Monday, May 11: First full day of riding and my butt sure feels it! Unfortunately, prior to the trip I just had not been able to devote all the time I was thinking I’d needed to get my body prepared for the trip and the rigors I’d start out with. Just to much to do with my business and with all the extraneous facets of life - trip preparation and parental stuff - to get in the needed training. Thus, I’m doing what I never advocated doing in the race season - riding myself into shape in the beginning of the season. I hurts, and it ain’t fun, and at times it’s damned sobering, but it’s all I can do. So I have to buck up and endure some tough days on the bike before my body responds to the mileage and hrs. We call that TITS - time in the saddle. With TITS comes fitness, and with fitness comes faster speeds and more mileage per day. My biggest issue at this point is my sore arse. I’ve been liberally applying this salve to my sit bones. Now my legs are sore, but not totally shredded. And my upper body really feels pretty good. No shoulder, neck or arm problems. Nope, it’s just my poor arse. Now I know from having done this stuff 4X across America, that I’ll get fitter and the rides will get faster. It just takes a couple weeks to really feel the difference. 

So let’s digress to the start of the day. Sue was a trooper again, and drove me down to the end of yesterday’s ride at the Point of Rocks. Judy followed in the van and then they both went to breakfast at a little place that used to be a church. With their help I was able to shove off at 9 AM - and the temp was a pretty humid 70-some degrees already. Got things rolling right off the bat at my 13.5 mph pace that I did yesterday. Now 13.5 really sounds slow, and it is….until you figure that I’m doing it on this monster 29er duel suspension mt bike with 29x2.4 tires!! Plus it’s on a gravel, stone, grass, root, and rock surface. Hey, don’t get me wrong, I’m not bitching, and compared to creeping down the middle of some old RR line at 3-6mph, like I was a week ago, this is bloody freeway speed!

Passed by Harpers Ferry in quick time, and just kept it rolling. Felt really good to be back in the mode - the X-country mode of just thinking and riding. I really love my friends and Judy and everyone else who I ride with, but honestly, I just LOVE riding alone. Hell, I love hiking alone, backpacking alone etc, etc. Don’t know why, but it’s my MO. It’s just such a liberating feeling with just your thoughts to keep you company. No chit chat, no banter, the surroundings and me on the bike, taking in the sights and sounds. Love it! 

My first stop for support was at Snyder’s Landing outside of Sharpsburg, MD. Made it in 1:40 hrs for a distance of app. 28 miles. By that time, just before 11 AM, the heat had really gotten up there, probably in the low to mid 80’s. Now this place was a real pain in the arse to find according to Sue and Judy. My car gps didn’t even register a road, and Sue had to navigate with her phone as Judy followed her. I mean after yesterday where we were in the bowels of the DC area to this - wow, it was just culture shock at how backroads this place it. Just across the Potomac is WVa, and this place in MD could just as well be in WVa. It’s VERY rural. Well the ladies were sitting out on a lock as I rolled in, and I was drooling for for this chicken I’d gotten the night before for chicken sandwiches. But Judy pulled out this awesome sandwich she’d bought at the church restaurant. It was just amazing. 

We all sat there in this little parking lot in the middle of nowhere along the C & O and it was pretty cool. Very relaxing to sit in the shade and eat lunch with Sue and Judy. Well, the moment came for us to say goodbye to Sue. Now it’s just amazing what my cousin has done for us on this trip, and even prior to the trip. We love her dearly. Yet we were joking about the fact that we were on the verge of overstaying our welcome with Sue. I mean we’re up at 6 AM brewing coffee and eating, with me on the computer working and doing blogs and emailing. Or we’re up later than her, watching the NBA playoffs on TV. I joked with Sue that she’ll have to settle back into a state of Post P & J (Pete and Judy) where her life can get back to normal. But in all seriousness, she has made these last 11 days so awesome for us.  

Stayed for about a half hr and then made some seat for-aft adjustments and then I was off, with my next support stop scheduled for Williamsport, MD. Now with the hotter temps and the increase in humidity, this 24 mile stretch was definitely tougher than the first 28 mile stretch. I was really having trouble with my arse and I’d hoped that moving the seat forward and slightly up, would quell the arse issues. No luck. I stopped again to readjust the seat, moving the seat back again in the aft position but raising the heigh a bit more. Better, but no cigar! Made it to Williamsport in like 1:47 hrs and I was just hurting. I went straight to the van and put 5 scoops of this Powerade electrolyte in a big gallon jug, mixed and just chugged down a half gallon of the stuff. Judy made me a chicken sandwich with some avocado and I was at least pacified for a bit. She’d parked in the shade by this little picnic area so I was able to relax a bit. I even took this sheet out that I use to put on the roof of my van when I take the canoe out, and I sat on it like a pillow so my arse wouldn’t hurt. 

Made a few more adjustments with my seat height and for-aft then bucked it up for the last 24 miles to Hancock. At that point I just knew that it was “pay your dues” time. Cuz I sure as hell didn’t feel like getting it going again in that heat, with some pretty beat legs and a raw arese that felt like I’d been sitting on a hot fry pan. By this time the “joy” of being out there on my bike, well, that had kind of been replaced by survival - “let;s just keep it rolling, and not look at the watch or the mile markers”. I was out of the saddle constantly trying to give my poor arse a break. Thankfully most of this trail is shaded or I’d have been roasting like a fish in the hot sun otherwise.  Finally looked at a mile marker about 1:18 hrs in, and I was pleasantly surprised to find that I just had 8 miles to go to Hancock. But tell you what, I looked for each and every one of those mile markers all the way back. Hell, I was counting them down. 

Made it back in about 1:55 and I was pretty wiped out. Chugged another 16 oz of Powerade, had an ice cold coke, drank h2o and just sat in a camp chair to sooth my poor weathered arse. So my total for the day was 76 miles. And honestly, couldn’t have gone another 10 miles if I had a $1000 bet encouraging me. Finally, after about 20 min of hydrating, I had an ice cold Lager. We’re doing a motel tonight cuz I’m just a crusty mess with my legs just caked with mud, dirt and dried sweat. Tomorrow shooting for Cumberland or beyond. Well, time to apply a nice coat of that vitamin A & D ointment on my butt. Until tomorrow!