Day
22 from Greenwood to Orangeburg was to include a flat time trial
for the final day of racing. John and I were back to work after
three days of riding, so we couldn't exactly sneak in another
and do the time trial, especially since it finished at lunch.
After riding together a little the day before, Muffy and Susan
decided to try the time trial on Susan's tandem. Driving along
the course we started to wonder exactly what Lon considered
flat as the route rolled up and down some pretty steep hills.
I couldn't wait to hear the comments from the racers about the
flat route. The best came from Mike Rourke, who said that if
Lon's sister were as flat as that course that he'd still go
out with her !
The weather for this trip had been absolutely amazing, with
the exception of that one cold rainy day in Texas. But our good
luck wouldn't hold, and a light drizzle started during the race.
I had talked with Ray about trying the tandem in the afternoon,
and decided to get some use out of my raingear after all. Ray
had stoked with Lon, and I'd watched him ride his single long
enough to have the confidence to get him on the front and go.
He'd started to think about getting a big bike to ride with
his wife, and I figured I could help encourage him to take the
plunge. We had a great ride. I tried to explain the concept
of changing gears to him. He explained to me that in north Georgia,
you either change gears constantly or just stand and deal with
the constantly changing terrain. He was in the stand and deal
with it school. But we got along great anyway.
At the last snack stop of the day, a playful puppy and some
killer ants teamed up to chew on my ankle and steal my socks.
While I was trying to kill the ants that were feasting on my
flesh, I pulled off my socks and the playful little pup took
off with them. I eventually got help from all the folks standing
around laughing uncontrollably and we rolled out for the end
of the day.
