Day 10: Racing The Sun on Route 58
It was so early this morning I could only hear my Garmon bicycle GPS saying "beep". I moved my fork light to my thumb using it to illuminate the Garmon to see what it was telling me to do. Record Tennessee heat created the need for Brian and me to ride early so we raced the sun riding forty-six miles in a little over four hours. We raced down route 58 heading to Chattanooga, Tennessee stopping only long enough to replenish water. The sun seemed to gain on us with every turn of our cranks.
Terrain helped us. We are out of the Great Smoky Mountains. We spent the day riding rolling hills toward a town my family knows well. My father and brother are graduates of The McCallie School in Chattanooga. I spent a fun summer at McCallie after we moved to Greenwich. We went spelunking, white water cannoning on the upper Hiwasee River, the serious white water river featured in Tennessee writer James Dickey's book and subsequent movie Deliverance, and repelling off of steep mountain cliffs. Tennessee is a great outdoor state and McCallie was a blast. There were teachers who remembered my father.
Like North Carolina and every state we have on Martin’s Ride (Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico and Arizona) Tennessee is sweltering with record breaking July heat. Record heat means Martin’s Ride has to be done by eleven (or so) to be safe. This is why Brian and I dropped the hammer today and rode as fast as our legs and route 58 would take us.
I write sitting in our RV at the Possum Creek Campground on the Tennessee River. I’m sweating. The AC is on but not very effective until the sun goes down in a few hours. Tomorrow is another blessed rest day. We thought we would need extra rest coming out of the mountains. That logic was sound. Add record heat to the pounding our legs took riding the Blue Ridge Parkway and Great Smoky Mountains and a rest day at the Hampton Inn in Chattanooga sounds perfect.
I must mention our Free Dinner for Cancer tonight before signing off. Our dinner was at an unassuming little restaurant in Soddy Daisy, Tennessee. Flavors of Italy (http://www.italiangourmetcatering.com) is owned and operated by Anna Maria Iannuzzi and her husband / chef Giuseppe. Anna Maria, a transplanted New Yorker, met Giuseppe on a cruise ship. He was cooking. She was a guest and love happened.
Food, after riding 46 miles in the blazing heat, is critical. Good food is a welcome reward. Great food like Ana Maria serves with a smile and Giuseppe cooks helped Martin’s Ride's team feel like we could continue to ride, continue to race the sun for another day…but not tomorrow. Tomorrow we rest :).