8/27/11
Daily mileage: 236 miles
Overall average: 30.1 mph
Woke up real late today, but that was ok since I knew I would be staying the next couple of day in my home town.
The first half of the day in Tennessee was pretty much the same riding wise, but as soon as I hit the red dirt, I sensed a change. I must be in Mississippi. There was more gravel and dirt as well. The second half of the day, I really enjoyed… slipping and sliding and power out of corners. There is this smooth floaty sensation I really enjoy about riding gravel. Its like one of those brookstone massage chairs. Hold the bars really loose and let the bike float under me.
Enough blah blah. here's some pictures.
Gratuitous self portrait
Bear Inn
The town of Clifton, Tennessee
Loved these bungalows on stilts.
Breakin' the law, breakin' the law ....
Click for video documentation.
Some donkeys giving me the hairy eyeball
Mississippi red dirt and gravel
Some old building in MS
We are in the bible belt.
I brake for horses
At 6:30 I make it to my parent’s house and enjoy a home cooked me. Going to stay the night and tomorrow will be replacing the Dunlop 606 with a fresh one. I’m amazed the rear still has any tread left on it.
Observation: I really am happy that I plugged the whole TAT onto my GPS. It gives me one less responsibility to do and more of the mental space to focus on things like the scenery, fussing with my helmet cam, and stopping to take pictures… all of this while keeping my speed up and rhythm going. I could imagine the scenario today of being stressed out trying to beat the sun going down, while reading a roll chart as it gets darker and darker. I’m sure the roll charts are very accurate and if you want to use them, by all means go about it, but I think it does change the dynamics of your trip. I like to be efficient when getting from one point the next and I get somewhat annoyed if I’m always blowing by a turn, which by the way still happens when using the GPS. The only difference is that I can correct almost immediately and not have to reset my odometer mileage to correspond.