rest of the group up to me and yells "How's it going Captian Protein?"  (that's a reference to last night's dinner).  I snuggle into the paceline.  I won't bore you with all the blow-by-blow details, but just let me say this.... that next 37 miles was probably the most enjoyable biking I've ever done.  I was biking through my favorite territory, with a great group of people and we were going extremely fast.  This is on relatively flat terrain and no wind (to speak of).

We arrive at the first SAG, and there are moon pies and RC Cola waiting for us.  I can't tell if the building next to us is a church or a house that used to be a church.  It has stained-glass windows and a steeple, but it looks more like a home. 

The lunch SAG is at mile 72.  Most of us are still in one big group, setting a grueling pace and taking turns at the front.  I've learned about my limitations on pulling at this point in the day and keep my pulls relatively short.  Reem barks orders at me when it looks like I'm about to fall off the back.  It keeps me in the pack (and scares me).  Two miles from the lunch SAG, I do fall off the back and Rick stays with me.  We arrive at the lunch just as the other riders are getting off of their bikes.

The lunch SAG is possibly the best SAG location ever.  We are under tall hardwoods on a deserted road.  I don't remember one car going past.  We have all the chairs out, and several of us suggest calling it a day.  We had biked extremely hard to get there and want to stay.  When we do leave, we don't do it as a group.  There was some confusion, and Reem was left behind.  I was pretty far behind as well, and I chase down the group to let them know that they forgot Reem.  Russ says he will wait for her.  I stop as well... but then remember that I was dropped right before lunch and I'm probably not in the best shape to stay with two professional cyclists when they get going.  So I mosy up the road a bit.

I'm biking by myself and doing OK.  Not killer fast by any means.  But I know that an express train will be coming by shortly, and I hope to catch a ride.  Sure enough... about 17 miles from the motel, I hear the train.  I hop on with Russ and Reem.  It is all I can do to stay attached.  We catch up with Wolfgang and Rick, and we have a five-person paceline coming into Vidalia.  As always seems to be the case, the motel is on the far side of town.  Vidalia is bigger than I expected.  As the motel comes in sight, I challenge Russ to a motel sprint.  He kills me to the motel entrance, but Reem screams past us to be the first at the door - nearly crashing into the lobby.  It is a ton of fun (How old am I?  Like 12?).

Once again, we're at the motel before 3pm.  A few of us hit the convenience store and KFC for a pre-dinner snack.  Dinner is at 5:30pm when 11 of us descend upon Ruby Tuesday's.  We spend about two hours there... no one in a hurry to leave.  Just re-living the days out west... which seem to be about four months ago.

We're almost at the end of our journey.  Mike had told us that we'd start to notice changes in our bodies by the third week.  And we have.  They're falling apart.  Actually, I feel a lot different; but I'm not sure it shows.  It is so hard to tell.  I imagine that I will lose weight after the ride ends (like last time).  I will be extremely disappointed if I've biked 120 miles per day for a month and don't lose any weight.

I can tell the difference in a few other riders.  The other day, Randy said to Reem, "Don't take this the wrong way, but... your butt is a lot tighter than when we started."  Seriously... how could she have possibly taken that the wrong way?  Randy also told me that my face looked a lot thinner.  However, he neglected to say anything about my butt.  Randy is always giving compliments - 'cause that's just the kinda guy he is.

Tomorrow is our final ride, and each one of us is so excited.  We've enjoyed the company, but we are exhausted.  Greg LeMond (3 time TdF winner) once said about cycling "It never gets easier, ... you just get faster."  And that sums up this group.  They keep pushing themselves and each other.  We rode today at a 5 hour century pace.  AFTER BIKING 2900 MILES IN 26 DAYS!  My shorts were covered in salt (I'm sure my jersey was as well, .... it just shows up better on black shorts).  I was soaked.  I had always thought that by this point in the ride that it would be easier.  But it wasn't easier.... we just went faster.

I often wonder what it would have been like to bike across the country with the group where several of the riders rented a car to jump ahead several days.  Or the group where they hopped a train to get ahead.  Would I have been the best rider in those groups?  At the end of the day, would they have all been talking about me?

"He did it again.  He rode the whole way."

"He wasn't in the van at all?  Are you sure?"

"Three of us were in the silver van and four were in the gold van... he wasn't there."

"How does he do it?"

"He's a machine, man.  A freakin' machine."

"I say we rent another car."

Hey... I can dream, can't I?  But I don't think it would have been near as much fun.  The riders on this trip have really forced me to up my game.  Every single one of them has offered support and words of encouragement.  I'm going to miss all of them.

Day 25 Perry GA (100 miles)

The day started in Columbus GA, and this town is looking pretty good.  It's got something going on.  It is a little bit like Greenville SC, which is a great little town and biking community. 

The day started pretty much as normal, but I was running a little behind.  Jay was going to ride sweep, so I waited for him.  As did Russ and David.  I found out today that Russ raced professionally in Europe.  I've said it about a dozen times before... we have a very serious group of cyclists on this trip.  The trip through downtown was great... not a lot of rush hour traffic.  Before you know it, we're on this multi-use (mainly biking) trail that runs parallel to the Chattahoochee River.  It is incredible.  It is Disney clean.  I kept expecting a fresh-faced kid in a uniform to come out and ask me for my Fast Pass.  Russ set a pretty fast pace, and we caught up with the rest of the riders right when the trail ended (about mile 12).

When the trail ends, it drops you off at Fort Benning and another trail through the base begins.  I can't remember the last time I've been on a military base.  It was super clean and really nice.  Beautiful tree-lined streets.  Big homes.  Golf courses.  Tanks.  Sniper training.  Just your typical suburban neighborhood.

Getting off the base was actually a bit more difficult than getting on the base due to construction, but we managed.  And the great part was that we did it all as one big group. I love it when all 15 riders can ride together, or in close proximity.  But we began to break up once we were off the base.  We were riding on a four-lane divided highway with a minimal shoulder.  That meant single file riding.  At a fast pace.  It was a little dicey - but only lasted about 4 miles.

We turned onto a more rural, but still busy, two-laned road.  I'm from Georgia and have a definite bias.  I thought the state was putting on its best face.  Road surfaces were great.  Country side was gorgeous.  Hardly any dogs.  And minimal roadkill.  We didn't have a proper shoulder, but we had about 18 inches right of the white line.  Widen that by another foot or two, and you'd have a real bike lane.  The state is looking good.

The rollers from Alabama continued and were taking their toll on my body.  I managed to stay with the faster riders, but just barely.  The first SAG was at mile 42, and I was in pain.  My right knee felt like it had swollen to the size of a volleyball.  And I had a new pain.  I found Rick at the SAG (Rick is a MD) and asked him what a hernia felt like.  After "Turn your head and cough" and "Was that really necessary here in the parking lot", we decided that it was most likely just a pulled groin muscle.  So I got that going for me.  I'm falling apart all over.

The long ride to the second SAG is where I got dropped.  We were on this long straight road, and you could see the hills rise and fall well into the distance.  We had a slight headwind that was coming straight down the road into our faces.  I knew it was a headwind, because every time I spat off the front of my bike, it came back and hit me in the face.  Between the hills, headwind and the pain, I was slowing down.

As I entered the town of Ellaville, I decided I needed something for the pain.  And I was very thristy.  And I could use a candy bar.  I took a turn down Main Street and found a convenience store.  I got Tylenol, a Mountain Dew and a Zero bar. Ok... if you ever want a little pick-me-up, go into a rural convenience store in the South dressed in Lycra and wait for the first person to ask you if you're in a race.  You simply tell them that you're biking across the country in 27 days, and wait for the outpouring of support.  It is incredible.  "NO WAY!" "YOU'RE KIDDING!" "GEE WHIZ!" I now know what Charles Lindbergh must have felt like when he landed in France. 

I'm not sure if it was the candy bar, Mountain Dew, Tylenol or accolades... but my knee pain, groin pull and half a dozen other injuries all disappeared within 3 miles of leaving that convenience store.  Why hadn't I figured this out on day one?   I spent a little bit too long in that store and most of the riders had passed me.  As I keep saying.... this isn't a race.  However, the other riders do not seem to know this.  Despite the fact that I have fallen behind, I'm feeling a whole lot better and biking faster. 

I come to this particularly confusing spot on the road and route sheet.  The intersection has been completely redesigned and doesn't match the directions.  I'm about to take a left when I see Randy biking towards me from that direction.  I follow his lead and go straight.  Within minutes, I am doubting myself.  Randy is one of the riders with that fancy GPS system, and he is continuously getting lost.  Why am I following him? I slow down a bit; Randy continues at full force.  We're entering the town of Montezuma, and this definitely isn't on the route sheet.  Then, the one thing any (potentially) lost cyclist wants to see happens.   I spot three other cyclists that are standing in a parking lot looking confused.  Best yet... one of them is on his cell phone.  We sort it out and collectively find the lunch SAG.

I leave the lunch SAG on my own and heads towards Perry, a town on the interstate.  It is only 22 miles away. The sky is perfectly clear.  The road is smooth.  Hardly any traffic.  And the hills have practically melted away.  Sure, it is hot as all blazes and the humidity coats me like a blanket, but this is the part of the country where I first really started biking.  And this is how I have always imagined biking to be.  The route sheet takes us off the highway and onto some back country roads for no reason other than to show us the "real" country.  A farmer in a pickup slows down, beeps his horn and waves "hello".  It is so good to be home.

I'm about 15 miles from the motel.  This is the point in the day where I'm always thinking about a shower.  But for the first time all trip at this point in the day, I'm really enjoying the ride.  I mean... I'm seriously having a big time.  I'm in no hurry for it to end.  I don't know if it is because we're getting close to Savannah... or because I'm back in familiar territory... or because there is no pain... or what; but, I feel great.  Don't get me wrong - there have been a boatload of times that I'm enjoying the ride.  They just aren't the first thing on my mind at 15 miles from the motel.

I reach the motel, and half a dozen bikers are in the lobby.  The motel staff has bottled water, Gatorade and granola bars waiting for us. We have all gotten in before 3pm and are content to sit around discussing the ride.  There are no easy days on this ride; but some are less hard than others.

Jay, Jim, Randy and myself hit a Longhorns for dinner.  The last time I ate at Longhorns was in Tuscaloosa with the family and I rode great the next day.  I ordered the same thing I had that night.  We went back to the motel where we had a tee-shirt swap with the rest of the riders - lot of laughs.  Afterwards, Karen, Jay and I walk up to the Dairy Queen.  The benefits of burning an extra 4,000-5,000 calories per day.

Just two more days of riding.  As I feared... I'm already getting all nostlagic.