5 days post ride

finally made it home to Austin yesterday (Sat Sept 11th) after a quick visit to Tucson....my bike case, shipped FedEx from San Diego on Wed, arrived yesterday too which was good....got it all unpacked and but not much else....feels great to be home....
for the last few days my appetite has been constant and I eat about every 2 hours....today I have hit the wall physically....my legs feel very heavy and it feels exhausting to walk up a flight of stairs....I got up this morning around 4am and already had an hour nap in by 9am....I'm sure I'll nap again this afternoon....my thought is this will be a 2-3 week recovery....
a picture album is now on my facebook...

Summary of the Ride

I did not miss having to wake up this morning and get on the bike and ride....it was time to be done....instead got the bike cleaned up, taken apart, packed and off to FedEx to be shipped home....
Before I began the ride there was a fear of failure....I wasn't sure I was going to be able to stay on the schedule or hold up physically....but the reality is the failure would been in not trying....
Sometimes I feel like I'm not quite sure what just happened or if it really did happen....there was so much over the last 13 days that everything hasn't really sunk in yet....the coast was more spectacular then I ever imagined....
I feel pretty good....a little tired with very heavy feeling legs but nothing sore or hurt....today I have been very hungry and needing to eat about every 2 hours....I lost 3lbs during the trip....
thank you Sandy....you are my lifeline....without any doubt, I could not have done this without you....much love....and Mom, same to you, your prayers were felt down the entire coast....
a big thanks to the Hanley family, Anne Marie, Bruce and Kaisa for the home stay in Goleta....you are the best....and to my buddy Dave and friend Nancy....even though everyone rides at their own pace, it was good to have someone along the way the last 5 days looking out for each other....

1616 miles total
13 day average of ~124 miles/day
12 day average of ~130 miles/day subtracting the day 1 travel day of 55 miles

thanks to all who followed the blog....I hope to have a complete album of pictures of Facebook soon....

I will post a total ride summary later today

summary of day 13

woke up to mixed feelings....sad and glad....as with the last 4 days this day is familiar from having done San Fransisco to San Diego at least a half dozen times....so then came the surprise of drizzle to rain to drizzle to rain with 25mph headwinds....this has never happened anytime previously....combine that with rush hour traffic through LA and Long Beach and I felt if I lived after the first 25 miles there's a chance I can finish the ride....dicey conditions....after about 30 miles the rain stopped but the wind did not....in fact it was headwind the whole day....by Laguna Beach, 50 miles to go the sun can out....through Dana Pt, San Clemente and then through the USMC base, Camp Pendleton....at the base, with about 25 miles to go it hit me...or I allowed it to hit...I had a flood of emotion difficult to explain....but I quickly suppressed it with too many miles still to go....under 5 miles left and the emotion returned....and when the day and the ride was over I realized that the whole thing is going to take some time to sink in....104 miles for the day....

It's over...I made it...more later

Thought to start the day

It ain't over until it's over...

Map 13b