The Last Post

First of all, I have resisted the temptation all through the ride to mention the charity side. Now I have finished can I first of all say thank you, thank you, thank you to all of you who have donated money. Every single one of you has dug deep and given money to a very worthy cause, I know. I'm just going to mention one person in particular and that is Miss Madison Irvine who gave me £2 that the Tooth Fairy had left for her for one of her milk teeth! If that doesn't make your heart skip, then there is no hope for you!

If you haven't donated and have followed me all the way, or part of the way along the journey, please think about doing so. It is a worth cause and it is so easy to donate. All you need to know about the charity and how to donate is on the right hand side of this page. Has the tooth fairy visited you recently?

Since finishing the ride, I have been with Lynne at Leon's house near to the St. John's River in upstate Florida and we have just chilled. She managed two days without hitting a golf ball and we went out on the river alligator spotting. We did manage to spot one or two, but in general, the water was warm and high and kept them off their basking logs. There was not a lot of bird life, but we did have a great day 'just chillin' and cruising around.

We left there Saturday lunchtime and managed a pleasant lunch break at a lakeside bar before travelling downstate to the house at Indialantic on the coast. A friend of our, Stewart, has joined us now and we are doing our best to get him to relax by walking him along the beach and making sure he uses Leon's pool. The weather is still hot but there is a bit of a sea breeze to temper things slightly and you can always go into air conditioned splendour inside if it gets too hot.

Sunday morning, I cleaned the bike, and took it our for a look at the road outside Leon's house. I circled for no more than 10 yards and very, very slowly went to go back into his drive via quite a steep kerb. So slow, in fact, that I didn't get up the kerb, twisted the bike and fell to the side. I just managed to unclip my feet from the pedals and managed to avoid any injury but landed on the right hand side of the handle bars, bending them and buckling the front wheel. It actually got worse when I looked at the handle bars more closely as I saw that rather than being just bent, they were actually broken, snapped, bust, kaput - just plain useless! 1700 miles with no problems then 10 yards and a redundant bike. Never mind, no injuries and I am sure that they will repair. It just means that I will have to pack the bike ready for travel earlier than I thought and will not get the chance to ride with Leon, Stewart or any of the clubs here this week.

Anyway, ride musings. This ride was a different experience to last year's; it wasn't as far, the climbing was more difficult and the length of the days was not as long. I certainly had forgotten just how hot it is over here, the picture published in Whiteville with a temperature of 112 degrees is a stark reminder of how hot it can get and how that affects everything about the day. It has also been an interesting experience riding along with clothes absolutely soaking wet through when there hasn't been a drop of rain for hours and that was something that took some getting used to. Going into air conditioned splendour with such clothes on soon became very uncomfortable and left me having to choose between the devil of the outside heat or the deep blue sea of the inside chill.

Again, the organisation of the AbB staff was magnificent. I can't praise them highly enough. 6 broken spokes on a self -supported ride would have spelt near disaster for me and my chronic mechanical skills, but Mike the Bike said that he actually looked forward to seeing whether I had any work for him at the end of each day! (I think he was fibbing a bit)

I love coming across and riding in the States. There is such a diversity of scenery, places, attitudes in the people and so many things you can 'compare and contrast'. Cycling helps me look at what I am travelling through. What happens and what we talk about makes me question whether what I/we do is right or whether the locals have got it right. Some of the things they do seem bizarre, but when you think about them, are they really so? The people I ride with come from all different backgrounds. They can be unemployed, retired or the CEO of a multinational company but they are as one when on the road - we are all cyclists and all very, very equal (even though some are better cyclists than others) and all other labels are lost in what we share.

One thing I do struggle to get my head round is the (seeming) obsession with (personal) performance over almost everything else. The feedback questionnaire asked 'How many local centuries do you ride a year?' which I find to be an almost irrelevant question. It's this obsession with performance. Ask some riders what they had seen on a day's ride and they would say, honestly, 'half an inch of tyre rubber and a strip of tarmac'. Ask them whether they had seen a particularly noticeable sign or object at the side of the road and they would not have a clue. Cycling is the reason for going cycling, but for me cycling is the reason for expanding one's knowledge, seeing and learning about the countryside and country you are riding through. Very few people took the time to talk to people working the fields or people by the roadside who can add to the experience and expand it so both sides get some benefit. Those same people could tell you what their volO2 is and how that compares to a younger person, what speed they went up a particular part of the ride, how orange juice loads the cholesterol count in our body or what their cadence was over the last 20 miles. Ask them what is that growing alongside the road and they don't have a clue.

But that is what makes the ride so enjoyable. It's coming to terms with people's differences and questioning one's own thoughts that makes the experience worthwhile.

If we were all the same, wouldn't life be boring?

I'm going to close this latest chapter of cycling whimsy and leave you with the pictures of the start and finish of the ride.

The group that started in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, then those that finished in Jacksonville Florida so many miles and days later. Thanks for reading and PLEASE 'give me da money' if you haven't already!

E.F.I.

Day 25
From Brunswick GA
To Jacksonville FL
Mileage estimated 70
Mileage actual 70

The Last Day. At the start it seems such a long way away – at the end it seems to jump up and mug you, it comes so quickly.
The last hotel of the tour was not one of the best and it will not appear on the list for next year’s ride. John went for a swim and after changing left his costume hanging by the pool to dry. He returned to get it sometime later to find it gone. He spoke to the person on reception and was told, ‘You shouldn’t leave anything out round here. They’ll steal anything.’ We have no idea who ‘they’ are. It should have been obvious that the hotel was not in the best area when you had to use your room key to get access to the ice machine – never a good sign!
Dinner last night was at Ryan’s, a chain of buffet restaurants we have come to know and enjoy over the past few weeks – they still serve that concoction of sweet potatoes and marshmallows so beloved by me – but overall the food there is plentiful and fresh. We were given an alternative for breakfast this morning (the hotel not being one of them, fortunately) and that was either McDonald’s or Mama’s and Papa’s and we were taken to dinner on our route out and past the two choices. Did I write two choices? McDonald’s or a home cooking, privately owned cafe for breakfast? Well, surprisingly, there were seven at each of the two when we made our choice today so some of the locals obviously think that McD’s is OK!
We were due to load at 6.50am but Shane held us back until it was just about daylight to reduce the danger to the riders, so we eventually left just after 7am. Breakfast was a speedily prepared and served top quality omelette and as we pulled away from the restaurant to rejoin the main road out of Brunswick, the McD’s tribe were just coming along that road. They all said they had gone there for a quick getaway (on the last day?) and were a bit miffed when they saw us having fed well and depart at the same time as them.
The cue sheet today was fairly basic – Follow Route 17 South for about 46 miles to the Florida state line, then continue for another 21 miles before turning off and getting back into the final hotel. Climbing today was restricted to overpasses on either Interstate 95 or various rivers otherwise the route was pan flat. Not surprising as years ago Florida was basically a swamp.
Approaching the town of Woodbine (childhood memories of "a packet of five untipped, please" then smoking them out of sight of any adult) where the first, only and last SAG was located, I couldn’t help but take a picture. I mean, there are Jumble Sales, Garage Sales, Bring and Buy Sale, Car Boot Sales and Yard Sales but I did think this was taking things a bit too far. Pretty subtle, isn’t it?

From the SAG to the State line, I got repayment of my ‘IOU one draft’ from Al who ‘towed’ me all the way at a steady 17mph. We had a bit of a chat on the way and I could tell he was itching to go, but he stayed with me and we got to the destination state together. Everyone arrived within a few minutes of each other and we managed to take a group picture minus Scott who got a monk on for some reason and rode off into the sunset on his own.
You think you’re there then there are another 20-odd miles to go! Today, though, I found I wanted those miles to last longer than they did and I rode them with Johnnie and Connie asking them on a couple of occasions to slow down as there was no reason to sprint to the end of the day today. Even with that and a short stop at a store to get some decent water (that from Brunswick being carried on the SAG vans was very sulphurous) we still arrived at the final stopping point just after 1pm.
Everyone else in the group was staying at the hotel tonight, but Lynne and Leon (when their round of golf was finished) were coming to meet me and we were then going off to Leon’ river house to stay. They arrived just after two and just before the biggest downpour of rain landed for the first time in two weeks. Everyone of the group was in by then and most had even packed their bikes ready for shipping home either by courier or plane or car. It was just as well, because about 3.15 the heavens opened and a Florida ‘shower’ dumped water in great quantities and that was the first time we had seen proper rain since leaving Fredericksburg two weeks ago.
I borrowed Al’s room key and got a shower and clean up then sat with Lynne and Leon before we all went off to the Millhouse restaurant across the road for our celebratory dinner. We were presented with a cake which marked our achievement then we went back to the hotel for a few formalities.
Mike presented Scott with the ‘most flat tyres’ award then Shane presented each of us with Certificates to show that we had completed the ride and we were allowed to say a few words if we wished. Some could and did, some couldn’t and didn’t but the general sentiment was that it had been a good tour, with a good group ably led by a good staff team and that everyone was going to struggle getting back into whatever routine it was they had to get back into.
At the end of that, I said goodbye to everyone then headed off with Lynne and Leon, the East Coast of America having been ridden.
I said I would bore you with some statistics, but some of you may find it interesting that:-
Estimated mileage was 1,683 miles – actual mileage was 1,708 miles;
Altitude climbed was given as just over 54,000 feet (can’t dispute that!)
Calories ‘consumed’ over 22 days’ riding = 224,999 (go on, then – 225,000) working out at just over 10,225 calories per day.
My estimate is that I drank at least a gallon and a half (12 pints) of water/soda/juice per day and needed every drop of it! I only succumbed to an alcoholic drink on Rest Days and never more than 2.
I started the tour at a hotel in Portsmouth and could see Interstate 95 when I got onto the road outside; I finished all those miles later at a hotel in Jacksonville and could see Interstate 95 when I got on the road outside. I could have taken that road by car and done the trip in two or maybe three days but I would never have had the experience of being with a great group of people, sharing good times and bad times with them and seeing a country as close as I did over the past three and a bit weeks. That’s why I enjoy doing these trips. You really do get to see things and can, sometimes, take the time to stop and ‘smell the roses.’
That’s all for today, but I will try and write a ‘round up’ page as soon as I can so keep looking in.

Oh and E.F.I.? Well those of us who laboured through the whole tour and had the hard times and the easy times and managed to complete it rode for Every F-F-F-F-F-antastic Inch!

Apologies

Just to let you know that I have completed the ride and am now at my good friend Leon Ross's river house in upstate Florida where the internet connection is not the fastest or most reliable. When I am able to I will post the account of the last day which is on the presses and waiting to roll!
Sorry for the delay.

Return of..............................RUMBLE STRIPS!!!!!

Day 24
From Savannah GA
To Brunswick GA
Mileage estimated 78
Mileage actual 80
Top speed 25.5mph
Riding time 5 hrs 20 mins

Yes, they're back! Rumble strips! Every cyclists worst nightmare. "What are they?" you ask. Well, they are grooves cut out of the surface of the road on the shoulder where cyclists are expected to ride. The grooves are done by machine and they take about 2" of tarmac out at the deepest point. The purpose of them I think, is to remind sleeping car drivers that they should wake up as they are straying off the carriageway; the effect is to give cyclists a real wake up call if they are unlucky enough to ride over them. The wake up call starts at the wrists, quickly spreading to the elbows, shoulders and back then the nether regions; they are like riding on corrugated iron and are even more uncomfortable than the average American road surface. They are accompanied by numerous expletives and are loved by us all.

Today the RSs jumped us as we were not expecting them, We had been getting along smoothly from leaving Savannah and even had a dedicated bike lane at the side the main road that we were on, then 'BANG! RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!' and screams of 'Rumble Strips!' and from then on it was avoidance tactics.

We were all sad to leave Savannah. It's been interesting that for a bike ride some of the best days have been when we were not on our bikes, because the Rest Day locations and hotel situations have been perfect. The hotel did have its own character, though and this was a man who was in charge of the breakfast buffet and had been schooled in the Basil Fawlty school of hotel etiquette. People trying to make their own waffles had the man standing looking over their shoulder saying, 'Push for waffle mix. Fill cup - not too much. Tip over plates. Close lid. Turn grill plate. Now wait for the alarm' in a very robotic voice. When Johnnie went to remove his cooked waffle, he used the tongs next to the machine. He shouldn't have done. They were for the hard boiled eggs that were there and Johnnie was told in no uncertain terms that he should not use the tongs and that he had now "spread contamination from the eggs to the waffles and the other way, too." Suitably chastised, Johnnie sat down to eat his waffle and we all watched as the robot took the contaminated tongs and.....................put them back next to the eggs! They weren't all that contaminated, then, were they?

We loaded the van before breakfast then left after we had eaten and were on the road just as the traffic was starting to build up. The first few miles were again the reverse of our inward route and we had to be careful as there was a lot of traffic, a lot of turns and a lot of railroad tracks to cross. The day was very humid ("up there") at about 100% and perspiration was streaming just standing still. We negotiated the difficulties for about ten miles then got onto Route 17 South which is to be our riding home for the next couple of days, until we finish in Jacksonville. Johnnie had led us out of town but once we got onto the main road, I found myself at the front and leading what looked like quite a pace line. Sure enough, when I checked there were 9 other riders behind me. I led out at about 17 - 18 mph and whilst the road surface was a lot, lot better than it had been for days, there was a headwind that didn't help. I kept looking in my mirror for the next rider from the line to come up and take over, but they were remarkably backward at coming forward, and I ended up at the head of the pack for about 10 miles. At that point Anne, who had followed my wheel for all that time, took over and she led to the first SAG stop at the 30 mile mark. When we got there, we were both told we had done a 'Great Job' or 'Great Lead' or 'Great Draft' depending on who spoke to us with one of the women saying, 'I don't think I could have done that.' Feeling quite pleased that our expended energy had given the others a comparatively easy ride, I soon became a little bit miffed when they all had a quick SAG then rode off without my usual group of four! Anne and I have decided that we are going to issue cards saying, "IOU one draft of 10 miles at 17mph" at route rap tonight and see what the reaction is. Needless to say, both Anne and I had done more than our fair share of the dirty work without payback and were more tired at the end of the day.

After the SAG we stopped at what is claimed to be the smallest church in America. There are a couple of pictures below that show the inside and outside of it and it certainly is 'up there' amongst the smallest I have ever seen. There was seating inside for 14 but they could all have reached the altar and conducted the service.

















The towns of Richmond Hall, Riceboro, Midway and Eulonia all passed by and we got to our final SAG of the day, just 14 miles from the end of the ride, at a town called Darien. I had never heard of it, but the stop was at the 'Welcome Centre' and at these there are usually some historical markers. I won't try and explain what Derian was famous for because this marker does it better than I could:-



It was noticeable that the river here did not seem to be the deepest or widest of those that we crossed in pretty rapid succession, but the success of the town as a port must have been built on something that it had.

Fourteen miles into the wind became a bit of a test but we were soon in the hotel and seeking the air conditioned coolness of our rooms to refresh us after another good day's riding.

We have one more day to go. Just over 70 miles then the East coast will have been conquered and we will have ridden from the Northern-most State to the Southern-most State.

Tomorrow I will tell you about the last day and bore you with some statistics! The locals love 'em!

Rest Day (In)activity

Last night, Route Rap was early and I went straight out to dinner with Connie and Johnnie whilst others lingered and had a drink before venturing out. That we went to the Blue Moon Brewing Company didn’t make a great deal of difference to the drink side of things, and for once, I was able to have a drink the night before a Rest Day. The brews were all potent – a ‘dark porter’ came in at 11% ABV so I avoided that, but the ‘Pale Ale’ that I chose as one of their award winners came in at a taste-bud-tingling 7% and that slid down nicely, but not too quickly!
The chosen food was good and complemented the drinks well, and after dinner, we were leaving the restaurant as the rest of the group came to dinner.

Savannah is quite a tourist spot with the old dock and wharf area rejuvenated and full of bars, clubs, shops and attractions for visitors. Whatever there was to do there, however, didn’t appeal to any of us in our state of tiredness and we were back in the hotel by 9pm. Routine is hard to break.
Today, I tried to break it, but still woke before 7am and was unable to roll over and go back to sleep, but I dozed for a while before going to breakfast. Nearly all the rest of the group were there, discussing plans for the day. Quite a large number went on the bus tour round the city and they left the hotel at 8.30am! I hung about for a bit and did a bit of nothing much, before going to the Tourist Centre and getting a copy of a self-guided walking tour from the shop there. The forecast time for the walk was 1½ to 2 hours, but this is beautiful city that is well worth lingering over. My walk lasted just over 3 hours and I didn’t cover all the distance, but it was enjoyable none the less.

There is a lot of history hereabouts surrounding the Civil War, Slavery and the Cotton Industry and the business done in the Cotton Exchange building at one time was responsible for determining the world price of that commodity. There are over 20 different squares set out on the grid pattern that is the city centre of Savannah, each one with a centrepiece telling something different about the past.

Down by the riverside were two bronze statues, one to commemorate the part that Savannah played in staging the sailing events in the 1996 Atlanta Olympics and another in honour of Florence Martus who was known as Savannah’s ‘Waving Girl’ as she welcomed every ship into the harbour for over 50 years. All in all, it was a fascinating and relaxing walk round a pleasant city. We have been so lucky with our Rest Days on this tour. They have all been just what was needed and in good hotels near to where we needed to be.
I got back to the hotel just after one o’clock to find those from the bus tour preparing themselves for a boat trip on the river. Whilst it would no doubt have been enjoyable, my priority was a bit of R and R so I watched TV through closed eyes for about an hour. I don’t think I missed much!
There’ll be no Route Rap tonight as the orders were all given out last night. It’s pretty much fight your way through the early morning Savannah traffic then get on Route 17 to Brunswick. Temperatures will be hot but the hurricanes, Hanna and Ike are not going to affect us at all, it doesn’t appear, so we are all set for sunny skies all the way southwards to Florida, the Sunshine State.

So, all I'll do now is bore you with a few more of my holiday snaps taken at various locations around the city.

Moon Pies and Love flies

Day 22
From Walterboro SC
To Savannah GA
Mileage estimated 71
Mileage actual
Top speed
Riding time

Walterboro was warm when we rode out on the reverse of the last few miles of yesterday at 7.30am this morning. The day was due to get even warmer as we made our way towards another state and went to cross from South Carolina into Georgia.
Today was a ‘get there’ day and to be fair, that seems to be the itinerary for the remainder of the trip. Shane warned us yesterday that our days of country roads and riding two or three abreast were over and today proved to be the case. I think from now on we are going to follow Route 17 in one form or another and parallel Interstate 95 as we have done since we left Portsmouth over 3 weeks ago. This afternoon we hit the three figures again with 100 degrees and 100% humidity.

So, we went through a number of small hamlets that the locals call towns (or cities) until we got to the first SAG at 25 miles at a place without a name but which was near to an intersection next to the Interstate at a McDonald’s restaurant(!) Here I was introduced to ‘Moon Pies’ by Connie who bought one at the store at the petrol station alongside the McD’s. Conversation went as follows:-
Me:- “What’s that?”
Connie:-“Moon Pie”
Me:- “Yes, I can see that from the label, but what is it?”
Connie:- “Moon Pie – Try it!”
Me:- “I know it’s Moon Pie because it says so on the label, but what is it?”
Connie:-“I don’t know how they make them, but they’re good.”

She tells lies.

They are not good. Moon pies taste like expanding foam wrapped in wax and they expand in your mouth and could be used for filling the holes in the road here in the USA. They are every parent’s nightmare as to what to feed to their children and I have no doubt that the children love them. The only thing that I have had today that tastes worse than Moon Pies are Atomic Balls and the less said about them the better!

Suffice to say, if anyone offers you Moon Pie, REFUSE!

As I said, we went into our twelfth state today when we crossed into Georgia and again they are so pleased to see us that they didn’t even put a ’Welcome’ sign up at the border. They could at least have put a sign up saying that dogs are leashed in this state, but they didn’t even bother with that. What they did greet us with was a swarm of love flies. Now love flies are the definition of ‘Fly United’. How can one delicately put this? They fly along minding their own business then find someone to show they are attracted and share their flight path. They then fly together, literally, as a couple (though sometimes there were three or four of them, depending on what was left exposed!) and continue their flight path together. Get it?

If you don’t, what happens is they fly locked together in passion until the dirty deed is done.
Better?

Well, we met a swarm of them just after we crossed the border and that was the time when we had to ride and breathe through our noses or else you didn’t know what you were going to inhale! They covered tour shirts and legs and whilst they were a nuisance, I suppose their minds were on other things.

Savannah is an old city with lots of history that I will look at tomorrow but today was another ‘get there’ day and we arrived just before 2 o’clock to find and English coach party trying to leave and our rooms being made ready for us. We had Route Rap and spoke about Tuesday’s ride, but today was all about getting to Savannah then enjoying another early evening before another Rest Day.

It wasn’t difficult to enjoy the evening when Shane gave us vouchers for a meal at the Moon River Brewing Company and we took full advantage of that by having a decent meal and a few beers from the back of the premises before having a walk round the touristy bit of the town and trying one or two other hostelries to see what they had to offer.

And, to be fair, it wasn’t too bad!

More tomorrow after another day as a tourist!

Oh, here was one of the towns we passed through today. Lost or what?

Peanuts, Peanuts!

Day 21
From Santee SC
To Walterboro SC
Mileage estimated 64
Mileage actual 66
Top speed 24 mph
Riding time 4hrs 37 mins

Hurricane Hanna was supposed to hit land in South Carolina about 3am this morning; as it was it hit land at North Myrtle Beach about 3.20am this morning, but was not a ferocious as first expected. Whatever the reality, our start today delayed as the weather was assessed. We only had a 64 mile day today (only!) so we had breakfast at 7.30am then returned to the hotel where I got changed into suitable riding clothes ready for the off.

I told you that most people were by now addicted to the Weather Channel, but when I went through to the hotel lobby to get the van to the breakfast restaurant, it was a bit ridiculous, I felt, to find people in the 'one and six pennies' lined up watching it on the hotel set!

Still, when your day can be made or ruined by the weather it is important to be well informed. We were expecting showers all day and Dowling Tailwinds when we looked at the forecast last thing last night; when we got up this morning, the forecast had changed to real tailwinds and only a 10% chance of rain and that only early in the day. As it turned out, the rains gods never got angry, the sun god smiled all day and we rode in very hot conditions for all of the day.

So, a nice day when we set off from the hotel about 8.45am - a real late start for us - and made our way to the quiet of the country roads out of Santee. While the roads may be quiet, they are still badly surfaced and both difficult and uncomfortable to ride in places. I have now developed a niggling injury which has originated in the heel of my left hand and goes up my arm to the elbow and shoulder. There is no doubt it has come about due to riding over the rough surfaces for such a long time and whilst it will not stop me riding, it does make riding uncomfortable. Whinge over!

Today, there was a subtle change to the scenery as the number of corn fields reduced and the number of peanut and cotton fields increased. I've talked a bit (and enough) about cotton already on the blog but not mentioned peanuts much. You are probably used to seeing peanuts like this:-

That was about the extent of my knowledge of them before I came over here, too. They are called peanuts, or ground nuts because they are a 'legume' and, thanks to dictionary.com, I can let you know that a legume is:-
1. an erect or climbing bean or pea plant of the family Leguminosae
2. the fruit or seed of any of various bean or pea plants consisting of a case that splits along both sides when ripe and having the seeds attach to one side of the case
3. the seedpod of a leguminous plant (such as peas or beans or lentils)

so it's a bean, really and the nuts are the seeds of the plant. The plant grows then flowers and as the flowers die, a tendril is formed that grows downwards and buries itself into the earth, forming the peanuts underground. The nuts grow underground and are finally harvested and processed into whatever we want them to be.

The plant stands about a foot high and is quite easily confused with a soy plant, as they are from the same 'family', but the soy is taller. We didn't take any of the nuts, just pushed them back into the sandy soil in which they grow best. So now you know!

Anyway, back to the ride. Only one stop today and that at 36 miles (when the ride was nearly over!) but we did have our fair share of attack dogs screaming and barking at us and there were also a good number of people dressed in camouflage clothing but wearing bright orange headgear and carrying very big, mean looking shotguns. When we asked them, as we slowly rode by, what they were hunting, we were told they were out to shoot deer. We came across one group lining up at the side of the road, actually standing on the tarmac but looking into the woodland off the road and they apparently send their dogs in from one side of the woods then wait at the other to shoot the deer that the dogs chase towards them. Very scientific.

The ride today was quite short, but could have been even shorter. This was a sign we got to when we arrived at a junction. I made it that we had 21 miles to go to get to Walterboro:-

You don't even need to guess which way we went, do you? Correct. Towards Canadys. And we did our 21 miles and a few more!

Still, we were in early, even though for the last ten miles I 'drafted' Scott who is still suffering Montezuma's Revenge after the meal the other night. When I see how Scott has been, I consider myself lucky that I got away with only one bad day, but then again, I did treat myself a bit differently than him so probably I made my own luck!

The hotel here has a pool but it is so hot this afternoon and it was so hot to ride in, that not many have ventured into its depths, most preferring to sit in their room or on their bed with the air conditioning on high, trying to get comfortable.

We have really now broken the back of the major mileage days; tomorrow is another 60+ day and that takes us into Savannah, Georgia, for a Rest Day on Monday, then we only have two more days, both in the 70 mile area as we roll into the finish on Wednesday next.

It's spitting, it's spitting. Everybody inside!

Day 20
From Georgetown SC
To Santee SC
Mileage estimated 94
Mileage actual 95
Top speed 33 mph
Riding time 6hrs 24 mins

Today we beat the weather. I just hope it doesn't come back to bite us.

For the past few days we have all been avid viewers of the Weather Channel on TV; Shane, Mike and Debbie more so than everyone else because they have the responsibility for the whole party and they have to make the decision if we ride or not. That decision is based purely on the safety of the whole group. If they say 'No' there will be a number of people who will be upset because we are all here to ride our bikes down the East Coast, but we will have to abide by that decision. It will be a decision not taken lightly. Last night at Route Rap we talked through the problems that were coming our way, possibly, probably or maybe not at all (that's weather forecasters for you!) courtesy of Hurricane Hanna. The forecast said (maybe) some light showers early morning then a cloudy day with the main rain kicking in about 3pm. We were given the go ahead to ride the route we should have been, but were told that, if necessary, we would be pulled off the road and taken by van to our destination. We all knew exactly where we stood with that and were happy to go along with it.

Last night's hotel could not provide breakfast for us so we loaded luggage then rode into 'Historic Georgetown' for breakfast at Thomas' cafe. Very good it was, too, with everything prepared to order and, I think for the first time since I arrived, served on plates and with utensils that were not just thrown away at the end of the meal. Every breakfast in hotels seems to feature that - all tools are plastic and everything else is either Styrofoam, paper or something else disposable which means at the end of breakfast time, there are huge bin bags full and nothing for the staff to do but throw away. The waste is incredible. We eventually rode out of a very pretty town centre at 8am and headed out the reverse of the way we had entered the town yesterday afternoon.

We soon turned off to pursue our new route and this took us past the 'other side' of Georgetown. It was another example of Town Planners 1, Common Sense and Preservation 0, as we rode alongside a massive paper processing plant that provided a blight on a beautiful town.

Today was windy and cloudy but still warm and I had decided that come what may weather-wise, I would not wear a raincoat but would just get soaked and ride on. I soon got to test whether that was the right decision or not when it started spitting, then drizzling and pretty soon, I was wet through. I wasn't cold, though and as quickly as the rain had started, it finished and I began to dry out. That was the last time I got wet externally all day, though there was plenty coming from the inside out!

We pushed on to the first SAG and were warned that the weather forecast looked to be correct and we were discouraged from hanging around too long. I took that literally and Anne and I were quickly setting off, to find ourselves at the front of the group. I got quite light headed with such a position in the scheme of things and we bowled along quite merrily at about 18mph. All got spoiled when Al came along and rode alongside us, then in front, then he started taking up the pace. 'Come on, Andrew' he urged as the speed went up to about 24 / 25mph. Too much for me for any considerable distance without either a downhill or following wind, so I backed off, but Anne kept up with him for a few miles before he decided he had had enough fun and disappeared into the distance leaving us puffing and panting in his wake.

Further on and we got onto Seaboard Road which turned out to be an 18 mile, arrow straight, flat road that brought back some disturbing memories of another place last year; a state whose name began with K and that I am still unable to speak or write but at least Seaboard Road had some trees and other traffic to break up the potential boredom.

We rode on and got to the second SAG where we again checked in quickly then took off again. We rode through the town of Summerton and turned down Liberty Hill Road, riding past the Liberty Hill church. We stopped to check our bearings with a man along the road and he told us a little about the significance of the church. I did a bit of research when I got into the hotel and found this:-

At a meeting in the Liberty Hill African Methodist Episcopal Church in 1950, parents signed a petition demanding integrated schools. Meetings were held at the church for the selection of petitioners in the complaint that would become Briggs vs. Elliott. The case became part of Brown v. Topeka Board of Education - the landmark case that struck down the "separate but equal" doctrine concerning the segregation of schools in 1954.

We must have passed well over 200 churches since we left Washington last week and this one did not seem any more important than any of the others, but as you can see, it was instrumental in making a massive change to American society over 50 years ago.

The road we were on changed into Interstate 95 for other traffic, but for us it continued as a bike path on the old road and bridge over Lake Marion on the outskirts of Santee. It was quite strange riding along a bike path alongside the speeding heavy traffic of an Interstate highway, even though the photo shows the road to be very quiet of traffic.

Approaching our final turn for the day at a traffic light I was nearly taken out by a pick-up driver. I was in the outside lane intending to make a left turn and approaching the line when he decided to come out from a shop forecourt into the lane. I waved at him then shouted and he stopped, then as I went to continue he moved again and I nearly put the front wheel into the cow bars of the pick-up. I stopped and asked him if he had seen me and he said, 'Yes. I was expecting you to stop.' I politely informed him that I was not going to stop until I got to the white line at the traffic light and then only if the light were on red. He muttered something, I don't know what it was, but certainly wasn't an apology, then drove on his way. I was left shaking my head at how cyclists are treated here.

We made the turn then looked for our hotel (it had been renamed which didn't help). On finding it we went into the lobby to check in at 3.10pm and as we did so, the heavens opened and it thrashed it down.

Weather forecasters. Pah!

Why make it easy?

Day 19
From North Myrtle Beach SC
To Georgetown SC
Mileage estimated 95
Mileage actual 96 miles
Top speed 22 mph
Riding time 6hrs 34 mins

Just one last picture from Myrtle Beach taken as we got up and set off at 7am.

In my experience, people who lead bike rides regularly never make things easy for the riders. Mike Hutchinson, a great secretary for the Cyclists' Touring Club, who leads a lot of rides at home from Lancaster, can make a 10 mile trip last 60. I didn't attend Route Rap the other night because of Montzuma, the chef at the Italian family buffet, so didn't really know where we were going. Yesterday, during a period of quiet contemplation, I checked Google maps and looked at the route for today. Google maps told me that the distance between the two points was 51 miles and could be reached by a nice gentle ride down the 'prom' with the sea shining away to our left for the duration. Why, then, did the Route map say 95 miles?

Breakfast at 6.30am and load at 7am. Hotel to destination direction is roughly South West. Wind direction, North East and that adds up to a bumper fun day's riding. Wrong. Leave hotel in North Easterly direction INTO WIND and AWAY FROM DESTINATION. Oh. Mike, you'd have loved it!

And that, in a nutshell, is how you turn an easy 51 mile day into a more taxing and testing 96 mile day. Never mind. Why am I here? To ride my bike and see the country, so let's do it.

We had to fight our way through some early morning traffic for about 10 miles then we got onto some country roads passing through our now expected fields of corn, soy, tobacco, cotton and peanuts. One thing I have notice over the past few days is that the corn fields are full of dead corn, overgrown with weeds and seemingly with no effort being made to harvest it. It really does seem to the naked eye to be absolutely scandalous that acres and acres of foodstuffs for both human and animal consumption is left to rot. I wonder if it's another Government subsidy to stop farmers growing other crops? It seems irrational and quite sad.

The cotton, however is getting a bit further on, as promised, the further south we go and I stopped to take a couple of pictures for you today to show how the cotton eventually looks just before it gets picked. The plant is still no higher than two feet off the floor but the buds are opening now and producing what can plainly be seen as cotton ready to be harvested. After I took the photograph, a car pulled up and the driver spoke to us and warned us not to lick our fingers if we had touched the cotton as the plants had been sprayed with some potent poisons to kill the weevils that attack the bolls. We assured him that we had not touched the cotton and took his advice to heart for the future. The open boll in the picture would fit into the palm of your hand.

I also stopped and talked to another farmer about peanut production and if I get to see some growing in the next few days, I will give you an update on that. You see, you will learn something if you stick with me!

We got to the second SAG stop at 60 miles at 11.45am so were making good time. The stop was set up in the car park of the 'Pee Dee Market'. Pee Dee is the name of the region of South Carolina and is named after the native American Indian tribe of the same name; they also gave their name to the Great Pee Dee river which, when we crossed it today, we named the Great Pretty Dirty river as it was a nasty shade of chocolate brown. Anyway, the market. It's a general store in the middle of absolutely nowhere, USA and caters for all sorts of things. It sold food and drink so we decided to stop for lunch as there was nowhere else until our destination. I had some food and a drink and was wandering around the shop area when I saw a glass display cabinet (you can see it on the picture below just above the table and chairs on the left). What you can't see in it are the goods for sale and that. to may astonishment, was ammunition for all sorts of guns, rifles and shotguns; yes, it's a hunting area and hunters use guns, but the ammunition was on open display with a sign on the top of the counter saying, please ring for attention. I asked the man behind the counter if I could buy some and he just asked how much did I want. I just find it quite staggering. I know the vast majority of citizens use their guns responsibly, but the problems that the locals have with gun crime.........

Scott. one of the strongest riders in the group, has been suffering for a couple days since the great Italian Family buffet meal. He did not suffer as badly as I did over the last couple of days and he has been trying to nurse himself through it; I thought he was being just a little too cavalier when he had a couple of John L's mussels at the Irish bar last night and today he really suffered. He started off feeling poorly but still got to the front but then gradually went further and further back until he was actually being caught by my group. I caught up with him on a particularly rough surfaced piece of road and pushed him for about two miles and be battled on when the road got smoother, but today's distance proved too much for him and he had to get the van in to the hotel. He said he felt empty and couldn't ride any further and I fell certain that if the ride the other day had been the same distance and not half of today's I may have ended up in the van myself.

The last 15 miles today were quite tough as we turned back into the wind to get to our destination. It was a little strange getting to a major road junction and seeing a sign saying 'Myrtle Beach 35 miles' and knowing that North MB was only another 10 or so miles further on.

But that's why I ride a bike - because it's enjoyable (though sometimes frustrating!)

All concerns at the moment are on Hurricanes Hannah and Ike which may or may not hit us at any time over the next few days. Weather forecasters are as good over here as at home! We have been told that we will not ride if it is too dangerous, but we are prepared to ride tomorrow. Too right, we are, because we are travelling West and the winds are predicted as North East at 25 - 35 mph and I don't want to miss those!!!!

Another great rest day

You do need time to recharge the batteries on a ride like this and today was another ideal spot for a rest day. The summer season has just about finished for this resort and the town is winding down towards winter but it was still a beautiful day for those of us from cooler climes.

My day's sickness meant that my half day in bed when I arrived then an early night meant that I gave myself the chance to recover as well as I could and when I woke at quarter to 7 I had had a full uninterrupted night's sleep. First job was to do the duties so I grabbed the only working washing machine in the complex and had my smalls (and bigs) done by half past and before most other people were out of bed. I then went into breakfast and found a couple of the other riders there already - habits die hard - and I joined them and had some cereal and more and more water and orange juice. I then just walked the beach for about an hour whilst the sun came up and turned the sand and some buildings into a seaside resort that came to life as the sun rose higher. People walking the beach in very assertive manner, joggers and swimmers were all out early and getting the benefit of a warm Atlantic breeze and Ocean.

It seems strange when you come from an island that has no where more than 75 miles from the sea that people here make such a big issue about being at the 'Ocean'. There are some riders here who live 1,000 miles away from the sea and being here today has been a great event for them. That is something I have to be very aware of and not be too nonchalant about seeing the same stretch of water that forms part of the Irish Sea at home.

The morning was taken up doing nothing much except watching my washing dry in the sun and breeze on the balcony. Al followed on and borrowed the washing line then he went onto the beach for a long seat. It turned out to be about 6 hours long. I walked the beach again, paddled and swam in the sea then met up with Johnnie, Connie and Anne for lunch at Molly Darcy's Irish bar where they at least sold a decent pint of Guinness. We later returned there for dinner and then I had American beer; well, they call it beer but it's a bit like Blair's Britain used to be - all froth and no substance - but at least the food was decent and helped the recovery road.

The picture shows the Best Western hotel from the beach with our room bottom right hand corner (washing much in evidence) and if you look four up and three across you can just make out the AbB water containers drying in the sun after their rest day clean out.

After lunch I went back to the room and knocked out some z's whilst trying to find a TV channel without adverts before continuing my day of sloth by going back in the sea for a dip before dinner. If the sea and weather continue to be this warm, when Lynne comes out next week we will be looking for property to buy.

Back to the room after a last walk along the beach to get ready for tomorrow - another 95 miles - but the weather is due to be good to us. we are all busy monitoring the 3 tropical storms out in the Atlantic and seeing if and when they are going to hit us.

Whatever the weather we will continue onto our goal. We have four days of riding then another day off in Savannah, Georgia, then just two more until we finish. Two more riders left the group today and that leaves us with 11 only to finish the trip. By coincidence, we all ended up sitting together at Molly Darcy's for dinner tonight so it seems like we will get on well for the rest of the trip.

Just one more view of North Myrtle Beach as the ocean beats onto the sand outside the balcony window as I type.