Day2: ~112 miles

[photos:
- a neat old city hall building,
- SAG stop at the Dover, Georgia Post office
- a daily regular for me: PBJ&S (a peanut butter and jelly and spinach sandwich...mmmmm!
- the group riding in a pace line (from the back)
- crossing into Georgia
- the group riding in a pace line (from the front)
- one of the SAG coolers
- a neat stop intersection
- the SAG table]

SAG stands for Support And Gear. I've convinced my wife that it's a positive thing when I call her my 'SAG'. And indeed she has picked me up a couple times on some rides last fall when the weather became unsafe or after double flatting. So we have one other person on this trip with us and he's driving the vehicle that supports us and sets up the SAG stops. We are typically stopping every 20 miles or so. In the morning they seem like they are happening all the time, but towards the end of the day they are appreciated for many reasons...

Today we rode ~112 miles averaging 15.8 mph. The ride time in the saddle today was 7 hrs and 4 minutes. An hour shorter than yesterday - and that extra hour is tough on the bottom. We rode in a pace line all day today - and we all stayed together. It was nice to all be together. It was a little difficult at times when some riders were riding to fast for the whole group and would have to reign it in a bit.

The church that we are stopping at tonight, rather than having us sleep at the church has put us up in the town Quality Inn and is providing our dinners at the tasty restaurant at the hotel. (The dinner was very good and it's nice to have a bed instead of sleeping on a hard floor. But, a hard floor is acceptable after the long days that we're putting in. )

The guys have been lovingly harassing me on little things - like the spinach. The church that we stayed at last night picked up a few things for us and even bought me a 1/2 gallon of soy milk! So I've been able to have that and spinach regularly and that's been nice (all I need now is some garlic and onion :-) I have had a couple of people (two) try some spinach though. I think that's good.

A pace line is when a group of riders follow each other in a single file line (there are other types of pace lines, but single file is very common). The biggest benefit is that the whole line can draft from the rider who is up front. When that person starts to drop off the pace they will drop back to the end of the line where the energy required to go that speed is less than that of the lead rider. Often on the way back others will say "Good Pull". That means thanks for leading and you maintained a good pace - or something along those lines: it's a "Thanks."

I didn't make any wrong turns today - so no extra "Man" miles (Craig).

Tomorrow is supposed to be ~92 miles. So, I'm hoping for a chance to put in a few extra miles in during one of the SAG stops so I can have another century ride. That way I can tell my grand kids about how I rode 6 century's in 6 days way back when... :-) It will also help me to get some of the need that I have to push hard at a time that everyone doesn't have to join me.

Well it's after 11 again. We rode in the rain for a short time today and that caused a lot of road grime to get into the brakes and chain and gears ... so a brief time was spent after dinner cleaning the bike so the brakes and gears were working correctly. And it just takes a while with this computer. It is nice to have wireless access in our room. Ten more minutes and the light should be out. Jon, my room mate and new friend from JAARS is already sleeping ... I can tell ...

Hunger: For dinner tonight I had this huge Calizone. It was monstrous. When it came I was thinking that it was way to much food ... but as the number of bites grew, the calizone decreased...right up to the point where it was gone! Then and hour and a half later - I was hungry. SO, my appetite is quite large these days...