Cycling Into Daytona Beach

It's the last day of my 2011 Eastern Seaboard cycling trip. Taking pictures before we left for our 53 mile ride to Daytona Beach was the order of the day. We got all the XC 2010 riders together for one last picture. This year I rode with all my friends from XC10. Even Michel, who was kind enough to stay with me on the day we road down "mosquito alley" and Sam, well it was "pleasant" to follow your red blinking light!

We also took a picture of the Pedigrees before heading out for our easy ride to Daytona Beach....not! The first 18 miles out of town was at a pace of 20-22 mph. Hey guys where's the fire???

What happened to that leisurely ride on our last day? It's a sunny warm day no need to rush, or is there a football game you have to watch? Thank goodness for the SAG stop at mile 23 and that sanity prevailed.

The Pedigrees took their time enjoying the great road 1A1 as we cycled along the coast line through small beach towns and finally into Daytona Beach. As we cycled into town, we found ourselves sharing the road with hundreds of motorcyclists who were in town for a 4 day Motorcycle Rally. As we weaved our way through the traffic we enjoyed seeing what the "other cyclists" were riding.

As I cycled my way to the hotel it dawned on me this was our last hotel for the trip, I was cycling to the end of another fantastic adventure! I had started this trip riding for days in the rain and was happy to be finishing it on a sunny day. To get to Daytona Beach I rode through the Bear Mountain Park, saw the damaged roads from Irene, rode on three different Ferrys, crossed to many steel plated bridges to count and counted far fewer smooched snakes then last year...which is a good thing!

My Garmin Edge 500 recorded/charted all of my information which includes riding a total of 1,643 miles, in 115 hours, at an average speed of 14.3, with an average heart rate of 131.

I'm sad my ride is over, I'll miss my old friends and the new friends I've made. I believe I leave this ride a better rider for having ridden for so many days in the rain, for using a controlled descent coming off all those mountains in the Northeast, for sharing the rode with all those logging trucks, (oh by the way, I know what they are going to do with all those logs, they are making pulp for paper), for carefully crossing all those steel plated bridges for learning to ride more comfortably in a pace line and for leading a pace line riding at a more consistent speed.

All of these are great accomplishments and I'm very proud to have learned/done each of these. However, the most important accomplishment for my great adventures is the fact that with the help and support of all my family and friends I have been able to raise more than $50,000 during my 2010 Cross Country and 2011 Eastern Seaboard cycling trips.

I couldn't have done any of this without the love and support of my husband Don. Thank you so much for going along with my crazy but worthwhile dreams and supporting me the entire way! Love you!!!

Semper Fi

A Day of Ferry Rides and Flats

Its another bright and sunny morning and we're all ready to hit the road. The roads leaving Fernandina Beach, FL were a dream. They were smooth with a wide shoulder. It was great to see all the beautiful beach houses and at times as we rode by a vacant lot we got a view of the Ocean. What a perfect day to begin a ride.

We were all headed to the St. John's River/Mayport Ferry at mile 19.6. The Ferry runs every 30 minutes so we figured we would make the 10:15 Ferry. We only stopped once to take pictures on a bridge of all the people fishing off the older bridge, so we thought that we would make the 10:15 Ferry...but we just missed it! The picture below was taken by Michel who made the 10:15 Ferry...Thanks for rubbing it in!

Oh well, used the restroom and took some group pictures and waited patiently. Before we knew it the Ferry was back and we were on our way to the other side to continue our ride and that's when it happened...Bill forgot to pick up his camera from the picnic table. Sooo back on the Ferry he went and Doug, Tom, Champ and I waited. After about 30 minutes we were on our way again.

We had gone about 3 miles when we realized that Champ wasn't with us, so we waited and we waited and then Doug went back to see what was up. About 15 minutes later then appeared, Champ had a flat tire and when changing it he accidentally put the flat tire back on so he had to change the tire again! OOPS

We were all back together now and on our way again with 35 miles left on our ride. We were the last to hit the SAG at 28 miles so we fueled up quickly and headed out to cycle our 30 miles. Thank goodness the roads were still great and we had a cycling lane and or great shoulders.

We finally made it into St. Augustine and hit the Subway for a bit to eat and then over to see where the "Fountain of Youth" was located. We didn't actually see the fountain, but we did see the entrance to the park. So none of got younger today, we just got another day of cycling under our belts by riding 58 miles into St Augustine, FL.

We also learned to double check to be sure we don't leave anything or one behind!

Another Day, Another State...Our Last

This morning we got a treat, we were able to sleep in because we didn't leave until 9:00 a.m. That meant the sun had already risen and we began our ride drenched in warm sunshine as well as warm temperatures...notice I'm not wearing my jacket!

The road out of town was pretty smooth, but no shoulders and we had those nasty headwinds on and off all day today. I can deal with these as long as we didn't have any rain, which I'm happy to say we DID NOT!

As we cycled on to our SAG stop at mile 30, a big black truck passed our pace line and just as he was passing me he punched the gas peddle and out came a huge cloud of black smoke from his exhaust pipes. It was so dark that I couldn't see the riders peddling in front of me. People like that give drivers a bad name. We also shared the road with a lot of trucks carrying logs, which made me wonder, where are they going and what will the logs be used for? When I'm on my bike for 61 miles, I'll often ask myself these strange type of questions to pass the time.

We also crossed one more state line today, our last of this trip. We're now officially in Florida. We're also days from finishing our Eastern Seaboard cycling trip. It seems just like yesterday we were starting our ride in the rain in south Portland, where have the days gone.

When we reached our hotel in Fernandina Beach, we cycling just 0.1 miles further to have lunch at the local Dairy Queen. They make the best grill cheese sandwiches.

Following lunch we rode another block to the beach and had our picture taken with the "Liberty". This sculpture is dedicated to all citizens of Nassau County who have served in the Armed Forces of the United States. " We also took a picture down on the boardwalk of the "Pedigrees", who have been riding together for a lot of the East Coast trip. Remember if you're not the lead dog, the scenery never changes, so 2 on and roll back.

Our Rest Day Is Over, Now Its Back To Cycling

After a fun rest day in Savannah, GA. we left this morning for Brunswick, GA. We thought that we might have a partly cloudy morning, but it was worse it was foggy when we set off. Then about three miles from the hotel we were stopped dead in our "tracks" by a train. We were waiting on the train to move for about 20 minutes. It had a couple of false starts moving one way then the other but finally it moved and we were on our way.
The ride today was 82 miles and to be honest, probably the worst route for seeing any sights. Nothing really exciting to see or take pictures of during the first 44 miles. The only thing that interrupted the ride was stopping at a gas station to use the facilities, no Green Door for me today as I noticed that the smooched snakes were back. I saw two today. This is the first snakes I've seen since Virginia, no snake sightings in North or South Carolina.

Then ofter the SAG at mile 44, we stopped to take pictures of the smallest Church in America. We stayed long enough to take a couple of pictures because once again, we ran into very hungry mosquitoes!!
Our ride took us about 5 hours and 18 minutes not to bad for being held up by the train. The roads were pretty good, not too rough and traffic was pretty light too. We never really had much sun, but at least it didn't rain despite the threatening clouds.
So another day closer to our destination and the excitement of accomplishing my goal to cycle down the Eastern Seaboard.

Life Is Like A Box Of Chocolates....

I'm in Savannah, GA and it's a rest day. So what do we do on a rest day??? Of course we.... or should I say "What do I do"..... let's see, we begin with breakfast, then take Jan's bike to the local bike shop where they were no help at all....but I digress, then a Trolley Tour around the city, lunch along the river at The River Grill where we sat by a window so we could over look the river, (sorry no Dolphins swam by today), then back to the room to do laundry, big surprise..NOT and my Blog. Before I knew it the day is almost over.

So here is a picture of one of the beautiful tree line streets with Spanish moss hanging from just about every branch. We pass by Johnny Mercer's house..anyone remember him? He wrote one of my favorite songs, "Moon River". We also saw where they shot the scene from "Forrest Gump" where Forrest sat with his box of chocolates on the bench and spoke with anyone that sat down next to him. Then we drove by the house that was used in the movie "The Garden of Good and Evil" which we all know is a true story....a bit strange, but none the less a true story that happened right here in Savannah!

All in all a very good rest day and what's even more exciting is that the rain stopped at noon and we actually saw the sun start to shine. A very good sign for us and getting back on our bikes to ride tomorrow.

Life really is like a box of chocolates, you just never know what you're going to get!

I'm riding in the rain again! Yep, after our beautiful days of cycling in the warm temperatures and sunshine, it was raining again. All the lights on my bike were on and blinking so I got to bring up the rear as we filed out of Beaufort, SC.
I was told this was going to be such a beautiful ride today but because of the rain, my eyes were on the road, the bridges we crossed and on my cue sheet. To the Mom who was out in the rain with her young son in the stroller on the bridge on South Business 21, you might have wanted to stay home today. Way to much rain and heavy winds. As it was, we had to use the sidewalk on the bridge because there were no shoulders on the road across the bridge. Meeting you at the top of the bridge was a bit hairy! What was even hairier was cycling down the other side!!!! Controlled descent with gusty winds, not ideal.
Our final destination for today is Savannah, GA, and another state line crossed, but sorry no state line sign picture because my camera doesn't do "under water" photography! The good news for today is that tomorrow is a rest day!
Hopefully it won't be raining tomorrow so I can explore what Savannah has to offer.

My Bags Are Packed And I'm On My Way

This morning we started our ride with overcast sky's and cool temperatures. We were hoping for the clouds to break and that the sun would come out. By the time we reached the SAG stop at about 10:30 the sun came out!

We rode 40 miles to get to the SAG so we took out time refueling and since the stop was at a Methodist Church, the Minister and the woman who is in charge of the music came over to talk with us and see were we were going. These ladies were so nice and interested in what we were doing, we just had to get a picture. Doug was actually ready to attend the service but realized his biking attire wasn't quite appropriate!

So on we peddled. We were making great time as the five of us rode in a pace line. Each person rode for 2 miles then went to the back of the line. It's amazing how efficient this can be. I say this because I had another personal best. Our 80 mile ride today took just 4 hours and 46 minutes.

We did stop a couple of times. We stopped to see the ruins of Old Sheldon Prince William's Parish Church. It was built in 1745-55 and was burnt by the British and rebuilt in 1826. Then burnt again in 1865 by the Federal Army. Unfortunately we only stayed long enough to take one picture because within two seconds of arriving we were swarmed by mosquitoes, which I think are the state bird of North and South Carolina!!!

As we cycled on to escape the mosquitoes, we headed towards Beaufort our final destination for the day. For those of you who don't know Beaufort is where The Marine Corps Air Station as well as Paris Island is located. Paris Island is where Don went for Boot Camp when he enlisted in the Marines. Babe this pictures for you. Its the best I could do since I couldn't get on base. This is where it all began for you! I'm so proud to share this with you! Once a Marine, always a Marine

Another Long Day In The Saddle

Another cool morning to begin our ride from Little River, SC to Charleston, SC. As usual I begin my ride wearing my jacket. It will keep me warm as we cycle through the early morning shadows. Notice the palm trees in the background. Yeah, we're not in Maine, New Hampshire or even Vermont baby! We're getting closer to our final destination with each mile, each SAG and each bend in the road!
The start of our ride today took us through Myrtle Beach where we even got to cycle on the Boardwalk because one section of the street was closed off as they set it up for an October Beer Festival. We didn't stop, it was a little early for drinking a beer. At least for some of us!!

We did stop while in Myrtle Beach for a perfect photo opportunity, hence the next picture! Can you blame me for wanting this picture? It is the reason I stay on the shore when I go to the beach! If you've never been to Myrtle Beach, these sharks are all over the town, just waiting to "get ya". But for as much fun as we were having, we had to move on.
At the second SAG, a long line of motorcyclists drove by and came into the parking lot where we were refueling. As we got to talking we found out that these people were out that morning for a charity ride. They were raising money for Breast Cancer. One of our cyclists from XC10 is a Breast Cancer survivor, Jan Lewis. So we thanked them for what they were doing on a cool Saturday morning and for a couple of seconds, I thought that I might trade in my bike for a shiny bike with a motor! Yeah, just for a second and then I was back on my bike for the last 37 miles into Charleston.
It was a great day for our ride, sunny and warm with the wind at our backs...most of the time. So I didn't mind that my bike was self propelled and didn't have a motor. Even if I was on the road for over 6 hours to get to my destination.
After cleaning my bike, doing my wash and getting cleaned up I went into Charleston with Jan, Norm, Bill and Doug. We had a great dinner at A.W. Shucks and then over to listen to Robert, Jan's son play with his Jazz quartet. Robert was excellent!

You Want Me To Ride How Many Miles????

Today was our first Century Plus day of cycling. We left Jacksonville, NC at our normal time and cycled and cycled. The temperature was a little cool, but as I was told, you don't dress for the first couple of miles which is when you start to warm up from cycling, you dress for the day. Our day was going to get into the mid 70s with plenty of sunshine and, drum roll please.....No Rain. Think that's about four or maybe five days without rain. Guess my "no rain danced" worked.

Our first SAG stop was at the Wildlife Access Area off of Shaw Highway and that's were we saw our first sign of "Spanish Moss" hanging from the trees. We knew we were getting closer to South Carolina when we saw that, just not close enough, we still had about 78 miles to go before we crossed the state line into South Carolina.

Before the state line we cycled over another bridge with a steel deck, saw the Cape Fear River, rode towards Myrtle Beach and then on to Ocean Isle Beach and Calibash, where we stopped to have a late lunch. Then finally we saw the state line for South Carolina.

Our total ride today was 111 miles which took 6 hours 30 minutes. This turned out to be a personal best for me. When I trained for my 2010 Cross Country ride, I did a Century ride in 6 hours and 40 minutes. On today's ride my mph were 16.4. That's due to having a tail wind for most of the day and riding with the "Pedigree" Dogs. Thank you so much.

Clicking On All Cylinders

This morning we left for the Ferry to Cedar Island at 6:50 a.m. We loaded our bikes on the Ferry and left at 7:30. It was a 2 hour 15 minute crossing. Breakfast on the Ferry was great! Thank you Carol and Robin.

Once we unloaded we began our 86 mile ride to Jacksonville, NC. It was a perfect day for cycling, the sun was shining, the wind was at our backs for most of the day and the roads were great. We rode through Beaufort and Emerald Isles, as well as countryside where Irene hit and saw alot of debris still waiting to be taken away, it was a sad sight! We also cross more steel deck bridges and then finally cycled into Jacksonville. our ride today took about 5 hours and 15 minutes.
We also knew that today we had three opportunities to stop at a Dairy Queen along the way. We finally stopped at the last Dairy Queen about 18 miles from Jacksonville. My first Grilled Cheese sandwich of the trip. It was delicious!!!
Riding into Jacksonville was very important to me because its a Marine Corp town, this is where Camp Lejeune is located. As we came up to the Main Gate, we saw lots of personal signs welcoming the Marines home. At one stop light I spoke with a "Old Corp" Marine and thanked him for his service. I told him about what I was doing and showed him my IMSFF cycling jersey, he thanked me for what I was doing for the injured Marines.
Tonight I had dinner with a good friend of my husband Don who he service with in the Marines, Bill Gerichten and his wife Anne. Thank you so much for the home cooked meal and the chance to get to know you both better. We look forward to seeing you up in our neck of the woods real soon.

The Pearl of the Outer Banks

A rest day in Ocracoke Island. Ocroacoke Island is part of the Cape Hattera National Seashore. We're here during off season which makes it nice because it's like having most of the Island to our selves. Unfortunately, it also made it hard to find a place to have dinner last night. Some places were closed because of Irene which rolled through last month.

No real plans for the day, my wash is done, my bike is clean and I'm looking forward to just relaxing. On our walk to eat breakfast we came across a lovely golden retriever puppy by the name of Chloe. She is quite the traveler and even has her own website that shows pictures of her adventures. We all gave her a pat before heading on to breakfast.

Part of relaxing included sitting on the pier just over looking the bay and watching the Ferry come and go along with watching the birds. Just sitting and relaxing was so nice.

Following a little shopping and sight seeing, I'm back in my room for some rest. So for now I'll close and see you tomorrow when I tell you all about our Ferry ride from Ocracoke Island to Cedar Island where after unloading from the Ferry we'll begin our 86 mile ride to Jacksonville, NC.

Have a great day!

Its A Race to the Swan Quarter Ferry

Today was a very interesting day. It began early, very early, 4:45 a.m. We found out in Route Rap last night that because of the storm damage from Irene in September, we couldn't take the Hatteras Ferry over to Ocracoke Island, NC. So Plan "B" was in effect.

What was Plan "B" you ask, well it had to do with some cyclists leaving the hotel in the pre-dawn light to try to cycle 80 miles by 12:00 noon while other cyclists rode in the van about 35-40 miles up the road and started their ride to the Ferry from that point. I was one of the lucky people to get to start my ride at the hotel, hence no picture before leaving on my ride today...not enough light.

Now I know I can ride 18-19 miles an hour but not for five hours and certainly not in the type of headwinds we experienced this morning as we road over the bridge on 64. Those were very heavy, which didn't help my efforts to make it to the Ferry on time. I must thank Michel for staying with me for the 35 miles that I did ride.

I so appreciated your company! I also look forward to getting the picture you took of me coming up the bridge with the sunrise in the background!

As we wait to board the Ferry you can see by my picture how windy our day was. Once we got to the Ferry at Swan Quarter, it took 2 1/2 hours to get across to Ocracoke Island. Far our long day and windy ride we made it to the Island and the good news is that we have a rest day tomorrow!

I must also commend Tracey and the Crew, in a moments notice they adjusted to Plan "B" with precision timing and patience. It all worked out and as Kevin from XC 10 would say, "It's All Good"!

Especially my room!!! A kitchenette no less, Howard Johnson eat your heart out!!!!

Oh yeah, no snakes sighted today. Just a few small smooched frogs.

Its A Beautiful Day in The Neighborhood

What a way to begin my day, Don came to visit for less then 24 hours while I was in Virginia Beach. He saw me off in the cool 50 degree temperatures and overcast sky. I was appropriately dressed for the cool temperatures and not for snow, thank you very much Michel!

Our ride today took us out of town on some busy roads, but nothing we couldn't handle. We hit quite a few stop lights but all in all the roads were great. About 20 miles into our ride today, we crossed another state line, North Carolina.

It actually tried to rain, but only a few drops fell, which means this is only the second day of cycling since beginning our adventure without any rain. In fact this afternoon the sun came out and someone switched off the wind machine. We even had some tail winds when we road across the bridge and into Kitty Hawk.

Speaking of Kitty Hawk, we went to see the momument to the Orville brothers before going to our Hotel. Now I understand why they used this location, it is extrememly windy where they launched their first planes. What makes this even more interesting is that the brothers originally sold bicycles in Ohio.

Our ride today was 77 miles that took about 5 hours and 15 minutes. Also I didnt see any snakes today, just really small smooched frogs.

Our ride this morning began in the rain, no this is not the first day of our ride it's our 12th day. Somethings don't change. Our ride out of Pocomoke, MD took us on wide shoulders and nice surfaces. Six miles into our ride and we hit the Virginia state line. Feels like we were just in Maine a few days ago. So we all stopped to take our picture.

When the rain stopped it was still overcast and windy. This had to be the worst day for head winds of the trip, although I know we're all expecting more as we cycle down the coast. Stayed to long at the SAG and got a bit chilled, but all I had to do was get back on the roads and in a mile or two I was warm again and asking anyone that might be listening to "Please Turn Off The Wind Machine". No one heard me!

Our ride today was 76 miles. At the end of our ride we all boarded the CrossRoads van so that we could be shuttled into Virginia Beach. Since we were going over the Chesapeake Bay Bridge, it was not possible to cycle on the bridge or through the tunnels. Not a problem, I was quite happy to ride in the van. I only saw one very flat smooched snake today during our ride.

Dinner tonight was at Ruby Tuesday, again, think this is our third time, but I was fortunate enough to have dinner at Pat and Scot Creech's beautiful house, thank you so much! Dinner was delicious and I so appreciate being able to do my laundry. Thanks for helping me keep my "Laundry Queen" title in check.

Riding Like the Wind....well almost

It was a beautiful day in our neighborhood! Perfect weather for starting our ride to Pocomoke, MD. The sun was shining through the high clouds and the wind was minimal! We had great shoulders to cycle on for the first 16.5 miles where we stopped to take a picture of our next state line crossing. We're now in Maryland. Unfortunately the sign was so high, it was hard to get in the picture.

We also cycled through Ocean City, Maryland early this morning before most shops were open and traffic was light. What was nice is the Bus/Cycling lane that we got to use. To bad it was so early in the morning we saw a lot of great restaurants that we could have stopped to have a bit of lunch. It was just to early. Sorry Dairy Queen, another time.

As we cycled out of the resort towns we continued to have wide shoulders until about mile 113S towards Snow Hill. There was some road construction but because it was Saturday, no one was working which made it easier for us to get through.

At the blinking light on Nassawango Road we got back on to country roads with really light traffic. But when you get one good thing you sometimes have to deal with one "not so good" thing like the wind. The head winds today we're fun.

Our ride was 63 miles today and took just over 4 hours. For those following the Snake Report, didn't see any snakes yesterday which is good since I was walking and not on my bike! Today I only saw one smooched snake which was out on the country roads where we had corn fields along the road.

Another day another mile and tomorrow Virginia! Wahoo!!!