Day 14 - Kill Devil Hill, NC to Ocracoke, NC 78 miles

You are going to see a lot of pictures today. The scenery tells more than I can - hope you enjoy this blog.

Just the stats: 79.6 miles, 17.1 MPH average. Started riding at 7:50 am, finished at 1:25 pm - 4 hours 39 minutes riding time. Sunny and warm, 65 to 75 degrees. Calories burned on the ride - 4,569.

Still riding on the Outer Banks of NC. This is familiar riding territory for me, when Yvonne, Jen Alan, Rachel and I went to Duck NC for a week at the beach, I trained on these same roads we rode on today.

Today was a much more relaxed riding day. The excessive speed from yesterday gave way to a calmer more relaxed ride among four new riding friends.

Gordon, Dennis, Tom and Ty rode together in a sensible pace line, each taking turns up front pulling or leading for a mile, then dropping back to let another lead. Four can do what one couldn't do alone - and we had fun.

The first bridge up was the 2.4 mile long Oregon Inlet Bridge. We hit this bridge early in the ride at mile 15, so ten riders were together making for a safe crossing.

We then rode fifty miles through the undeveloped Cape Hatteras National Seashore.

At mile 65 we boarded the Cape Hatteras Ferry for a 40 min. crossing onto Ocracoke Island.

We arrived at our waterfront hotel around 1:30 pm.

When we travel a fun part of our tour is meeting people along the way. We met and visited with two great kids - Paige and Peter during our lunch on Ocracoke Island.

Peter asked a big question; "Do you ever get tired?" I'm still trying to answer that one properly. I'll take all day tomorrow thinking about the answer.

Tomorrow is a rest day in the quiet little village on Ocracoke Island. This entire Island is owned by the US National Park Service except for this small village.

The rest of these pictures pictures are from my hotel room and balcony on the fourth floor.

Enjoy these pictures and I plan on enjoying my day off the bike.

Click on pictures to enlarge.

Day 13 - Virginia Beach, VA to Kill Devil Hill, NC 77 miles

Just the stats: 77 miles, 19.1 MPH average. Started riding at 7:50 am, finished at 12:25 pm - 4 hours 2 minutes riding time. Sunny and warm, 67 to 76 degrees. Calories burned on the ride - 4,947.

I had my first flat today at around mile 62. I had the tire fixed in about five minutes, so it really wasn't so bad - I needed a break about then.

This is a view of the inter coastal waterway.






Today did in fact turn out to be a great riding day. We had a tail wind from the north all day long. I joined a pace line early and were off to the races. Those guys flew all day. We hit the SAG at mile 35.3 averaging 19.9 mph. The roads are mostly flat now. We had traffic early on but managed to work our way out of town onto the country roads.





Here is a close up of my Garmin bike computer (thanks Reid!!) - I took this picture at mile 32.9.

It is hard to see but this is the data I monitor all day long. This shows from top left down; Riding Time: 1 hr 39 min., Speed: 20.4 mph, Distance: 32.9 miles, Time of Day: 9:47 am, Cadence (pedal speed): 72 BPM, Average Speed: 19.9 mph, Grade: 1%









We finished the day on the Outer Banks of NC in Kill Devil Hills, close to Kitty Hawk and Duck, NC. This picture was taken around 3:30 pm. I cleaned up pretty good didn't I? The sun was shinning and it was around 78 degrees.

Day 12 - Pocomoke, MD to Virginia Beach, VA 76 miles

Just the stats: 76 miles, 16.8 MPH average. Started riding at 8:50 am, finished at 12:45 pm - 4 hours 32 minutes riding time. Cloudy and warm with light rain in the am, 68 to 77 degrees, 100% humidity. Calories burned on the ride - 4,355.

Another cloudy rainy day in the country. The rain was light and only lasted the first hour. It was foggy until around 10 am and then just cloudy and very humid. The roads were a little rougher today, that with slight headwinds slowed us down.

I rode alone most of the day. My riding friend, Gordon got a flat early on in the ride but didn't let me know he was stopping. Looked behind me at one point and he wasn't behind me as he usually is. So I rode on alone.

On wet rainy days we tend to get flats easier. A number of riders had flats today.

We rode through eastern shore farmland all day today. It was interesting to see all the tomatoes growing in this area. Not much traffic on these back roads on this Sunday.

At the end of today's ride we gathered up and rode our support vehicles across the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel. Here is a little history on the bridge: The Bridge-Tunnel project is a four-lane 20-mile-long crossing of the lower Chesapeake Bay. The crossing consists of bridges and two one-mile-long tunnels. The northbound portion opened in 1964 and the southbound opened in 1999 - both spans took four years to build.

Since I was the third rider to finish the 76 mile ride today, I figured I would have no problem riding in the first mini-van across. Well, I forgot about the folks who sag (riders who don't ride all day). I did get the last spot in the second van which went out together with the truck and first mini-van.

We have 24 riders on this ride (two people dropped out already). Not all riders ride the whole way every day. I am guessing here, but I would say maybe 7 or 8 of us riders have ridden every mile every day so far (we call it EFI). If I stay healthy, I hope to do it again.

Tomorrow we ride 77 miles to Kill Devil Hill, NC. The only thing I will be weary of is we have a 2.8 mile bridge with no shoulder - I will not cross that bridge alone. I'll wait for a couple of riders so we can take a lane and be seen by the other drivers.

I checked out the weather - it should be a partly cloudy day tomorrow, 68 to 77 degrees with winds from the north. Should be a great riding day.

Thanks for following me. Tom

Day 11 - Rehoboth Beach,DE to Pocomoke City, MD 66.5 miles

Just the stats: 66.5 miles, 18.2 MPH average. Started riding at 8:45 am, finished at 12:45 pm - 3 hours 47 minutes riding time. Sunny, warm with heavy rain, 68 to 72 degrees, 100% humidity. Calories burned on the ride - 4,720.



We had a rest stop or SAG stop at 34 miles. Its just a light snack as you can see if you enlarge the picture. I don't spend much more than 7 to 9 minutes at these SAG stops.

In this last picture, we have finished our ride, you may not be able to see it, but we are soaked!

Today was a short 66 mile day so we started an hour later at 8:45 am. The wind when we had it was favorable. It was cloudy all day. The rain started around 11:45 am and was very heavy by noon on. I cleaned my bike yesterday, after arriving soaked, I cleaned it again. The rain wasn't too big of a distraction because it was 70* to 72* as we rode.

We rode down the coastal highway from Rehoboth on through Ocean City - a 28 mile ride. Then we turned west for six miles onto Route 50 before turning south on back roads. Gordon and I got off to a quick start, we rode with a four man pace line until around mile 40 and when the rains came, we picked up our own pace, leaving the group behind.

Tonight we are in Pocomoke City, about 12 miles west of Chincoteague Island in Worcester County, MD. This is a farming area with plenty of chicken farms also.

Tomorrow we ride 76 miles to the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel. We will load bikes onto vans and get a 50 minute car ride to Virginia Beach, VA.

Day 10 - REST DAY - Rehoboth Beach,DE

I'll let the pictures tell the story of today. I couldn't have asked for a better day than today.

You can click on any of these pictures and they will open as a larger picture.

Tomorrow I am on the road again. We are going 76 miles to Pocomoke, MD.

Ed Pauksta, thanks for the encouragement. I hope you will get back up on your bike and ride long again. Good continued health to you my brother.

Thanks to everyone for following me and thanks for the comments. -- Tom