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DAY 20

Ophelia is lurking off the coast, but we're fine.

DAY'S OVERVIEW: We must be living in a dream world or something.  I've never seen so many tailwind days in a row on any ride we've done.  Every morning we wake up and find winds blowing right out of the north or northeast...SWEET!  Today was no exception as again the tree leaves and long swamp grasses were leaning in the direction we wanted to go, but the wind didn't always help us even though it was blowing in our direction.  We rode again down several tree lined roads that seemed to act as a wind tunnel and there were times when we would pass a group of houses that were displaying flags and they would all be pointing in different directions.  It was had to figure out what the winds were doing at times...oh well, it was dry.

That's another dream world we're in...there's a tropical storm just off shore and we're not feeling any affect from it...in the form of rain.  We've been in an area forecasted to have thunderstorms in the afternoon for the last 5 days and we've not seen a drop...bummer!  We're watching Ophelia very closely as we ride southward and I'm starting to get more optimistic that we may just skate by now that they think it will go eastward for a couple days.  I've been around long enough to know that sometimes forecasts can make you vulnerable...like sitting ducks waiting for the storm to engulf us.  Believe me, if it turns around and looks like it's coming our way...we're outa here!

Today was another day of tree lined roadways with several busy areas to negotiate.  We left the motel pretty early this morning after loading as soon as the sun popped up.  I left near the end with Shane and we piddled around near the back for about 14 miles until we were sure everyone was moving well...then we put the pedal to the medal.  We yanked and banked in the neighborhood of 25-27 until the SAG at 27 miles.  Even after a leisurely pace early, we were still over 20 by the time we pulled off at the SAG.  Shane is new to our staff and is doing a great job...plus it's nice to have someone to push the pace with occasionally.  He's riding as strong as I've ever seen him...fun to hang on when he's on his aero bars in full mode.

After the first SAG, I was riding solo to lunch so I decided to keep the pace at a high level so I would have time to call my office and talk strategy for Ophelia and set up the dinner for our program at the end.  Karen was going to ride with me from lunch...I knew that would be another brisk effort as she only has two speeds too...fast and go faster.  We made it in time for me to take a short nap before Rap and maintenance...all in all a pretty brisk day with an average of well over 20 for the day.

Guess the only other news of the day was big Bob's handlebar stem broke inside his head tube...Jim is at the bike shop with him right now trying to get that fixed...just not much happening here in River City.  But whatever, it was a successful day and everyone got in safely...always makes my day. 

HEARD ON THE ROAD:  "Do we turn down the rail road?"  Heard from several when they arrived at a RR crossing where a cue on our sheet said turn right...oops.  Luckily, there was no turn in sight, but some mentioned if they'd turned and ridden the RR, the smoothness of the ride would have been the same. 

"We saw two hills today, but they were ant hills.  Oh yeah, three counting the bridge!"

DUH! OF THE DAY:  We haven't had a good one for awhile...I think we've had them, but no one has fessed up.  But tonight we learned that Tony finally found time to do laundry and the machines were not being used!  He rushed to his room and gathered his dirty duds, threw them in the machine, put in the soap, put in his money, closed the door, and set back to enjoy a beverage while his laundry sloshed in the soapy water.  But wait!?  There was no rush of water...there seemed to be a wherrrrrrr, tumble, tumble sound instead of a shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh water sound.  Seems he got the process reversed...the tried to dry the clothes first.  Now he could have saved face and said since it was so humid and he had sweated so much, he indeed had to dry his clothes before washing them...but he put in the soap...busted! 

We had another one, but this one was yesterday.  When Chris M. prepared to depart, she discovered she had two left gloves...oops.  Undaunted, she turned one of them inside out so she could wear it on her right hand...pretty resourceful if you ask me.  After we gave her the appropriate grief about her faux pas, this morning she told me she had the right ones...the right ones?  Did she mean, the correct ones? 

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