May 11, 2024 segment update

 Like I told Jill, if I had known it was really going to be this hard.        ... I would not have signed up, or else somehow would have seriously trained.   What I did leading up to this was just a lot of riding around casually, and took a lot of breaks.   

Anyway, I'm here and survived the first segment of seven straight days of riding .

I am 98 percent healthy now, the yellow crap flowing from my nose 👃 and throat is virtually gone.    I've learned to ride my own ride .  Period.   Can't and don't try to hang with any of the groups.

The next couple days are relatively not much climbing.   Good, cause I'm not built for going uphill.   Temps should be reasonable in 60s I think.   This morning it was 33 here!   It will be around high 40s when we leave at 7 tomorrow.

It was nice to have an off day.   Took my first ever self ordered Uber ride.  Went to a bike shop to get some powder to add to water 💦 bottles.   Hope that gives me an incremental boost.

Everyone agrees there were three hard days this week.  The 114 century, that I abandoned on, the 6000 foot day, and yesterday's 5000 footer.   "We" think this past week might have been one of the hardest of the entire tour.  I sure hope so.

Some riders that I have had conversations with have done 120 miles a day for 4 weeks to cross the country, have done double century rides already this year, have already done coast to coast several times before this trip, many Ironman finishers, marathoners, etc.