Day 55 – Good to be Back on the Bike

By Mark Heggestad
Jill and I spent yesterday and this morning driving back down to Marion, KY.  After 3,000 miles of the camaraderie of biking with Brian and Bruce’s phenomenal support, Jill is supporting me the rest of the way, assuring I get from motel to motel as I close out the last 1,000 miles.  After all this time of being away from home I am excited to experience the remainder of this journey with Jill.

By the time I retrieved my bike and gear and got back to my starting point it was 2:30 this afternoon.  However after two days off I had a lot of pent-up energy, and despite the late start I was able to bike 63.3 miles today, starting in Marion, KY and finishing the day in Glenville, KY.  It felt great to be back on the bike and riding the roads of Kentucky.  As happy as I was to be back the time off definitely allowed the body some needed recovery.  Thanks to my rested body, my excitement to be back on the bike, and knowing the day would be short, I may have pushed a little harder than usual, ending the day with an average pace of 14.8 mph.  I have done faster only one other time and that was back when I was in the mountains and had one of the largest net descents in a day.  I doubt I will set that pace again the rest of the trip and I fear I may pay for it a little tomorrow.  But it made for a fun fast day today!

It was a perfect day; great weather with temps in low 80’s, low humidity, and lots of sunshine.  The majority of the roads today were country roads with limited (and courteous) traffic.

I was distracted all day with picturesque terrain.  As I biked up and down gently rolling hills I was captivated by the lush green pastures and woods all along the way.  I could not have asked for a better day to kick off my biking after a two-day break.

Typical scenery from today's ride

Gently rolling hills.
Typical road from today's ride.

Another road from today's ride

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