Day #25...The Sunshine State Welcomes Me!: Tapping a Keg of Orange Juice in Crestview, FL

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Sunday April 20, 2008, 125 miles (201 km) - Total so far: 2,522 miles (4,059 km)

Today the sunshine state welcomed me with beautiful weather, a slight tailwind, and mostly good roads all day. Before Florida though, I had a great morning in Alabama.

Here's how it started; I woke up and got the bike loaded to find out my tire was low on air, I went to fill it with my brand new CO2 pump and couldn't figure out why that wouldn't work. I got the job mostly done with the hand pump and then took off to catch the ferry. While ferrying, I went back to solving the non-functioning CO2 pump problem. Turns out, the guy at the bike shop who sold it to me a few days ago gave me a pump that requires 16g non-threaded CO2 catridges, and then gave me 4 threaded 16g cartridges. Basically I didn't have anything that worked. I decided I'd stop at a bike shop today and get things squared away.

After getting off the ferry I saw a group of cyclists taking a break and waved. A few minutes later, they caught up to me and told me to hop on their paceline. I am always accepting of a free ride like that so I got on the wheel of the last guy. They wanted to know where I was going so I filled them in on all the details. One of the guys asked if I had everything I needed and if I had any problems and I told him about the pump. He offered to trade me his, and also gave me a few more CO2 cartridges! The best part is his pump will accept any CO2 cartidge so now I am totally set and feel much better about getting a flat. In case you're not familiar, handpumps are really tough to pump a tire up to it's required pressure (100-120psi), and I always top it off with a CO2 to make sure it's good to ride on.
I found out that this was a triathalon training ride and the 4 cyclists all had really nice, lightweight triathalon-configured bikes that made my Cannondale look like a truck. Suprisingly, I was able to keep up to their pace and even pull my fair share of leads in the front. We were cruising pretty fast for about 25 miles, around 22-24mph most of the time.
The guy who gave me the pump told me they had done a triathalon yesterday, and when I said "And you're out riding again today?!?"... without missing a beat he chirped back, "You've ridden 100 miles a day for the past 25 days and you're doing it again today??!" I see his point. I am probably the crazier one.

I split from them just after Gulf Shores, and made my way into Florida. I was again dissapointed to find no "Welcome to Florida" sign. There was none in Louisiana, Alabama, or Florida! The only reason I did this ride was to take pictures in front of welcome signs, so now I feel like the whole trip was a waste. I'm writing letters to some congressmen when I get back.

The ride through Pensacola was actually nice, until I got to the construction zone Annee and Chris warned me about. I decided to just go for it because I didn't feel like detouring, and it ended up not being a big deal. I just rode the white line since the shoulder was gone and didn't have any problems. I can see for them that this wasn't an option, as they are pulling trailers and that would have been difficult.

The nicest part of the ride came shortly after, when I got on a nice bike path for a few miles and then onto a very lightly traveled road that ran through some pretty country. 125 miles later and here I am in Crestview, FL. Tomorrow I'll be in Chattahoochee (another 125 mile day), with only 3 days left to go after that. What will I do after the trip? No journal to write, no photos to upload, no grease to scrub off! I'll have to find something else.

I'm at a real computer now so check the next post for pics!