July 17th Day Three

July17—Day Three on our ride to San Diego 90.3 miles 5 hours and 59 minutes Avg. speed 15.05 mph

Wake up was 4:45 AM. The van needs to be loaded prior to breakfast, which was at 5:30 AM

Our host church Faith Baptist went out of their way to make sure we were well cared for during our stay with them. For breakfast, we had choices of pancakes, scrambled eggs, oatmeal, coffee and orange juice. The first orange juice I've seen on this trip. Hannah my riding partner for the day had me try the “super food” Chia. It's just like the chia of chia pet. You mix the chia seed with water and let stand for about 10 minutes and then stir. It turns into a jell like substance with little or no taste. It is good that I don't have any texture issues. Someone with texture issues would struggle to eat the jell like Chia “super food.”

I'm not exactly sure what time we hit the road this morning, but it was around 6:30 AM. It was pretty cool, but not too cold. A large group of us headed out together. It was clear almost from the outset that the person leading us was a little unsure about the direction we should go after our second turn. We headed straight stopped at an intersection to check the cue sheet. The person we were following started riding in the direction we were heading when another rider appeared behind us telling us we had missed the turned. Our moment of lostness led to an extra mile on the ride at the end of the day. Back on course, we headed out of town South and East toward Naselle our next stopping point. Naselle is near the state line with Oregon. Today's ride had relatively few turns due to long stretches, 20 plus miles, on one road.

I road with Hannah, although we did not stick together as much today as yesterday, since we were in a larger group for a good bit of today's ride, and longer into the ride I was really dragging. She was a swimmer in college and is 25 years younger me, which gives her a huge advantage in recovery time, lung capacity and although she is not a long distance cyclist she is very efficient in her cadence. I'm not sure I was as efficient as Hannah is when I was her age.

My legs were not very strong today. I did pretty well for the first 22 miles, but after the rest stop I struggled to keep up with Hannah and the folks we left the rest stop with. It took about 8 miles for my legs and lungs to get back on track. There were lots of climbs on this ride, which did not help my legs and lungs. Hannah took off on most of the climbs, but I was able to catch up on the back side/descents. I hit 32 mph on a couple of the descents. I am sure I could have gone faster if I had opened up the bike.

The next rest stop was at 44ish miles. I was rolling pretty well when I reached the rest stop. The rest stop was across the street from the general store/post office. The store had a port-a-potty, which was serviced right before I arrived. It was a great port-a-potty, clean, running water, toilet paper and paper towels. I felt better after this rest stop, but a mile or so out there was a hill climb. The climb killed me again. A head/cross winded had kicked up as well. It took 10 miles or so for me to get rolling, but once I did I was fine.

The last rest stop was at 71 miles. A bit further out than planned. It was a roadside rest stop with no facilities, aside from the trees and bushes. Hannah and I rode the final 19 miles together. I slowed her down, but she was a great sport. By slowing her down, I mean from 19 miles an hour to 15 miles per hour. We arrived at the Noselle Assembly of God together.

The van/trailer followed us in and we had to immediately unload the trailer, then it was off to the local high school for showers. The showers felt great after 90 miles in the saddle. Now, I'm just waiting for dinner. I'm starving. It's 5 PM and there's another hour to wait until dinner. I feel like I could eat a horse right now, but I know that is not a good plan. I am also looking forward to sleep. I hope I can sleep better than I did last night.

On an aside my crash injuries are almost healed. I do have a few other physical issues that have cropped up. I hope they will not become a problem. My knees are doing well.