Today's Miles = 57.3
Average Speed = 9.6 mph
Maximum Speed = 37.0 mph
Total Miles = 358.6

I slept pretty lightly last night so I was up early and packed to leave before 8:00. I penned a quick thank you note to the Virginia Zeta chapter, grabbed an english muffin with peanut butter, and hit the road feeling pretty good.

I've decided to try to get my daily miles up for the next few days so I selected Troutville as my destination for the day. Since I already had two pieces of mail coming here to meet me, I was going to have to stop anyway. Staying the night just seemed like the next logical step.

None of the hills I rode today were as difficult as the ride up to Afton Mountain had been, but the road is starting to take on the personality of a roller coaster. When my energy level is high I'm able to pedal down the declines to build up speed, then power myself over the inclines before I run out of momentum. But by the end of my ride I just coasting down one hill and then dragging myself over the next. Along the way I finally saw my first box turtle, who was trying to cross the road. I stopped and carried him to where he was trying to go, and gave him a few words of encouragement. He never bothered to pop his head out of his shell, but I'm just going to forgive him for that.

For most of my afternoon I had a headwind I had to fight to get into town. Since I couldn't do anything about the wind I tried to think of what were the good things about riding into the wind. First of all, no matter how slow you are going you always have a cooling breeze in your face. Secondly, the wind pushes your flag back and makes you look like you are going faster than you really are. Thirdly, as soon as you ride past roadkill the smell stops instantly. I wasn't able to think of a fourth thing, so I gave up on the positive thinking routine and just toughed out the rest of the ride.

I got to Troutville at around 3:00 in the afternoon. The humidity was mild, but the temperature was pushing 90 degrees and I was feeling pretty exhausted when I got here. The town allows cyclists to camp in their city park, so I set up my home for the night beneath some trees, rode off to pick up my mail, then sat down at a park bench to write this entry. I'm probably going to take a nap for the rest of the afternoon, and then I'll seek some dinner in the evening.