Windy Wind Wind

The past two days of riding have been tough. Lots of miles, lots of pedaling, and lots of wind. Unfortunately, the wind has not been in my favor. The wind always is coming predominantly from the south. Sometimes it may be southeast or southwest, but it’s coming from the south. It makes my riding pretty difficult, when I’m almost always heading south.

The amount of riding I’ve been doing is definitely tough. It takes a long time to bike 100+ miles with over 50 lbs of gear. It’s a mental game. This leg has definitely been the toughest stretch mentally. I haven’t had a host the whole leg. Aside from casual encounters with clerks at the grocery store, or a stranger on the street, I’m by myself. Nobody to talk to but myself. I play my harmonica, or try to at least. On top of that, the cities are relatively small, the roads here in Oklahoma almost always have rumble strips in the bike lane, which makes riding more difficult. It’s hot, and it storms. All of these combined with the constant headwind, undoubtedly make this one tough section of the trip.

The mileage, and constant days on the bike have also had some repercussions on my body. My legs feel great, and absolutely fine. I’m riding another 100 miles tomorrow, and will be able to do it fine. However, my hands are sore. Callassed and sore, the constant pressure from gripping the handlebars have also caused me to lose feeling in my pinky and ring fingers. They’re constantly tingling. It has to do with the ulner nerve, I believe. Anyways, I’ve heard that feeling will come back once I stop biking for a while. I guess I’ll have to wait until October to make any important pinky promises.

Thus far, it seems as if I’ve been behind the majority of the flooding that Oklahoma has received. I’m hoping that the same holds true for Texas. All the rivers I’ve been biking over, have clearly been REALLY high in the recent days, but almost all of them had already recessed considerably. Thus, aside from creating more mosquito breeding grounds, the flooding hasn’t affected me much.

This trip has two components. The physical and mental. Right now, despite biking nearly 100 miles a day for the past three weeks, the mental part is what’s winning. It’s not easy to hop on the bike for 10 hours everyday. Climb hill after hill, pedal mile after mile. Especially when I’m alone for such long stretches. Many nights during this recent stretch have been spent stealth camping. Ducking beneath some roadside trees to get some shelter. I’ll admit it, I talk to myself, a lot. And I sing a lot too. Recently, I’ve been rehearsing a rendition of ‘I would bike 5,000 miles’ along rides. Maybe you’ll see it hit the top of the charts in a few weeks. I’ve prepared myself for these mental grinds, and I’ll get through it. Though, I’ve said it once, and I’ll say it a million more times, it really does help to get messages of support from different people following along. Those little messages remind me that I’m not doing this alone. I’m doing this with an army of supporters cheering me on.

All this being said, I’m really excited for my upcoming off days in Arlington. I’ve been putting a TON of miles on lately, and I can’t wait to rest up for a while. Since April 24th, I’ve had ONE off day. It’s just nice to take a day off once in a while, regroup, do something besides biking. Plus, I need a haircut. That’ll be a good thing to do on my off day.

Tomorrow, it’s onto state number 9! I’ll be heading into Texas for the first time in my life, another new state! They say everything’s bigger in Texas, let’s hope that applies to the bike lane too.

Matt

3,827 miles Ridden