Today we set off from Jacksonville Florida on our grand journey. We woke up early and scrambled around to pack the explosion that occurs from three days of orientation and building. Our first route meeting went by quickly. We learned that we would be going 20 miles longer than the website said because of a change in hosts. Instead of heading north to Callahan we were headed south to Palatka. We began the tradition of passing Jake the duck. He's kind of like a "rider of the day" award that fits in your camelback. Today he went to Prachi because she raised he most money. Next, we set off for the wheel dip at the end of Atlantic Ave. We met our first reroute when we ran into a street fair on the way. It wasn't a real problem since we ended up just riding most of the way any way. We took lots of pictures, frolicked in the ocean and dipped our back wheels in the Atlantic. Our leaders gave a rousing speech, we did a group cheer and we were off. I rode with Summer all day and we had no problems at first, cruising into and out of first lunch by 11 am. Bike & Build does a 90-90 rule, where if it is a 90+ mile day or a 90+ degree day you get two lunches, just to make sure we are taking enough breaks and staying hydrated.
The time between first and second lunch is when things started to get hard. The temperature was rising, shade was disappearing and we were getting tired. We thought we were lost in St. Augustine, but, just like on our snowy day, we were on the road we needed to be on. We did get yelled at by a lady on a cruiser bike, smoking as she rode with out a helmet in heavy traffic. As we thought we were lost, we had pulled out of traffic on our bikes and we were standing on the corner, clearly off our bikes, asking passerbys for directions. She rode up and started yelling at us for riding on the sidewalk... Oh well! Summer and I made it to second lunch and finally arrived at the St. John's River State College gym around 5:55pm. We showered then ate some delicious donated pizza and chili cooked by dinner crew. Lights out was at 10, but most of us were asleep by 9 pm. Overall, it was a really tough day, but I was satisfied wig myself at the end. I added 30 miles to my longest ever ride and survived to bike again!
a duck is easier to explain to host sites than a "disco stick" but will it have room next to your bear?? who gave the speech? i bet you won't think "this is just like our snowy bike ride" very often...except for the getting lost part. get used to this and don't be afraid of it
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