Orny's Cycling Journal

The following is a transcription of a phone post that originally appeared in my main journal, here.

Okay, it's 9:30 am and I'm at the 'lunch' stop in Dighton, 70 miles into the ride.

It's gotten about ten degrees warmer, so now it's about 81-82 degrees, and still crazy humid. The sky is kind of mixed overcast and sunny, so there is a little bit of respite from the direct sunlight. But we're coming out of the woods and going into the more exposed coastal section of the ride. But generally doing well.

I did spend this past section riding with my buddy Jay. We took it a little easy because he of course rode 95 miles yesterday on PMC Day 0 from the New York border. He spent like 12 hours in the saddle, so he's a little tired. Plus my right knee's acting up a little bit; it's just painful to put a lot of torque on, so I'm taking it a little bit easier as well.

I'm not gonna spend much time here at the lunch stop, again just going to fill my bottles and go, mostly because it allows me to stay ahead of the bulk of riders. And it means I can take it a little bit easier while I'm on the road: rest a little bit on the road, and then I don't have to stress too much about my arrival time in Bourne at Mass Maritime.

That's it from here; doing pretty well. But again, very hot and humid, and just gonna nurse it in from here. Not gonna stress it too much, and still making incredible time. A 18.5 mph pace is pretty ridiculous, but that's coming down quickly.

That's it! I hope you're all having a wonderful day, and again thank everyone for both their interest and their support because it means an awful lot, and it's been a wonderful year from a fundraising and support standpoint. So much appreciated!

See you at the next stop in Lakeville, which should be around 10:30, okay? Talk to you later!

The following is a transcription of a phone post that originally appeared in my main journal, here.

Well I've made it to the Dighton lunch stop, which is 70 miles in, which means my rear wheel has continued to hold together despite the fact that the last three mechanical stops and two vans on the road, none of them have had the spokes I need to replace my spoke. However things are holding together well, and as I say it seems to be holding together so maybe we're okay for now.

We're in Dighton. Dighton is the location of the annual Cow Chip Festival where people place bets to guess which square in a field the cow will defecate on first (we're kind of in rural Mass right now).

And we're about to pass over a one-lane swing-span bridge, which is the oldest swing-span bridge in the US. Over the Taunton River, it was built in the 1890s. It's a one-lane bridge.

And Berkley, which we'll be going through at about the time we hit that bridge: B-E-R-K-L-E-Y. There's a missing 'E' in there because when they filed the name of the town in the state records, there was a misspelling in the registration, so it's Berkley, not Berkeley.

That's it, things seem to be going well. It's getting hot here. We're approaching 90 degrees. But feel really good, just a little bit of twinge in the neck, but hoping mostly that the mechanicals hold together. So far so good. That's it, we'll talk to you again shortly at the next rest stop.

The following is a transcription of a phone post that originally appeared in my main journal, here.

Ok, we are at the Dighton/Rehoboth lunch stop at 70 miles. And Charlie and I have been riding together. It is 91 degrees out, hazy, very hot and humid, very bright sun. And doing ok, still, you know, a little knees, a little ankle, but in general, the ride's going well. Averaging about 16 miles an hour right now, which is a pretty healthy average. Just generally happy with the ride. Taking it a little bit easy and enjoying it and trying to stay hydrated. That's all for now; we'll be talking to you again in another hour or so at the next stop. But so far so good. And definitely keeping in mind Ken and Christine, who I'm riding for, and all the other people who have told me their stories and shared them with me. Appreciate everything that everyone has done to make this ride possible for me. And hope those of you who are actually listening in are enjoying the little updates, although they are not very exciting, vut we'll keep 'em coming. And hopefully in another couple hours, I'll be able to talk to you from Mass Maritime Academy in Bourne at the 110 mile finish (for today of course, with another 70- or 80-odd miles tomorrow). That's it for now. I'll talk to you soon.