Ken’s Transcontinental Cycling Tour

I continued to ride my bike after the end of the Tour, both because I still like riding my bike and secondly, because Lon advised people at the banquet not to just throw the bike in a corner of the garage.  The day after the Tour ended I rode 35 miles to the Savannah airport to pickup my rental car to drive the following day to Jacksonville airport.  It REALLY felt strange to sit in and drive a car for the first time in a month- I was almost looking for the shifters on the handleba….ah, I mean steering wheel!  My first day off the bike was the 2nd day after the Tour ended when I flew home (Saturday).  As soon as I arrived home, Kathy & I shot right down to our cycling team’s Fall party and I received almost a hero’s welcome when we arrived!  It felt a bit strange, especially since one of our team-mates is the real hero of the crowd with his involvement in the Air Guard and multiple trips to Iraq.  On Monday (Columbus Day) I raced the last USCF race of the season- and forgot what it was like to get the heartrate up so fast and for that long!  However, the 39 mile race seemed like a sprint- some hills and still averaged almost 25.5 MPH for the entire race.

It’s getting pretty cold up here in the Northeast with our weekend rides starting in the 30’s for temps and warming into the 50s by the time we finish around noontime.  I continue to ride on the longer side with our weekend team training rides- this past weekend saw 80 milers on both days.

As a final thought, I’m psyched that I accomplished my goal for turning 50 years old last November and glad that the daily grind in the saddle is over, but miss the PAC Tour crowd and all of the great new friends I made during the Tour.  I’m SURE many of our cycling paths will cross again….

Again, thanks for reading the blog- I received many kind words via e-mail during the trip.

Ken