Myrtle Beach, SC - Day 41

Atlantic Ocean... Unreal... So many miles, so many M&Ms... And over a million pedal strokes! Misty 77 miles today into Myrtle Beach, so bittersweet to conclude this journey - elated to be done, fatigued and ready to rest a little, but the trip has been something I've wanted to do for years and trained for since early spring and now it's over... It was harder than I thought physically and some days were a little tough mentally (a few days with severe headwinds, the 142 mile day) but I'm glad to have pushed through not much the worse for wear and having ridden every damn mile... So proud of the whole group - everyone that was signed up for the XC ride made it - some van rode sections but nobody had to drop out! And everyone got along so well too...

What did I take away from the trip? This is a huge and very empty country in a lot of ways, and I much preferred the country to the city. But it's sad to see rural American life slipping away - fascinating in the South to see the Thomas family cemetery that has been there for generations, and then the next three mailboxes marked 'Thomas' - the families have been born there, raised crops and children and the cycle has continued until the last few generations as the railroads centralized, the interstates bypassed the little towns, larger farms and systems take over and the small town infrastructure isn't needed anymore. As a waitress in Clayton, OK told us 'you either marry a rancher and have kids, or leave town...and I'm leaving town'. So I understand in a very different way the urban / rural divide in the country than I did prior to the trip. But another key takeaway that I love is that almost everyone that was outside had a smile and a wave for us, and that people are generally good and friendly and have heart - helps me believe we can get along and work this out...

The other thing that will always stick with me is the sheer range of beauty we experienced - the stark desert, dawn over the Grand Canyon, the colors of New Mexico, wide open plains, autumn vistas in the mountains, the coyotes slipping across the road like ghosts, deer bounding away, mist rising off the rivers... I was blessed to share and be part of that landscape and those moments and also to share a little of my journey with you - THANK YOU for your comments, your emails, your encouragement on this trip and keep pursuing your own adventure! :)

Rolling into Myrtle Beach together - ladies first!

Greeting family members at the ocean!

Our intrepid (and patient) Trek guides!

Champagne toasts!

Lake City, SC - Day 40

Rolling out of Columbia

You could feel a different type of energy this morning as we got ready (and it wasn't just the chocolate waffles at Hampton Inn) - second to last day and a shorter ride. Rolling hills out of Columbia until we dropped down onto the coastal plain and then FLAT - both my tire (1 today, two yesterday) and the terrain - pine trees and cotton and some swamps. Warmth and humidity felt good. As we started to see palm trees it really began to hit home... the last time we saw those was in California - several mountain ranges and about 50 gallons of Gatorade ago... We've been lucky - some of the wildfires are burning in the area we were riding :( - and we dodged snow in Oklahoma and serious storms in Nashville by days. Everyone on the full ride has stayed healthy and we're excited about our last day tomorrow - it's going to be joyful, sad, a relief, an emptiness, but for sure an end... Can't wait to dip my wheels in the Atlantic! (and then be done with bikes for awhile!)

Lake City, SC (population about 6000 - enough for a Sonic and McDonald's among other necessities) was settled by Scots-Irish about 1736 and was known as 'Graham' for the owner of the land around the crossroads. The community grew rapidly after 1856 when a main line of the railroad was built (shocker!) through town. In 1883 the town's name was changed to 'Lake City' for the swimming lakes nearby (including Lake Swamp - who's in for a swim??). It's primarily an agricultural community and for a time was the 'Bean Capital of the USA' though most of the crops these days are cotton and grain.

Yep - that's my bike... temporarily... I'll never own a bike this nice :)

Apparently this post needed a bottle cap...

Post-fire

Columbia, SC - Day 39

Rolling out of Greenville - thunderstorms moved through just before dawn

OMG we're almost done! 117 miles - warm, humid day with a high of 85 which felt amazing after the cold and wet. The smell of pine trees was everywhere and was amazing... Much flatter today with only a few significant climbs out of river beds so an 'easy' last century day. Three of the women in the group were pulled over by a deputy today for 'not using the correct hand signals' when turning - no ticket, just a lecture. Saw a studio offering 'Christian Gymnastics' - how is that different from regular gymnastics? Has it been a major issue in the area with pagan gymnastics being taught? Or witches instructing?

A fort was established at the junction of the Salud and Broad rivers (where they join to form the Congaree) in the early 18th century that in 1786 was chosen as the site of the state capital and named 'Columbia' by an 11-7 vote (the city is 13 miles NW of the geographic center of the state). A canal to Charleston was completed in 1800 which made Columbia an early economic hub. The University of South Carolina was established in 1801 and Columbia continued to grow. It was a center for the Confederacy and most of the city was burned by Union troops in 1865 but the town rebounded as a textile and trade center and currently has a population of about 850,000. Columbia is located on the 'fall line' where the Piedmont plateau joins with the coastal plain and marks the transition between navigable rivers and rapids (and mills!). For us, that means a pretty flat 97 mile ride tomorrow - the second to last day...

Sadly, no pandas... 

Just a little off the sides please...

Literally... The closed bank of Prosperity, SC

Grinding up a nasty hill (yesterday) - that's me in the highly visible yellow

I recommend the chocolate cake!

Greenville, SC - Day 38

On the Blue Ridge Parkway

Raining this morning as we rolled out of Asheville through some of the Biltmore Forest (did not get to see the largest home in America - the Biltmore Estate, built by George Vanderbilt and now used for lodging and functions) - the contrast between the homes and country club surrounding the chateaux could not have been more jarring with some of the impoverished homes within a few miles. The Blue Ridge Parkway was beautiful in the mist and rain - the colors are absolutely at their peak! Over a mile of climbing today across 97 miles including up Caesar's Head - a rocky outcropping that the native Cherokee thought looked like Julius Caesar (ok, that's not at all correct). Couldn't see much today with the fog, but once we got below that it was still pretty looking out over our last state - South Carolina! Ascended about 1000 feet to the border and then down nearly 2000 so that was a good trade. My attitude toward hills has changed - it's not about the length, it's the grade - 1000 feet elevation change? but 7% grade? - no problem - just spin it up... As long as I can stay in the saddle we're good - and very few hills have grades equal to or more than 12% for any length of time...

It's fascinating that most of the churches as we made our way across the country had funny fall puns like 'Fall for Jesus' and 'Leaf it to Jesus' etc. on their signs but in KY and TN it was more 'Get Right with God Before Judgement' and 'Are people going to heaven because of you?' (which is troubling in some ways - I mean yes, serial killers should be encouraged attend church but still...). There seem to be more Southern Baptist churches than houses in many areas...

Greenville County was established in 1786 after a treaty with the Cherokee ceded the land in the area to the white settlers in 1777. The small town of Pleasantburg was incorporated as Greenville City which rapidly became a center for the cotton trade and then textiles. More recently, Greenville has become more of a tech center and has poured money into revitalizing the river area downtown (where we are staying - Lululemon, etc. - and of course ice cream!). It's the fourth-fastest growing metro in the nation with about 400,000 in the area.

My legs are just tired - tomorrow is 117 miles, but at least the vertical isn't as bad... I've given up on speed - it's just about finishing - which I intend to do... three days to go!

Asheville, NC - Day 37

121 miles, 8400 feet of climbing... Done... not pretty, or fast, but done... Our route today took us deep into the Blue Mountains along some (very) back country roads of TN and into NC at mile 76. The terrain is all ridges and steep valleys. Some very steep hills and also some long (3 mile, 2 mile, etc.) ones climbing up over passes. Rain started about 1:30 and fell steadily the rest of the day - we arrived in Asheville sodden and chilled but grateful to be done - and also grateful for the lives that we have - some of the towns, particularly in TN have fallen on very hard times. A bright economic spot was Bush's beans factory which is truly massive and in the middle of nowhere (actually Chestnut Hill, TN - unincorporated). Also passed through Hot Springs, NC - the Appalachian Trail passes just south of town and is actually on an elevated bridge across the road which for some reason surprised me...

Asheville is an expanding outdoors and arts destination that was established as 'Morristown' - the county seat back in 1793 but was renamed 'Asheville' after NC Gov. Samuel Ashe in 1797. Asheville was a manufacturing hub and NC's third largest city in the early 1900s. The Great Depression hit Asheville hard - its per capita debt was the largest in the nation. Asheville's rebound was slow, but that preserved the art deco architecture of the downtown. The Biltmore estate is nearby and the visitors to the famous art collection were a likely driver in the flourishing artist's scene in Asheville. Tomorrow we head to Greenville, SC (our last state!) - 97 miles and 5700+ feet of climbing - our last day in the mountains.

The French Broad River (a broad river that drained French territories when it was named)

Knoxville, TN - Day 36

118 miles and about 6600 feet of climbing today - minor and major climbs scattered across the route including over a mile of granny-gear-grinding at mile 101.7 which wasn't enjoyed. As we climbed higher on the plateau the fall colors were amazing! We had a beautiful ride for the first about 70 miles, the last 50 were tough with some roads with narrow shoulders or no shoulders and a lot of traffic as we wound our way into the Knoxville area around rush hour - we're on Eastern time now so lost an hour on the way today making for a later arrival. We continue to luck out with the weather - chilly starts but warming afternoons to around 70.

Knoxville was settled around 1786 due to its position at the confluence of two major rivers to form the Tennessee River. It was the first state capitol and boomed after the railroad linked it to the rest of the state. The city and county were bitterly divided about secession during the Civil War and due to its location Knoxville was alternately occupied by both Union and Confederate armies. After the war, the manufacturing base grew quickly. Knoxville is home to the University of Tennessee (the mascot, a coonhound named Smokey was decided upon in a 1953 student poll) and hosted the World's Fair in 1982. It sits between the Cumberland Plateau to the west and the Great Smoky Mountains to the east. We'll be climbing those tomorrow enroute to Asheville, NC - 121 miles and over 8400 feet of climbing (second only to our 142 mile day over the pass between Pagosa Springs and Taos). Gotta ice the knees and get to bed - sleeping has not been a problem this trip! :)

Great Smoky Mountains

SATAN ALSO SAYS: JESUS USE BAD GRAMMAR

This would be a great way to avoid drinking and driving... I'm sure the horse knows the way home...

Cookeville, TN - Day 35

Deer Crossing

A chilly ride on bike paths out of Nashville this morning, significant hills but a gorgeous day, about mile 80 climbed up onto the Cumberland Plateau which marks the western edge of the Appalachian mountains and into Cookeville. Cookeville was named for Richard Cooke, an early settler, and the community grew up around one of the only springs in the area, becoming the county seat around 1856. It's currently a growing community of over 30,000 and Tennessee Tech University calls it home. (Also, fun Nashville note - when we checked out this morning one of the group made the mistake of having the hotel do his laundry without checking on the per item price - $310 bill... they did agree to lower it to $75 after some negotiation - I just did mine at the hotel in Cookeville in the machines for $2 - much better! should be the last laundry of the trip - a big event - a few tears shed and the lint discarded)

I've had several questions about whether I'm losing weight on the trip (hopefully not because I needed to...) - I do think I've lost a few pounds - certainly have lost some muscle mass in the upper body though gained some in the outer quads and lateral back. I had grand designs to do some weightlifting in the evenings a few times a week but my will and body have been too weak... Biking burns about 40 calories/mile so we'll burn about 140,000 calories for the trip. Between riding and usual metabolic demand we need to eat about 6000 calories a day. Breakfast is usually scrambled eggs, bacon, juice, and some form of carb (bagel, oatmeal, etc.), we usually have a rest stop with candy and nuts and other stuff (sometimes Ding Dongs!) every 15-20 miles and in between I eat a few Clif Bloks (like a big gummy square - ginger ale is good, black cherry is gross as examples) and drink Gatorade to try to get in about 250 calories/hour and stay hydrated (usually 20oz/h varies with weather). Lunch is usually sandwich, fruit, cookies, etc. though I don't eat a ton at lunch as we're usually just over halfway.  A sample dinner a few nights ago - 6 of us ordered the appetizer platter (mozzarella sticks, loaded potato skins, etc.) the chicken nachos, fried green tomatoes, and giant soft pretzels, then I had a caesar salad, a 10 inch pizza, and a skillet chocolate chip cookie with ice cream. Tonight was buffet brought from Olive Garden - which was awesome... I'm going to have some serious issues adapting my diet when I get home...

1/2 pound cookie and ice cream? Sure!

Cumberland River steaming in a chilly Nashville morning

Rolling hills and more stone fences as we get into bluff country and a lot more exposed rock