Adventures of a Snowboard Mom: Biking the Trace, Days 4-6

Day 4 cycling

Today was interesting, and not really in a good way. GE had to change the tube on one of his tires last night. It was a bear to get off, but with Bob's help he did it, changed the tube and with Bob and Nan helping got the tire back on. Took it for a test ride around the campground and all seemed well. This morning they were off but GE had tire troubles pretty quick and he and Dad were off to Jackson to a bike shop for repairs. I think he rode about 5 miles this morning, then another 3 or so this afternoon after he rejoined them. The rest of them rode about 35 today, shorter than planned so GE didn't miss out on too much. They also took a too long lunch break, muscles tightened, and the humidity got to them so it was a shortened day.

Meanwhile Sarah and I spent the morning in the Trace Urgent Care clinic. I had gotten a bunch of mosquito and fire ant bites on my ankle and it was oozing puss and a bit swollen. It was bad enough that last night we had to stop at Wal-Mart to buy flip-flops; the strap on my Tevas was hurting my ankle. I decided while we were near a pretty good size town I should get it looked at and it was a good thing I did. After the doctor commented on how yucky it looked, she said that it looked like it was infected, told me to clean it twice a day and gave me an antibiotic. So off we went to Wal-Mart to pick up my rx and a few other things.

After we were done in town, we drove back along the Trace stopping at the waysides to read the signs. Most are about the history of the Trace while some are about the nature in the surrounding area. We stopped in French Camp, a small, very old town and looked at the historic buildings there.

sunset at French Camp

Here's to a better day tomorrow. Hopefully my ankle is feeling ok to ride, mainly I need to be able to get my sneaker on and not have it irritate the nastiness. One more cycling day then a break day for everyone.

Day 5 cycling

Today started off well. I was feeling good and we took off. My ankle isn't bothering me at all when I ride. The scenery was a bit more interesting today. One area we biked through was hit by a tornado in 2011. It was actually kind of neat, it was all woods and didn't look like any homes were nearby. A lot of the trees had their tops shorn off, a few you could see the twisting of the trunk from the tornado. Since it was just over four years ago, there's quite a bit of new growth, lots of vines and low scrub, as well as new trees coming. We saw a few trees that looked like Dr. Seuss trees with puff-balls of leaves near their tops. I was riding up front with GE and Whitney and we were told we needed to slow down or we'd tire ourselves out too fast; at that point we were averaging about 16 mph. After that we came upon a construction area. They had recently repaved the road (which made it like riding in a furnace, most of the road had been light colored, but this was fresh blacktop) and were working on the shoulders. Where they were working, they had one lane closed so we got to zoom down the road by ourselves, no worries about other cars going either direction.

view of the original Trace

It was another day Sarah and I rode about 40 miles, the rest closer to 60. By the time I was done I had a pretty good case of heat rash; I now think it's partly due to the antibiotics for my ankle. Sigh. Just can't win. And my phone died a wet death. :'(

June 7, rest day

A day for lazing around in the morning resting legs, a trip to Wal-Mart to restock up, lunch out, then laundry - had to get rid of the funk.

Day 6 cycling

Sarah and I took another day off. I wanted to ride today, but more important was to get my legs cleared up from the heat rash. It's looking better but still hanging around. Tomorrow I'll ride for sure, I want to ride over the bridge over the Tennessee River.

We went and got set up at the next campground, then frittered the afternoon away. The rest of them are riding along, making good progress. I think they'll finish this afternoon just short of the Mississippi-Alabama border. We're getting to the tougher part of the ride, into the hills. Everything so far has been relatively flat or gently rolling, it's getting to the not so rolling part (at least not when you're on a bike). We expect to be done by Wednesday or Thursday. They'll finish today at about the 310 mile marker, which means there's only 134 miles to go.