The McElhaney Brothers' Bicycle Ride Across America: McBRAAM Stage 28: Vidalia, GA to Tybee Island, GA..."It Is Finished!!!"

Final Stats:
2,790.9 miles ridden.
100,316 feet climbed.

Wow, I'm not really sure what to say or think, now that McBRAAM is in the books. Having had an identical daily schedule for 28 straight days, and averaging 99.68 miles per day, and not thinking much beyond the next 24 hours (or 15 miles on many occasions), tonight and tomorrow will be really strange. But I'm sure I'll manage to figure it out.

I will confess that it was nice to be able to eat dinner based on what I wanted, not on what I needed. Every evening, I have balanced protein for recovery and carbs for energy, so I've skipped many entrees that would have hit the spot, but not done me much good for the day's ride. So this evening I had a basket of fried fish, french fries, hush puppies and a Mr. Pibb. Then, Kathy and I found some gelato, and finally some coffee. It was fun wandering the beach street walk looking for food and a place to chill without having to worry about cleaning kits, water bottles and bikes.

Today's ride was not that interesting. Nothing new to see that we haven't seen in 27 days, except the Atlantic Ocean. In fact, it was a bit tedious as the road had poor to non-existent shoulders while being busy with traffic, and yes, more pine tree trucks headed to paper mills. I had a navigation snafu and lead us on a wrong turn at a Y-split, and went about 6 miles before realizing it. So we had a choice, improvise or backtrack. We decided to improvise, which meant hopping on Interstate 16.

It was legal to ride I-10 in California, I-40 in Arizona, and I-25 in New Mexico. It was not legal to ride I-16 in Georgia. But we did it anyway. For 23 miles. After all, what's an adventure without a little adventure thrown in? It turns out that we actually felt safest while on the Interstates than on any other roads, except the very remote back-roads. There are national standards that the Interstates meet, which include a shoulder wide enough for a large vehicle to rest upon, and a rumble strip separating the shoulder from the traffic lanes. This means that cyclists essentially have the equivalent of a full lane to ride on. The only real hazard is the flat tire potential caused by the debris field of disintegrated truck tires. But we solved that with tire liners.

The alternative is state and county highways that usually have no shoulder at all, and on which vehicles of all sizes whiz by at 60 mph with nothing separating a cyclist from the vehicle except for a rather flimsy cushion of air and the space the driver feels obliged to give.

I joined a Strava distance challenge this month. It can be found here:
https://www.strava.com/challenges/October-2017-ride-distance-challenge

There are 168,170 cyclists competing from all over the world. Due to my unique month, I am currently in 5th place globally, and in 1st place in the USA. I don't know if I'll hold my lead in the US, it'll be close. I may have to ride Monday and Tuesday to protect my lead, but that means I'll have to reassemble my bike in short order when I get home. We'll see how that turns out.

I plan to write a post tomorrow to recap some final thoughts while they're still fresh. Stay tuned if you're still interested, and thanks for reading.

https://www.strava.com/activities/1249493288
https://www.relive.cc/view/1249493288

1 McBRAAM complete.
2 sets of very tired legs.
2 very jubilant spirits.
2 oceans visited.
9 states traversed.

Hotel: Admiral's Inn, 2 of 5 stars (kind of old, below average breakfast, but what do you expect on an old seaside village?)
Restaurant: Sting Ray's Seafood (finally ate what I wanted, not what I needed - had deep fried cod and french fries!)

Before the journey started (way before...).