Rose Pedals . . .: It's All About the Legs

Day 24
Tuesday, October 6, 2015
Greenville, AL to Eufaula, AL
110 miles
4,900 feet of climbing

Today our route took us through some of the prettiest areas of Alabama we've seen so far. We had some very big rolling hills at the beginning of today's route for which my legs were not quite ready. On a typical day on this tour, I've found it takes a good 20 to 25 miles for my legs to "wake up" to the point they do not "complain" (i.e., hurt me) when I make them work hard. This basically means I take it easy for those initial miles. But with the big rolling hills right off the bat this morning, there was no time to let my legs wake up, and so they did a lot of complaining. I had to have a talk with them:

Me: "Legs, I need you to work . . . now. We have some big hills we have to get over."
My Legs: "No. We're not awake yet. Check back with us after about 20 miles."
Me: "But the hills are coming up now. (Ouch!)"
My Legs: "Too bad. You know the routine. Be nice to us for 20 miles, and then we'll see about helping you."
Me: "Um . . . any flexibility on that?
My Legs: "None."
Me: "This is going to hurt a lot, isn't it."
My Legs: "Yes, for at least 20 miles."

And so that's how it went. After some initial suffering, my legs did finally stop hurting and start working, and I enjoyed a beautiful ride through southern Alabama. The weather was picture perfect - sunny and in the mid 70s. When we finished the ride, my great husband (and traveling bike mechanic) worked on my bike, which has developed a strange clicking noise over the past few days. Most of our group had dinner at a nice and conveniently-located Mexican Restaurant just a couple of steps from our hotel. Our waitress did not speak any English, which made for an interesting dining experience. Nevertheless, she did a great job (with the help of another waitress who translated for us), and the food was excellent. In all, it was another great day on and off the bike!