Today’s Date: August 3, 2024

Today’s Start Point: Surrey, Virginia

Today’s End Point: Suffolk, Virginia

Today’s Miles: 48.02 Miles

Cumulative Miles: 4,648.02 Miles

If yesterday was muggy, today was muggier (not sure that is a word but it should be). A strong thunderstorm came through at dinnertime yesterday and the rain only increased the humidity. I was glad that today’s ride was going to be a sub-50 mile ride, but I think I was a little too cavalier about the shorter distance.

I slept in for an hour and planned on leaving at 7:00 am, but a couple of items slowed me up.

First, I had downloaded the wrong course for today’s ride into my Garmin. To get into the weeds a little bit, my total route is divided into segments that I obtained from Adventure Cycling. When downloading, you need to download the route in the direction you are going. In this case, I should have downloaded the southerly direction route instead of the northerly direction route. I found out my mistake this morning and tried to download the appropriate route but it takes too long so I would be using my phone for guidance, which is clumsy and time consuming to use.

Second, I could not clip my right shoe into my pedal. When I took off the shoe to inspect it, the cleat had come loose and needed to be tightened. None of this was earth shattering, but with every obstacle I would be riding later in the day.

After resolving these issues, I was off. Everything felt wet, the handlebars, seat and gloves. The place I stayed in last night was wonderful, but it was in the middle of nowhere so I did not get a chance to purchase Gatorade for the ride. I had three water bottles and figured that three bottles would be enough until I found something on the road.

The route today consisted of isolated country roads with very little traffic and also very little shade. The roads at times would plunge me into total darkness but for the most part I was exposed to the sun with corn and peanut farms all around me.

When I say isolated, I mean isolated. I did not see a convenience store or gas station until I reached Suffolk. I knew I was in trouble when I went through all of my water halfway through the ride. When I was out west, I knew there would be supply challenged areas, but the east had made me soft and I just assumed I would be able to find supplies on the road.

Occasionally I passed by or went over lakes in the region. It took all of my willpower to not ride directly into the water. I wanted to ask anyone that I might see if I could get water from their tap, but it was so hot that I didn’t see a soul outside. The only thing I could do was slow down and take it as easy as possible. Although I have complained of headwinds in the past, today’s headwind at least kept me cooler.

As always, if I gut it out I will eventually find my way to my destination, in this case Suffolk, Virginia. The first sign of refreshment that I saw was good old McDonalds (I bet you thought I was going to say DQ). I was shaking when I got off the bike but I had enough of my wits to order a Diet Coke, large vanilla shake and a McFlurry (a nutritionists nightmare). I realize that the order should have come with a defibrillator, but it sure helped.

After my lunch fit for olympians, I picked up some supplies at a gas station and checked into my hotel. The management was nice and had a room available for me at 1:00 pm. After my post ride routine, I promptly fell asleep for a couple of hours. This day took a lot out of me, especially considering it was only 48 miles.

Only a few days left and it looks like they will be wet ones. I am hoping that I can sneak my miles in between the waves of showers.