the bugs. they were insane. i couldn’t wait until i got over to the coast, knowing that bugs don’t favor as well in the city. i rode down 710 in the bike lane for what seemed like forever, but really was only about two hours. i turned left onto a1a and was going straight for the ocean. i needed to swim. i wanted to because i hadn’t had a shower in a few days and i love swimming. there was a beach about a mile away from the coast. i went down there, changed and jumped in. it was great. i really couldn’t have asked for a better morning riding to the beach.

before i start writing about the day i would like to remind everyone that i am not only doing this ride for my own personal goal, but also to raise money for the livestrong foundation, that will be donated to cancer research. my family has had a strong history with cancer and there’s a good chance that someone you know has had their life affected as well. we can help support cancer research and donate money to this cause so that it may become more treatable or hopefully in our lifetime completely curable. my donation site is http://tiny.cc/cancerdonations

i an see that i am currently averaging 1400-1500 visitors per day and thought i am writing this for everyone to read, please donate if you can.

after about a half hour of swimming, i rinsed off and continued on my way. i decided to go down a1a and look at some of the huge houses. people had grass that looked like putting greens, guest houses, beach houses, you name it. from palm beach to boynton beach it was primarily residential houses all with private beaches. occasionally there was a restaurant or hotel, even more rare a public beach. i thought about stopping at another beach, but i decided to keep going.

the wind along a1a was rough. riding right into it was even worse. eventually i decided cross back over to route 1, hopefully to endure less winds being a little away from the oceanfront. it was a little better. the other thing that was slowing me down was my legs. yes, my legs were slowing me down. i had done 140 miles yesterday. that’s about 25 more miles than my longest day so far. covering the miles was great, but exhausting. today my legs definitely told me that they weren’t happy about doing that yesterday. i pushed them a bit to ride into the wind, they didn’t want to go fast.

i had left camp early to get to the city early, knowing that riding in the city will slow me down and i still wanted to do stuff(like go to the beach) through the day. i had rode pretty slow, but there was much more to look at compared to the country roads i have been on. nearing 5pm i arrived at my warmshower(vance & tommie). they were excited to see me and extremely welcoming. they had to tell me to relax and sit down for a minute. i’m used to trying to efficiently manage my time and get stuff done before i relax. so i sat and relaxed. it was nice. a short time later we went out to dinner, i got a pizza and they got a pizza. they shared it with their grandson and i had a slice of theirs as well(i finished mine). i shared stories of riding across the country and they shared their stories from riding the world. it was good to be in great company again. they offered their opinions on the best places to cycle abroad, and i’d love to do that, but not right now…maybe next year. thanks to vance & tommie for sharing their home with me and making me feel comfortable. i really needed that, along with a shower and laundry.

since i had covered about 75 miles today, i’ve got about 200 left until key west. i could pull that in two days, but i won’t. i meet lindsey in key west on tuesday, around 5. that means i’ve got 4 days to get there. i can do 50 miles a day and take it easy to get there. nobody wants to rush through the keys anyway, too much beauty. i’ve had a smile on my face all day from the sunshine and bicycling conditions. day 47 done.

look at the size of these avacados!