Day 19, Monticello Arkansas to Indianola Mississippi
Thursday, September 29, 2011 Category: Bike Ride
Today, we hit three milestones - 1) Left Arkansas and entered Mississippi, 2) Crossed the Greenville Bridge over the mighty Mississippi River, and 3) Traveled over 2000 biking miles.
The weather this morning was pleasant, and not quite as cold as it has been the past few days. The only extra clothes I take are arm warmers and full fingered gloves, which I usually take off after the first or second rest stop. By the end of the day, it was relatively warm and the humidity was up. This is the type of weather that I was expecting by the time I reached Mississippi. Today, the ride was relatively flat, with very little climbing. Lots of flat, farm fields along the way. Cotton seems to be one of the main items grown in this part of the country.
The pavement in a couple of places was very rough. After 19 days of riding (and some on very poor surfaces), my hands are going numb. A lot of the roads we ride on are chip sealed, and it vibrates your hands something awful. Hopefully, my hands will recover at some point in the future.
Today was a beautiful, sunny day, but with very unremarkable scenery. The best part of the scenery was going over the Greenville Bridge across the Mississippi River. The bridge is the longest cable-stayed bridge span on the Mississippi River. The bridge is very new and was opened to traffic on August 4, 2010.
We ended up in Indianola Mississippi this afternoon. The town is the birthplace of B. B. King and that seems to be its main claim to fame.
We have about 102 miles to ride tomorrow, and will be staying Kosciusko tomorrow evening. Another flat day of riding before the real fun starts. We will be traveling to Livingston, Alabama the day after tomorrow, with 5000 feet of climbing. We have about 4 days of hard riding ahead after we enter Alabama. There is no doubt that I will finish the ride to Livingston, but I always wonder how hard the climbs will be. After 19 days and some of the hardest riding completed in the Western US, I have no doubts that I can do this ride or any other left on our journey.
Just a note about our “team”. It has been great riding with Bob Enright and Jamie Cheney. They are both great cyclists, and we seem to ride very well together. I will certainly miss their company when this journey has come to an end.
I have been checking the weather, and it looks like the weather will be good for the rest of the ride. A week from today will put us at Tybee Island, GA and the Atlantic Ocean. Should be a great week coming up....
Click here for today’s pictures
The weather this morning was pleasant, and not quite as cold as it has been the past few days. The only extra clothes I take are arm warmers and full fingered gloves, which I usually take off after the first or second rest stop. By the end of the day, it was relatively warm and the humidity was up. This is the type of weather that I was expecting by the time I reached Mississippi. Today, the ride was relatively flat, with very little climbing. Lots of flat, farm fields along the way. Cotton seems to be one of the main items grown in this part of the country.
The pavement in a couple of places was very rough. After 19 days of riding (and some on very poor surfaces), my hands are going numb. A lot of the roads we ride on are chip sealed, and it vibrates your hands something awful. Hopefully, my hands will recover at some point in the future.
Today was a beautiful, sunny day, but with very unremarkable scenery. The best part of the scenery was going over the Greenville Bridge across the Mississippi River. The bridge is the longest cable-stayed bridge span on the Mississippi River. The bridge is very new and was opened to traffic on August 4, 2010.
We ended up in Indianola Mississippi this afternoon. The town is the birthplace of B. B. King and that seems to be its main claim to fame.
We have about 102 miles to ride tomorrow, and will be staying Kosciusko tomorrow evening. Another flat day of riding before the real fun starts. We will be traveling to Livingston, Alabama the day after tomorrow, with 5000 feet of climbing. We have about 4 days of hard riding ahead after we enter Alabama. There is no doubt that I will finish the ride to Livingston, but I always wonder how hard the climbs will be. After 19 days and some of the hardest riding completed in the Western US, I have no doubts that I can do this ride or any other left on our journey.
Just a note about our “team”. It has been great riding with Bob Enright and Jamie Cheney. They are both great cyclists, and we seem to ride very well together. I will certainly miss their company when this journey has come to an end.
I have been checking the weather, and it looks like the weather will be good for the rest of the ride. A week from today will put us at Tybee Island, GA and the Atlantic Ocean. Should be a great week coming up....
Click here for today’s pictures
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