Wow today was a top 5 most difficult day of the trip. Yesterday after 270 miles over 3 days (and feeling pretty good) my body decided to revolt. After dinner I started getting bad chills then a fever. My heart rate jumped to over 100 and stayed high most of the night. I thought it might dehydration so drank a ton of water. With the racing heart and now have to pee every hour from the water I didn’t get a lot of good sleep. I woke really worried about getting through the day. The smart thing would have been to take a rest day but as anyone who knows me will tell you, I’m not that smart.... so I strapped in, dialed back the pace, planned to stop a lot and most importantly got my head right. Today was going to be all about fighting the mind and all the reasons it will be telling me to stop.
The wind shifted to the south east so I had to fight it again and I came down with a chest cold...great! So I started chunking down the day to manageable parts. Started slow and set a reasonable pace goal. Then I just wanted to get the first 20 miles done. The ride started pretty and quite, with good bike path. Legs were sore and tight and I was already tired, not good. But I plugged on taking a quick stop here or there. The areas were pretty but I started to run into more spring breakers, making the path a little tricky! As I rolled into Panama beach close to 17 miles in I was fading already. But I slowed and made it to my first stop at 24 miles. There I refueled with a bagel and iced coffee and set out again. The next 35 miles to Mexico beach was unbelievable. The devastation from hurricane Michael was like nothing I’ve ever seen. Whole forests of mature trees knocked down like sticks, houses after houses raised or beyond repair. And it wasn’t just a block or two, it was 35 straight miles of a war zone. Mother Nature is an awesome and terrifying force. I felt so bad for all the communities, it will take many years to recover.
I stopped at Mexico beach (where Michael made landfall) for a chocolate shake. My body was starting to get in a groove, but I wasn’t out of the woods yet. When I started back up the wind started to howl. All the wind breaks of houses and forests were now gone and I knew I could never make the final 35 miles. But that was just my mind trying to beat me, and I wasn’t having it. Head down and pedal! I started to chunk down the day to smaller sections. If I can just complete the next 10. Then I can rest. When I completed the 10, it felt good, and I thought, I just did 10, I can gut out 10 more. Luckily the road turned away from the coast and was empty and less windy. The road surface was perfect and I could see the end in my mind. I pedaled on into the gathering darkness (and bugs!) and finished the day with a cold beer from couple staying at our hotel my wife met. They were so impressed with my journey they bought me a 6-pack. That beer was epic....