Spartanburg, SC

8.4.2010

I felt like I actually exercised today for the first time in a while. Our rack point was pretty tough, which meant that we would have to keep a solid pace in order to finish on time, and the bros in my pace line were pretty much the fastest guys on the trip. Fortunately the roads were smooth, but the hills and 108 degree heat index made up for this little luxury. We eventually joined up with a second group to make an 8 man pace line, and were pushing at speeds around 25 miles per hour on the flats. Our average pace for the day was exactly 20.0 miles per hour, which was tough to keep going on an 85 mile day. Riding in that big group at that speed made me understand how awesome it must be to race bikes where you’re riding in a big Palaton. It’s hard to pinpoint why, but riding with more people is just all around more fun.


We were received for lunch and a friendship visit at 1:00pm. We had a pizza lunch with some of the organization’s clients, and took a tour of some of the classrooms. The clients went home around 2:30p.m. , and we headed out again on a 3 mile ride over to lodging. I decided to ride over in my flip flops because the heat had gotten my socks soaked in sweat, and I didn’t particularly feel like putting them back on. We had a little down time, so Brent, Soup and I decided to go get our hair cut at the local barber shop before dinner. The cut wasn’t terrible, but let’s just say I’m happy that my hair grows back in pretty fast.

Dinner was sponsored by the Carolina Miracle League, the same youth baseball league that we played with in western Alabama. This group was far more organized, and had an established batting order with “Buddies” assigned to each player. Another cool thing was that each time the offense would get a hit, the first and third base coaches would toss two more balls on the field, so that the game was more interactive for the defense. My buddy was a boy named Mark. Mark was nonverbal, but I was still able to talk to him about the game, where to stand, when to bat, etc. I could tell that he could understand what I was saying, even if he couldn’t speak. One problem that Mark had was that instead of running to first base when he got a hit, he turned around and ran directly towards his family who was cheering him on. We had a great time, and the barbecue dinner we had after the game was just icing on the cake.