Ever feel like someone knocked you to the floor and then kicked you hard about ten times? Ever felt that way and then been told you have to ride a bike 184 miles? That's kind of how today was. The morning started off badly when I got two flat tires in the first 30 miles. Finally figured out there was a very small, very sharp piece of flint embedded in the tire that was causing the punctures. So I wasted an hour on that fiasco. Then just the cumulative beating to the body of the last 11 days added to that made for a tough day. In talking to some of the other riders, others are having fatigue issues as well. Part of it is lack of recovery time. If you have a 12 hour day on the road, by the time you shower, eat, blog and lay stuff out for the next day, you barely have eight hours for sleep, and that's assuming you can get right to sleep. I had a couple of nights early in the trip with just 3 or 4 hours because I couldn't get to sleep and that may be having a cumulative effect. I rode most of the day on my own today because I wanted to just ride my own pace so I'm hoping tomorrow goes better. The next five days could be really long days.
Tomorrow is 189 miles, pretty flat, but that's still easily a 12 hour day again. In another sign of eastward progress, we will be crossing the Mississippi River. That sounds like a good photo opportunity.
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