I was awake at 5 a.m. and began thinking about the ride ahead of me. I was rested but still tired from yesterday. I packed up my bike, swallowed some water, and ate some dry granola. I am now down to one and a half bottles of water. I have fifteen miles to the first place to get water and food.
I get back onto the gravel, two inches of walnut-sized stone. The road is full of washboard stone, making riding difficult and slow. I go up and down; the next down is steep, long, and winding. In the hollow, I come across a herd of goats huddled together in the road.
On the other side of the goats is a hill, turns out to be about a mile-long climb with the steepest section being a 20% grade. I begin to push the bike; it’s all I can do to get to the top after multiple rest stops.
I stop and rest at the top and gulp down water. I finally have cell service and text Nancy. An ATV comes up the hill and stops. The man driving is a Josh, live close by. We talk, and he gives me very good advice of the area. He directs me to a Dollar General on route, but it is ten miles away.
So far, riding this terrain with these road conditions has taken me ninety minutes to go five miles.
I have a 56-mile day and 40 miles to go. I take Josh’s advice and stay on the paved road to Annapolis. The paved roads are still very still, and some hills require pushing my bike. I have low energy from the day before and the lack of water and food.
From Annapolis, I would still have another fifteen miles to the campground. I get to Annapolis at 6:30 pm exhausted. Nancy had gotten my text and call to talk. I now have cell; she is at a campground forty minutes away, and she offers to pick me up to stay with her.
It is after 9 pm, I am at her campground. I shower and slide off to sleep.