June 14 Crossing America

Berea, KY – Bardstown, KY Distance 96 miles

On the road by 6:45 and the endless string of hills began.   Had to laugh at Aaron as last night he pointed out none of today’s hills gain over 400’ in elevation so it will be an easy 96 miles.  Silly Florida boy, these hills may not be high but one after the other is as challenging as going up one long hill such as we had in the Appalachians.   Met him at
the last water stop, Lincoln’s Homestead State Park and he was a wee bit exhausted from all the hill climbing.  I’d almost said “I told you so”.

For me the riding was much like doing the MS 150 in Missouri a succession of rolling hills.
About the most time I’ve been able to take my eyes off the pavement in front of my bike to enjoy the beauty of these hills, even spotted a few deer throughout the day.  Still had to contend with dogs but my system continues to work, I even throw in some barking of my
own to distract them.  One of our other riders Mark, the only guy older than me on this adventure, wasn’t as lucky he collided with a dog which ran out in front of him.  Mark now has a good case of pavement rash and a slightly buggered up bike.  I was only about a quarter mile behind Mark when the accident happened so was first on the scene.  After checking Mark’s new rashes out and noting he didn’t have any broken bones.   We walked about a 100’ to a safer spot and I asked Mark to sit down and put his head between his knees to keep him from going into shock.  Instead he wanted to fix his bike and was
showing signs of confusion doing the same thing over and over.  Finally I insisted he sit which he then did.  I phoned Bridget and had her come pick him and take him to the hospital for proper cleaning of his road rash and get some antibiotics on the wounds if not in his body too.  After he and Bridget left I went to the home where the dogs lived and obtained all the home owners information and advised them they were responsible for their dog and any damages he caused such as medical billes.  At the very least by letting them know they are responsible they may keep their dogs chained or penned in the future.  I gave the infomation to Mark to do whatever he wants with it.  Mark thanked me and admitted by the time they got to the hospital he was feeling light headed.  Actually the thanks goes to the years of me being a Boy Scout leader and the annual first-aid lessons I had to take as such.

The last 20 miles of the ride I once again partnered up with Trish.  She’s quite the Trooper, Trish is also a Florida girl who doesn’t have hills to ride at home, puts her head down and
charges up hills with ferocity.  I did notice today I was able to keep pace with her going up the hills, must mean I’m getting in better shape too.  Trish made me laugh as she asked when the hills would end.   Sorry I had to inform her to get used to it as we will have it like this pretty much through Missouri.

Stayed at the Old Kentucky Home State Park in Bardstown, it’s the nicest park we’ve  stayed in which means it had really nice showers and restrooms.  The park was more like a city park, well-manicured, even had a golf course next to our campsite.

One of the girls Britney is having some problems saddle sore and other related area problems so Amanda and Bridget took her to the ER to be checked out.  Unfortunate for me I failed to retrieve my food and cooking stuff before they left.  After an hour I decided to ride my bike back to a McDonalds we passed on the way into the park.  I pigged out on
fries, 2 Big Macs, 3 regular cokes (changed from Diet for the sugar) and a new Rolo McFlurry.  Figured I burned about 8,000 calories riding today so had to fuel my body even though it wasn’t food Icare to eat.

Looking forward to having a short 45 mile ride tomorrow, it will be like a day off.

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