Stage Twenty-Five – Eufaula, AL to Cordele, GA

Cordele, GA

What a difference a day makes…

We have long established that nothing on this trip is predictable. There were two surprises on day 25 and both were good ones.?First, despite the struggles on the previous day, my legs felt great.?The second is that Lorrie came to visit me a day earlier than expected – surprising me at the motel in Cordele! She will be following me to Metter and then the first in Tybee Island. The long days and catching up with Lorrie also explains the lag in getting these last couple blogs posted.

At 116 miles, today was not going to be an easy day.?We wound out of Eufaula and at mile 2, crossed the Chattahoochee River into Georgia, our ninth and final state.?We then headed North along the river, settling into a nice pace on this rare flat section.?Turning East away from the river, we faced the day’s one big climb and began to experience the headwinds that would be with us the rest of the day. But, I felt great on the climb and began to feel that it would be a far better day than yesterday.

The scenery was the now-familiar mix of forest, cattle and cotton fields.?The one addition that we had not seen before was groves of pecan trees, some small and some gigantic, but always planted in neat, well-kept rows.?Relative to the tidy farms and pastures, the towns we passed through seemed sad and worn – in Lumpkin, GA it was hard to find any business that wasn’t boarded up. Americus, GA seemed to be faring a bit better, but still most of the old houses and shops looked neglected.

Back to your reader questions: “How does this compare to the Tour de France?” Well, for starters, the Tour de France is in France. But, there are some similarities.?The TdF route varies every year, but averages about 2,000 miles over 21 days of riding – they average just under 100 miles per day, we average just over 100. But the Tour is 21 days of riding spread over 23 calendar days – those slackers get 2 rest days! There are no rest days on a PAC Tour.?But, importantly, the Tour de France is a race, if you fail to make the time cut-off for a stage, you are disqualified for the remainder of the race; not so for us. And perhaps most significantly, we will probably end up averaging about 15 miles per hour overall.?The best Tour de France riders average about 25 miles per hour – if you don’t think this is a big difference, try doing 25 mph on your bike for a single minute – now just imagine holding that speed for three weeks over mountains in all sorts of weather – in short, those guys are in a different league!

Despite the headwinds, I was able to stay with a small group – Steve doing most of the work on the front, as I have grown accustomed to. I managed to cover today’s 116 miles in seven hours and 44 minutes of ride time (same time as yesterday for 6 more miles), for a more than respectable average speed of 15.0 miles per hour.?My elapsed time was eight hours and 58 minutes, meaning that we were even more efficient with the stops than the previous day.

Milestones:?

·?????I have now ridden at least four hours for 25 straight days… a streak that will?continue

·?????I have ridden at least 90 miles for 21 straight days – this will also likely continue

·?????Today was the fourth day in a row of more than seven hours in the saddle, and this will likely continue as tomorrow is 126 miles

Reflections:?

We have now covered 2,717 miles from the coast, which means that we have 213 miles left to cover in two days to get to Tybee Island and the finish.?Hard to believe there are only two days to go!!!!

It felt great today to recover from my off day yesterday.?It felt even better to see Lorrie surprise me at the motel!

Tomorrow is 126 miles; relatively flat, but our last long day. We’ll see if I continue to get stronger or if cumulative fatigue will win the day

We had one more generous donation last night which now put the total at over $15,000 raised for Fred’s kids!! A huge thank you to all who have made a contribution, but I know there are still some reading this who have not given – if you are still waiting, you are running out of excuses – only two days to go!

For those of you who have not yet donated, here is a link to my first post with more detail on why I am riding for Fred: https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/riding-fred-jeff-bennett/ and here is the direct link to the go fund me page: https://www.gofundme.com/f/fred-dillemuth-memorial-fund

Thank you for your continued support and good thoughts.?More tomorrow.