Day 03 - "Day three will be the hardest."

In training for this trip, Jamaal and I have been told that the third day would be the hardest of the whole ride. With this in mind, today began normal enough. Well, I suppose "normal" wouldn't be the right word in our case. Nevertheless, we continued our routine of waking up early and eating a good breakfast, and were on the road by 8:15AM. We must have done something right for we completed twenty miles in a little less than an hour. That third day nonsense wasn't bringing us down.We even got chased by a PACK of dogs today, but it was no sweat off of our backs. It wasn't until about 10AM that we discovered what was in store for us.

The treetops grew even in height with each other, and became denser, like meticulously landscaped hedgerows. The road leveled out for a stretch so Jamaal and I took advantage of this opportunity, but my bike felt differently. DISASTER STRUCK ! The rear derailleur snapped completely off of my bike. (Don't worry. It's not important that you know what this means or this part's function. Just know that it keeps the bike from moving forward.) I guess you could say that this was a minor setback. A video of this can be viewed here. No worries, though. I brought a spare bike. My trusty ol' blue, Mike the Bike.He came to the rescue and allowed me and Jamaal to travel 70 miles today to Quincy, Florida. When we arrived at Quincy, we drove to Tallahassee in search of a bike store and we found a place that fixed it. So thank you Sunshine Cycles for staying open later than normal to fix my bike. We finally found a hotel after driving around for nearly an hour, and after such a long day ( We didn't get off the bikes until 6PM.) I must admit that I am pretty tired. So If you would excuse me, I will have a more substantial update tomorrow. (Pictures, video, the like...) But before I do, I'll leave you with this.

The Lost, Road Artifacts: Part 3

• One dirty sock. Perhaps of the gym variety.
• One Nike sneaker. Looked like a Runner or maybe a Cross-Trainer.
• Female undergarments.
• A Glove. (Without the hand.)

As you may have noticed, everything we have listed so far has been clothing. I can not think of any explanation for this other than a rare form of Hay Fever that could be wreaking havoc through these rural areas of Florida that causes the ill to remove their clothes and toss them out the window. Luckily, cyclists are immune.

Night folks !
John and Jamaal.

P.S. Please enjoy Jamaal's beautiful craftsmanship.