Rainy Days and Mondays...

Day 5

Start: Jacksonboro, SC

End: Mt. Pleasant, SC

Daily Distance: 39.68 miles

Cumulative Distance: 359.61 miles

Average Speed: 12.1 MPH

Daily Riding Time: 3 Hours 15 Minutes

Net Elevation Change: -49 Feet (469 up and 518 down)

Cumulative Elevation Change: -39 feet (I guess I am below sea level?  At least according to Google)

Cumulative Flats: 1

Rainy days and Mondays always get me down.  It did rain a little bit this morning.  Not enough to disturb the ride though.  The bigger challenge was the Monday morning traffic.  I got used to a quiet Saturday and Sunday.  There were a lot of vehicles back on the road today and they were not all kind with giving a bicycle rider some space.  Especially on a very small shoulder.  At times, there was no shoulder and I could not even ride on the white line since it was painted on the rumble strips.  To be cautious, I would ride a few miles and then pull over to decompress.

As I got into Charleston, I slowed down a bit to enjoy the scenery.  I actually turned around to get a picture of a cool bicycle outside a bicycle store.  It was like 8 feet tall.  I would have loved to take it for a spin around the block.

In order to get from Charleston to Mt. Pleasant, I had to cross an enormous bridge.  Thankfully, there was a bike path on the side called Wonders Way.  The bridge was 2.5 miles long and what a view at the peak!

The bridge was named after Arthur Ravenel, Jr. who was a retired US Congressman who ran for the South Carolina Senate with a goal of solving the funding problem holding up the building of the bridge that was to replace the old bridge that was no longer safe. He helped to establish the S.C. Infrastructure Bank and worked with local, state, and federal officials to create partnerships that helped to materialize the final funding.  What an awesome undertaking and as a bicycle rider, the dedicated path separated from the traffic, was a terrific addition.

Once over the bridge, I entered Patriots Point to check out the aircraft carrier USS Yorktown.  It had several planes on the deck.  It is a museum piece now that can be toured.  I also checked out a few of the other memorials in the park.  One was a submarine, or parts of a submarine, that were buried in the ground making it look like it was partially submerged.  Very cool and a great memorial to all those lost over the years.

What a great way to end the day.  It was a short riding day mainly due to the lack of places to stop once leaving Mt. Pleasant.  Tomorrow I head to Georgetown, SC and likely a little further to Pawleys Island.

One pedal stroke at a time.