A day to think

We had a relatively late start at 8 today and it seemed to be 80 degrees already. John and I rode together for the first 10 miles or so. Pam came up on John's wheel very fast and John moved in front of me. I think that Pam must have seen it as a challenge and she passed John. John was having none of it and they were off to the races at about 27 mph and settled into a cruise pace of 24 for a few miles. Pam is on the staff and she always rides sweep. After a few exhilarating miles, she turned around and went back to the sweep position. We had no idea that she was that fast. Of course, every ABB staff member is quite quick.

John continued on at a strong pace. I rode the rest of the day by myself. The SAG was in the small town of Viola. That was my mother's name and she was born just 125 miles from there. So I had in my mind that the town was named after her. Of course, that is a complete fiction. But giving some extended thoughts to my parents was comforting today. Anyway, riding by myself gave me time to think about something else besides switching position with John and keeping off his wheel when he is in front. With 5 riding days to go, thoughts are turning to home and post-ride plans.

The day was unremarkable in scenery. It was the usual cornfields on both sides of the road until the SAG. As I looked down the road from the SAG, I could see trees and rolling hills. So there were no more cornfields. The last 6 miles to the hotel were on a bike path along the river. After seeing much commercial traffic on the river, I saw recreational use on it the last 2 days. Today there were some cabin cruiser type boats moving along and yesterday I witnessed someone fishing from a boat in the river. There were plenty of idle industrial plants along the river. Our hotel tonight in Moline is the Stoney Creek Inn and is the nicest of the trip. The area around the hotel looks largely redeveloped and is quite nice. We saw many cyclists along the path, mostly casual riders out for a Sunday stroll. It was probably the largest number of other riders we have seen other than for the race in St. Genevieve last weekend.

In answer to Ira's comment yesterday about chocolate milk, I did have one yesterday at the second SAG. 13.5 ounces went down without taking my lips off the bottle. It was very tasty. My preferred recovery drink after a long day is V8 juice. It is richer in sodium and potassium. I bought a 46 ounce bottle yesterday after my lunch and consumed about 40 ounces of it by departure this morning. I find it to be a good preparation drink on these hot and humid days. I frequently buy a small bottle at a gas station along the way.

Day's stats: 59.8 miles; 16.5 mph; climbing unknown.