Day 5 - Waycross to Brunswick, GA - 56 miles, 577 feet ascent

This morning started like most:  alarm, coffee, breakfast, more coffee, pre-ride prep….. only this morning Arlen called an audible advising us to depart at 0800 vice 0830 as custom has dictated previous mornings.  He hoped to get us on the road to beat the inbound weather, particularly the possible thunderstorms forecasted between Waycross and Brunswick.  The rain began to fall by the time we mustered beneath the hotel awning.  In our pre-ride discussion, the team deleted our first water stop moving it further down the road to get ahead of the weather.  By then the rain stopped and we could shed jackets and wring out socks.  

Much like yesterday’s longer ride, we jumped on one road and slogged through the rain and headwind for doing mental math to quantify the passing miles and taking turns in the lead.  This continued to the 44-mile point when we broke for lunch.  

We commenced the final nine miles as the sun cooked off the rain turning the road into vegetable steamer increasing the humidity by a thousand percent.  Our early departure got us to the hotel ahead of schedule giving us needed time to perform bike maintenance to make repairs or clean unwanted grit from chains, cassettes, and chain rings.  Although this was a short ride, that cold beer tasted really good.  

Tomorrow’s route features another long haul of 70 miles to Savannah for our sixth day of riding and our first day off since this odyssey started.  Spirits are willing but sit bones are sore and tender.  Tuesday off-day is a welcome respite from a solid first week of riding.  Monday’s leg into Savannah will put us at 374 total miles.  So far, so good.