St. Augustine to Miami in four days. That's the plan, maybe I shouldn't put it in writing. I think it's about 600 km. I did 106 km today, I'm planning two 200 km days in a row. It's not really a plan. Say I peddle an average of 22 km/h, which is possible, that mean it's about 9 ½ hours of riding per day. That's not too ridiculous. I have peddled 12 hours in a day and gotten about 100 km, biking into a head wind with a sore ankle. I think I did my 106 km in about 5 to 6 hours today. I might never be able to sit down again after biking so much. I'm going to switch the angle of my seat and hopefully move the area of pressure, letting one area rejuvenate while another area gets subjected to the meat tenderizer I'll be getting a Brook's saddle when I get home. I'm also planning on building up my own set of wheels, and maybe getting a bob.
I ate one serving of fruit today. Everything else was beige, brown or white in colour. On the road you feel like eating a meal every two hours or so, that also happens to be length of time it takes to find a adequately cheap restaurant on route. So, about ten minutes after eating, you've got to start scoping for the next place.
Today when I woke up I had lost all momentum. I was as anxious as the first day. There was an English guy in my hostel room, who had been driving around Florida, and I considered asking him for a ride to Orlando in an effort to cut 300 km off my trip. But, before I ask he said he was spending another day in St. Augustine, so that option was off the table. Not more than half an hour on my bike, and I switch my plan from riding to Naples, to riding to Key West and taking the ferry up to Fort Myers adding another 200 miles. It was just a fantastic ride today. I had a back wind like nothing else, I was going for stretches at about 35 km/h.
That hostel in Saint Augustine was a dive. It was suppose to be a backpacker hostel, but it also seemed to be a place of last resort too. One guy showed up, obviously recently punched in the face. He was drunk or somehow unhinged. I asked him his story and he said he had his Phd in Physiotherapy before he started to cry. He didn't have any cash so couldn't stay. But, he had a car, what's up with that? Sleep in your car, that's not too rough.
The owner was depressed and depressing and the place was filthy too. For some reason I thought the guy who owned the place was suppose to be a one-legged pirate, but this guy had both his legs.
There were some good guests there, in terms of the other cyclists. The retiree cyclist were cool. I suspect they were a little jealous of the unique places and stealth camping that myself and the other young cyclists were doing on route.
They had some cool bike too. Good gear, and had put a lot miles on it, and were planning on putting on a lot more.
My heel is still not back. I've put the cleat back in the shoe, and it was feeling fine today taped up. But, I'd like not to tape it up. A couple of days ago I developed a couple of blisters under the tape. But, I think they've progressed beyond the blister stage, I just call them 'sores' now. They're not that bad. I was putting polysporen on them. But, switched up just to Vaseline. I'll use polysporen if they look like they're getting infected.
Yesterday before leaving Saint Augustine, I went to ride about the town. And discovered my back wheel was out of true; on closer inspection I had a broken spoke. I thought I knew nothing about wheels, but I guess I knew enough to worry about these wheels. I don't know how to replace a spoke, and/or true a wheel. Things I need to learn. I took the wheel into a shop and got it fixed. I'm not sure how good a job the guy did, how tight should spokes be?
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