Route rap: Each night, before dinner, the group gets together, usually in the hotel's lobby, to go over the next day's route sheet, pointing out any important cautions or locations of Dairy Queens.
We had a nice tailwind all the way to Charleston. It was cool when we left the hotel, but it soon warmed up under sunny skies. Our route took us through Myrtle Beach, which is a beach resort with miles of hotels, condominiums, restaurants, miniature golf, etc. We then turned back onto SR17 for many, many miles of what Doug (Britain) calls a dual carriageway - translation, four-lane highway. Traffic was Saturday morning light and we made good time, but there wasn't much of note to look at. As we approached Charleston, traffic picked up, but Jan, who is from the area, had suggested an alternate route that took us away from construction and over the Cooper River Bridge (aka the Arthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge). Completed in 2005, the CRB is beautiful, but for me the ride across was terrifying; I don't particularly like heights and it was windy.185 feet above the river. The bridge is 2.9 miles long and cost $700 million dollars.
Charleston, SC (1670)
Population 120,083; elevation 20'
(metropolitan Charleston has a population of 659,191)
Recognized as the "best mannered city in the US."
119.3 miles; 6:21 hours; 754' of climb; 7,075 Calories.
Charles Ravenel was a famous quarterback at Harvard during the 80's or 90's who beat Yale in a comeback win in The Game. His brother was indicted in about 2003 for some malfeasance while a local office holder. He is a Republican.
ReplyDeleteLike one of our idols, Mark Cavendish (aka "The Manx Missile"), the members of Team Bitey Girl and the Mutts also prefer to race dirty; we believe that a morning shower just slows you down and saps your mojo.
ReplyDeleteThus, there was general consternation at the team briefing this morning when our directeur sportif revealed the day's race plan - a mid-morning bath, followed by a short circuit along the Redondo breezeway and nail trimming.
Never one to give up without a fight, our fearless leader made a mad dash for freedom but was caught outside the final km and hauled away by team medics. The Second Rider, ever-obliging, came quietly.