The Long Way Around

I am seemingly armed with but a few words to describe my current situation and I think I just used all four of them.

As Patrick just opined, "this I a vacation?"

Yes, it is. Mentally. Not physically. I've still been avoiding the work in my mind, to varying levels of success given that my trip is wandering to a close. I've also had endless musicless hours to mull over my existence, where I am in my life and why, etc.

I've also had a fair amount of time to ask myself if I'd ever put on my helmet again. My already busted neck is unbelievably sore. Today I will be trucking my backpack and only running my hydration pack in hopes of alleviating my back pain. It won't help my tail bone problem (that is to say, my tail bone hurts) but it should help the middle of my back.

I also borrowed some pain killers from Patrick.

I jumped back to fifth again even after a terrible run yesterday where I got highly lost in Cincinatti. The grouping for third is stupid close so I'm going to still gun for solid placement but understand that what seperates four of so of us is mere minutes. I believe the spread is less than 30 minutes for the whole run. I mean really. How much better than each other could we claim to be.

Some news on Jim T - he finally got to a hospital in Tulsa. 7 broken ribs. Broken clavical. Collapsed lung. That I one tough SOB. With all that he still rode the entirety of the dirt trail so many of us dubbed the 'Cannonfall' and a total of 121 more miles. The dude is a legend in my book. The story goes that I'd hey had air lifted him at the Bullfrog clinic like they wanted he would have died from the pressure change, so good thing he was stubborn enough to ride.

Today we ride to Maryland, but not our final destination. More later.

Turns out Mark and Wayne's lock failed on their hotel room. The hotel couldn't open it at all, so by 11:30 pm, Mark had management break the window so they could get their stuff out. Lame.

It's getting earlier and earlier. Each time zone messes me up that much more. Seriously, I have problems dealing with the change every few days.

My internal clock is utterly hosed.

We have somewhat of a short day. A bit over 320 miles or so. That's 2 fill ups. Not so bad.

Hopefully my back and neck will hold up. And hopefully I don't magically fall asleep somewhere on the way to West Virginia.

Side note - rear tire is showing a lot of wear, and is square as a Flintstone wheel. My transitions are crap.

Somewhere on 50, I ran out of gas. Glad I had the gas can. The grand irony here is that there was a gas station just past this hill.

Hah.

This was a checkpoint. Just a little dirt road by the name of Dark Hollow. Patrick had to put it as a checkpoint. Tiny little road outside of Salem, WV.

I didn't get to take a picture of the state line, because it was a sign on the bridge between Ohio and West Virginia. This will have to do.

Holy crap dude. I'm almost done. I'm in Oakland, Maryland. One day left. Finish line is in sight.

Well, not literally.

There's a bit more than 300 miles left to sort. Through DC and through to Ocean City.

We cleared 3000 miles on Highway 50 near Salem. It's been a blast.

Though I honestly might never sit again. Must arrange for a standing desk at work.

I'm in fourth. Randomly. Bagel is right behind me though by 17 minutes. Tight quarters. I hope not to lose it but I won't go home crying if I do.

I tore up 50 today. Good times.

We're in Oakland. Not that Oakland, the one in Maryland.

So that's strike one.

Strike two is that there's a power sports shop here just down the street from the hotel. Only, it sells cheap Chinese piece of crap bikes that will invariably have problems after the first 300 miles or so. Sadness.

At least they look 'cute'. They're a typical style, often referred to as Honda Joker clones. The only real legit Joker clone out there is made by Aprilia, and it's called the Mojito. I love that bike.

Not these. These depress me. Thy never would have made it past day 2 on this run.