Today, I biked 100.8 miles from south of Greensboro to Angier, way south of Raleigh. The route snaked around a lot and dropped as much South as East. This fact played head games with me all day. I was on familiar turf from my training rides. Alamance and Chattham Counties, then swooping across Jordan Lake and the Sharron Harris nuclear plant. You'd think that home turf would be a confidence boost, but it actually made me feel like I still had a very long way to go (which I do). And the land around Pittsboro and the Haw River folds up on itself into one short, steep valley after another.
And the land would flatten out for awhile today - look after mile 60 on the elevation chart - but never completely. Even here in Angier, the soil is sandy and every few miles I would see a view that looked like Eastern North Carolina - sandy soil on the edge of the road, then fields stretching flat to the horizon. But then another dip into a hollow would bring another steep climb up, making my legs burn.
I'm not sure what to say, except that the riding is going well, even though it's getting harder and my hands and seat and feet are in a lot of pain by the end of the day. I set out to do something that would challenge me like never before to show how much I believe in providing a quality, equal education to every child in North Carolina. And it looks like I'll be able to do it, which feels wonderful.
Today, one of the roads I took was called Major Hill Road. I thought, "I hope that's named after an army officer names Mr. Hill, and not because the road has a MAJOR HILL." That is the kind of lame joke that pops into my tired, wandering mind and strikes me as hilariously funny, even though it's probably not at all. Hey, eight hours on a bike is a long time.
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