You are probably wondering why the mileage is different from Day 3 when we cycled to Cherry Lake from Live Oak. Well, the tour made it a slightly more direct route on the return trip which helped the riders who then had to drive home. For some riders, that could be a long distance as there were people from 29 different states and two different countries outside the U.S. (Canada and Ireland). California, Texas, and Maine were several of the furthest states.
The theme for today’s jerseys was to “bust out your best old-school or classic Safari jersey.” There were quite a few RAGBRAI jerseys worn from across the years. For those who don’t know, it is a ride that started in 1973 in Iowa and has become a classic. It claims to be the oldest recreational bicycle touring event in the world. But those of us from Michigan know that the DALMAC started in 1971, which if my math is correct, makes it two years older than RAGBRAI. I wore one of my DALMAC jersey from 2005 that features post cards of Michigan on the back.
Of course, it wouldn’t be a ride in Florida without the wind and we weren’t disappointed. Although the winds were only 3mph from the SW at the start, they gained speed up to 8 mph with gusts of 12mph from the South. While these winds were nothing like earlier days of the ride, we did ride south almost the entire time, so I was tired when it came time to drive home.
During a stretch of the last ten miles, a couple of guys we had talked to at meals, campfires, etc. joined our small group and helped pull. When we came to one particular hill, I completely fell off, but just kept going. Janet waited a minute or so up the road and I was back with the her and the guys. At the end of the ride, I thanked the one guy for the good ride. He said to me: “when you completely fell off on the one hill, I thought you were toast. But then you were back with us. You are tough.” I told him that I just can’t do hills with my not so good knees, but I usually don’t quit. I thanked him for the complement.
It was sad to say goodbye to the gang today. We had so much fun! Janet posted on Facebook that it was a fabulous week for “biking. laughing and eating.” She forgot “enjoying adult refreshments.”
Sunrise this morning. The same lake as Day 4, however, the clouds created a completely different color scheme,
A couple of the volunteers helping load our gear onto the luggage trucks.
The only rider from our group missing in this photo is Ray. He departed over an hour before the rest of us so he could be at the end of the ride when we arrived. He tends to stop quite a bit, so we would have passed him otherwise and missed our farewells.
A mural in the town of Pinetta. We saw it on our way into town on Day 3, but we were on a mission to get to camp and set up our tents and then relax. Today the mural was early in our ride back to Live Oak.
Of course, we had some hills today. Not this particular hill, but the toughest one of the tour was today at a 7% grade.
Spotted along the road before our first SAG stop. The “cup” is made from tires.
Our last SAG stop of the tour.
Pizza was awaiting the riders when we returned to Live Oak and before we all headed home.
