Georgia on my Mind

The month from hell contiues to wear onward. It has been tough day, after tough day with plenty of unexpected adversity.  The miles themselves are tough, but this extra adversity makes it even more impossible.

Let’s go back a few days to Huntsville, AL where I took off to head for Cedartown, GA. A small town I stayed in a few years back on my ride in 2012. The ride itself was hilly, plenty of hills and climbs along with an afternoon rain storm that really did some damage. Pouring rain, and constant raining for the last few hous of the ride made for a wet and soggy Matt. I rode into Georgia on The Silver Comet trail, another Rails to Trails trail that was paved. It was awesome. A well done trail that helped me escape some of the grueling rolling hills that encompassed the area.

I didn’t really acount for the time difference, and my 120 miles took me right up until 9 pm to finish. I was soaking wet, and needed to set up camp. Instead, I splurged on hotel room. Good thing I did. It turns out that the rain had done some damage to my phone which prevented it from charging. That’s right. No phone for the next day’s ride. Luckily, I was heading into Atlanta and found a Sprint store that quickly hooked me up with a new phone. It took a few hours, but I made it out of there! I was even eligible for an upgrade anyways. Another hurdle to go over, but I made it work.

I rode through Atlanta, which isn’t fun. Big city, few bike lanes. Not a good combination. I’ll be back in a few weeks for that Braves game.  I pedaled onward to Griffin, GA. My hosts there were a couple who hosted me back in 2012 as well. It was great to see them again! I pulled in around dusk, as I had been doing quite often along this stretch. It’s not fun to finish riding so late, but what can you do? You’ve got a lot of miles to cover and it takes quite a while. You do a few things, eat some food, go to bed, and then do it all over again the next day.

That’s what this month from hell has been like. A whole lot of rinse and repeat. You just keep pedaling, hours on end, the miles fall, slowly but surely. When I’m 20 miles away from my destination, I know I’ll make it. I can do 20 miles. No problem. Pedal after pedal. Mile after mile. One inch at a time.

Unfortunately, the last few nights I haven’t had any hosts. That makes for some miserable nights. Especially in this humidity. You lay within your tent dripping in sweat, just trying to cool off to the point where your body isn’t drowning in its own sweat. Mosquitos swarm you. You’re dirty, sweaty, just outright nasty.  The worst part is, that when you get up in the morning, you have to change into your bike jersey from the day before, and it still hasn’t dried out from the sweat of the previous day. UGH. That’s my least favorite part of the morning. By far.

It’s been a lonely few days, after back to back nights camping. One in the pouring rain as I listened to the rain drops falling atop my tent and fireworks being blasted in the distacne. I needed a shower, and fortunately, today in St. Augustine I got one. It feels so great to have a bed to sleep on and a roof over my head. I rode through Jacksonville, and along the coast. I made it to the Atlantic Ocean! Woohoo! Unfortunately an afternoon storm struck and downpoured on me. They’re common this time of year in Florida so I best get used to them. Unfortunately, this storm took my memory card reader for my Ipad as a causality so I won’t be able to make any photo additions. Sorry about that.

As for me, I know this blogpost isn’t as detailed as past ones, but I’m just dead exhausted. Straight up. The month from hell is well underway and it’s not ending anytime soon. Sometimes the blogging can be tiring and when I’ve put in so many miles it can be difficult to go through the thought process to crank out a decent post. Sorry about that but I hope this suffices!

Matt