9 Apr 09 – Day Forty-Three. After forty-three days on the road, Jake and Marty rolled across the Intracoastal bridge on route 206 south of St. Augustine, turned south on A1A and took a quick left to roll on down to the Atlantic to dip the bikes into the surf, celebrating the end of their epic ride. To help them celebrate they were joined by 30 or so friends and family who gathered at the nearby South Beach Grill to eat, drink and be merry. And the journey that began so long ago on the shores of the Pacific was over.

In the first post about this journey, I posed the question, “What does it take to ride across country,” and I guess it’s time to answer the question. The answer, of course, depends on how quickly it’s done. The best RAAM riders do it in a little over a week with full support, nearly superhuman physical fitness and a mental conditioning few can achieve. But to do it in six weeks, unsupported, what does it take? There are two parts to it, the physical and the mental. For the physical part, that’s easy to answer. Based on a local weekly time trial (click TnTT results tab), we know Jake is capable of time trialing at 24 mph over a relatively short TT course (just under 10 miles). The mental half of the equation is much more difficult to quantify but we can guess at it by what Jake and Marty went through while on the ride.

Due to his knee pain, for 4-5 days in a row, Marty started the day’s ride knowing that even if he finished the day it was likely to be his last in the saddle on this epic ride. But after a day off the bike to recover and with some medical assistance, he rode on. And Jake, who contracted a fairly violent virus that lasted for 4 or 5 days and resulted in his tossing his cookies on a regular basis, lost around 8-10 pounds (starting from 155 lbs) in those few days. But after a day off the bike and some medical assistance, he rode on. So what does it take mentally? It takes a never-quit attitude that drives one to achieve what the timid and weak-minded can only dream of. It takes the mindset of an adventurer, an explorer.

And why do adventurers do it? That’s easy – because they’re human, they’re alive and, in this case, they’re cyclists.

8 Apr 09 – Day Forty-Two. Although the wayward cyclists are closing in on their destination, it now appears they may be having second thoughts about actually completing the journey. Perhaps it’s randonneur’s remorse or maybe a fear of waking up on Friday and not having someplace to go, no tangible target, no physicality to battle against, no gator to wrestle, no alien to avoid or maybe it’s just a fear of showers and civilization. As evidence of their meandering, see the map.

4 Apr 09 – Day Thirty-Eight. Somehow they ended up in Georgia today which seems a little odd until you look at a map and see their route took them close to the frontier (yes, it’s a frontier) and one wrong turn could put them into the Atlanta suburbs (OK, it’s not that sprawling…yet). After finding their way into Georgia, they realized their mistake but decided to spend the night anyway despite the infestation of mutant rabid white flying squirrels (they’ve been drinking the Chattahoochee river water). Another 87 miles gone.

5 Apr 09 – Day Thirty-Nine. Working their way back into Florida they managed 93 miles today. Content in their accomplishments and pleased to have made it this far relatively unscathed they felt the need to sacrifice something to the gods of cycling. So before retiring for the evening they lit a raging bonfire of bicycle tires, beer boxes and cycling shorts. Fortunately no beer was lost, but those tires might have come in handy and the shorts…well, it seems like the saddle would chafe the tender bits without shorts. A total of around 2638 miles so far.

6 Apr 09 – Day Forty. It’s getting a little windy here in Florida and the forecast for tomorrow and Wednesday is more of the same and a lot colder. But they’re almost home and the day’s rides are getting shorter so they won’t even notice the 30+mph gusts and the high 30s temperatures. And somewhere in here SPOT, their GPS tracker, is no longer in agreement with their blog entries so we can only assume another alien abduction. Either that or Jake was arrested for cycling without shorts and he’s in some jail in north central Florida waiting for Kelly to arrive with bail.

7 Apr 09 – Day Forty-One. Finishing the day in Gainesville and with a whole bunch of miles behind them, they have less than a hundred miles to go to reach the Atlantic coast in St. Augustine and only two more days in the saddle.

31 Mar 09 – Day Thirty-Four. Most cyclists are aware of the “F” curse. As soon as you mention that it’s been a long time since you had a “F” (no, not that F but the one that affects cycling…well, I suppose the other one could affect cycling), you get one or two or more in rapid succession. Well the travelers proved the curse lives on. And if that wasn’t enough, they managed to get rained on as well. But a plus for the day – they’re out of Louisiana and into Mississippi and the gambling mecca of the southeast – Gulfport/Biloxi and they probably managed to find the only place in the deep south where wearing cycling clothing doesn’t look out of place – a casino. They’ve now covered about 2238 miles since leaving San Diego so long ago. Just about a week or so left on the road.

1 Apr 09 – Day Thirty-Five. Mississippi to Mobile and beyond. Another 90 miles behind them.

2 Apr 09 – Day Thirty-Six. The last rest day spent in Gulf Shores, Alabama. They’re in the home stretch now.

3 Apr 09 – Day Thirty-Seven. They spent the day getting lost in Pensacola (no, it’s really not that big or confusing), fording streams, fighting off gators, covering 130 miles and ending the day in the queen city of the highlands of Florida (yes, there are highlands in Florida – well, sort of) – DeFuniak Springs. And what is Defuniak famous for? It’s the county seat of Walton County, the county that has within its borders the highest point in Florida and south Walton County, which is the unofficial capital of nauseatingly cutesy beach cottage development on the gulf coast. At the end of the day they had a total of about 2458 miles of pavement under their pedals.

26 Mar 09 – Day Twenty-Nine. A difficult 63 miles due to rather nasty weather both externally (it is spring and windy, occasionally rainy, and sometimes really windy) and internally (in Jake’s intestines).

27 Mar 09 – Day Thirty. They left Texas today but not exactly in a blaze of glory. After about 41 miles into the day’s ride, Jake’s intestinal tract finally said no more and subsequently deposited his previous few meals along the side of the road somewhere in southeast Texas (good place for a historical marker). Marty managed another 45 miles after Jake gave it the old heave ho and as a plus Jake got to visit (via a rental car) the Beauregard Hospital in DeRidder, Louisiana (in Beauregard Parish). And what is DeRidder famous for (besides having a visiting green cyclist)? Each cell in the local pokey had a toilet, shower, lavatory and window – for some reason the jail was closed in 1982 (too long a waiting list?).

28 Mar 09 – Day Thirty-One. With Jake’s nausea left on the road in Texas, the intrepid pair cycled on through lower Louisiana and managed to put another 76 miles behind them before spending the night in Ville Platte. They’ve now covered nearly 2000 miles (1966) and should have less than 1000 miles to go.

29 Mar 09 – Day Thirty-Two. On the road again. Through the famous (or is it infamous) Opelousas (think creole, acadian, zydeco), across the Mississippi and on into Baton Rouge, the capital of a state of mind as much as a political entity and home to LSU. And there’s so much history, and uh, a sort of textured culture in this part of Louisiana that it literally drips off the trees (Oh, so that’s what that was).

30 Mar 09 – Day Thirty-Three. Incommunicado…again. Those pesky aliens are still at it. A total of about 2125 miles behind them and they’re almost into Mississippi. Florida’s just a few of days away now.

20 Mar 09 – Day Twenty-Three. On the road again after their rest day, they covered an uneventful 83 miles and ended in Uvalde. Where is Uvalde? Somewhere west of San Antonio. And what is it famous for? Being the birthplace of Matthew McConaughey and Dale Evans…and the Aviation Museum of Texas at Garner Field. Exciting stuff.

21 Mar 09 – Day Twenty-Four. And another 84 miles today to end the day in San Antonio, the most visited city in Texas. Also the second-largest city in Texas and the seventh-largest city in the US. I wonder at what point they wouldn’t list where they ranked in the nation. Fifteenth? Thirtieth? It is Texas, they’d probably list one hundred thirty-seventh. Other fun facts about San Antonio? They have a Six Flags and a Sea World and some old building called the Alamo or the Alamo Mission in San Antonio (and no, it’s not to rent more cars) or Mission San Antonio de Valero.

As for the bike ride, more wind in face. I guess it was a headwind. I wonder if they realize that as you pedal and move forward that the wind is in your face.

22 Mar 09 – Day Twenty-Five. Another 93 miles on through Texas to finish in Bastrop. Where’s Bastrop? East of Austin, somewhere in Texas hill country. Up, down, repeat. And they’re claiming 20-30 mph headwinds.

23 Mar 09 – Day Twenty-Six. Another 83 miles, more headwind. Same old same old. Well, OK maybe not exactly the same. The total mileage now is around 1656, more than half way, only 1444 to go.

24 Mar 09 – Day Twenty-Seven. They managed to cover 86 miles today and this despite our hero getting sick. He didn’t elaborate but it sounds like he might have been a little green (bad timing – should have been a week ago) – must have been one too many burritos or too many crunchies (see photo). Sometime today they passed through Navasota which is a little south of College Station. And why do I mention this? Because College Station is the home of Texas World Speedway where your editor, many eons ago, got his first taste of real speed on two wheels.

25 Mar 09 – Day Twenty-Eight. Rest day for our intrepid adventurers – hopefully our hero will recover quickly from his greenness. And, in a short burst of brilliance, the adventurers shipped home 33 lbs of gear and one trailer. They promise more speed. They are now four weeks into what Jake anticipated to be a six week journey. They’ve covered 1742 miles, more or less and are in Coldspring, Texas. That leaves 1358 to go or 1200 according to their calculations and only 912 according to Google Maps. Less than 100 miles a day. Piece of cake except perhaps for the wind. It’s a typical windy spring here in Florida, mostly out of the east or southeast or northeast (they’re used to headwinds by now, right?). We look forward to their arrival in St Augustine around the 8th – 10th of April. Maybe they’ll even stretch it out and actually get to Palm Coast (about 30 miles south of St. Augie).

17 Mar 09 – Day Twenty. For the first time in their journey, the intrepid adventurers covered more than one hundred miles (110 actually) in a day! Woohoo! And for the second time on their trip they passed through Alpine (though in Texas not California). And their knack for finding the weird and wonderful is still going strong (see photo). Their route took them mostly east through a relatively easy area (lack of big climbs and overall downhill) with them overnighting in the booming metropolis of Sanderson.

110 miles covered today making for a total of 1203.

18 Mar 09 – Day Twenty-One. As further proof of their alien abduction, Jake cites today as the 20th day. Obviously he lost a day during the abduction. No matter, they pressed onward, perilously close to the southern frontier, with a bit more wind resistance but still managed a full day (with stop) of nearly 10 hours and roughly 110 miles. Two centuries in a row!

1313 miles behind them, less than 1800 to go.

19 Mar 09 – Day Twenty-Two. A long overdue day of rest.

16 Mar 09 – Day Nineteen. Frostbite, or is it frostbike? Apparently it was a bit nippy out there. And I guess the mountains aren’t quite over yet – they topped 6000′ again and at one point managed to eek out only 14 miles in 3 hours (time to walk?).

Hilly, hilly, hilly. Yes, west Texas is hilly. How hilly? The topo somewhere in this post shows their last 10 miles on the 15th and all their miles on the 16th. All on Texas highway 118. Their camp in the culvert was somewhere around the 4500′ level. Apparently it’s high enough out there for an observatory – the McDonald Observatory (around 6700′) – and no, it’s not where you observe a McDonald’s. For the observatory trivia buffs – the McDonald houses the Hobby-Eberly Telescope, one of the world’s largest optical telescopes (433″) – things are big in Texas. They claim some of the darkest night skies in the continental US – tells you how much Jake and Marty are out in the middle of – uh- nowhere. And you’ve might have heard StarDate (usually on a PBS station). Well, next time listen closely and you’ll note StarDate is from the McDonald Observatory – cool, huh?.

37 miles cold and painful miles behind them, 1093 total.