Charleston, and a bit of rest.

I underestimated a little. We broke 900 miles today, well over a third of our distance covered as we sailed into Charleston. It was one of those days when riding seemed effortless, helped along by wind, a sudden burst of strength, or a twisting of the mind, a way of dealing with riding all day, every day. You can get used to anything, I suppose. Whatever it was, I broke into a sprint without even thinking while climbing a small hill outside of Ridgeland, and kept moving for a half an hour, keeping a steady 22mph, not meaning to leave the others behind, but reacting to my body, sprinting and stretching the legs. It felt great, and I'm taking it as a sign that I'm returning to some semblance of the condition I used to be in. I'm not sure if I'm losing any of the belly the past years' beer consumption has built up, but I feel great, and my legs feel back to speed after two weeks. So, in part due to my accidentally punishing the others, we arrived in Charleston early today, and took a motel about 7 miles from the downtown area, nothing closer because we happened to arrive in the middle of some art/music festival, and anything closer is way out of our price range.

We've decided to set up camp through tomorrow, take a day off from riding and enjoy this Southern treasure, a city full of beauty, history and denial, as evidenced by rebel flags hanging in every bar I've entered so far. Now that I've typed that, I just realized that today's the first time I've stepped into a bar since this trip began. Probably a good thing, but it does feel good to be around some kind of social atmosphere outside of our own little circle. Everyone's getting along as well as we can, though there does some to be a pattern of trouble spots, certain times when energy levels dip and hunger levels rise when we all seem a little pissed for no real reason. Or maybe that's just me. I'll have to ask the others.

So we checked into the room, and Jeff and I rode into the city to scout, leaving George and Kevin behind to rest from the ride and us. Jeff and I have our differences, most pronounced in our demeanors and reactions to stress, but I'm liking that he's willing to explore and keep moving, while the others are more reserved, content to ride and rest. I'm realizing more each day that I have an advantage as a rider because I ride everyday, the others are more recreational and not used to being on their steeds so much, or dealing with traffic and heavy weather. They all have their strengths, I don't mean to downtalk at all, I'm just glad that I'm not the one complaining of a sore ass or tired legs at the end of the day. I guess not having a car does pay off once in awhile.

Tomorrow I get a chance to swim in the ocean, and think. I was concerned throughout the last few days that I wasn't getting a chance to sift through the thoughts that I wanted to clear out, but when I sat down earlier to write a bit, the words spilled out, and I'm a little more aware of what I need to think of. I need to not only decide what I want from the future, what it is I hope to glean from my future relationships, but I need to do some self-examining, to really go into my past relations and think about what they brought me, what I put into them, what I refused to take from them and why exactly they came to an end. Nothing I'll be writing about here, but thoughts that need to be thunk regardless.

I feel the need right now to thank Paula for the little joga that I allowed myself to learn-it's come in handy more than you'll ever know both after and before riding-I'd be in knots without it. Kitty, thanks for the dietary advice, I've been eating more than I thought I ever would, I'm still hungry, and it's awesome. Emily, thanks for listening. You're beautiful in every way. My family, I love you more every day. There's no way I'd be sitting on the oceanfront in view of Fort Sumner, writing to you all about riding a bicycle every day, on my way to somewhere in a northernly direction, without the steady flow of love my blood has given me. I truly am a blessed man. Please give Sam and Julius a hug for me, I miss them so much.