Day 9 - The real South

So we are in Louisiana tonight and are over 800 miles into the trip.  Today was very humid but the temperature was decent, I think it was in the mid 70's.  This state has more hills then you can shake a stick at, yes i did just use that saying.  We had a short day today it was only about 95 miles which was plenty.  My legs felt a little heavy but i was able to finish thanks to my brother pulling me in for the last few miles.  The term Pulling refrest to one rider following the other rider closely, usually our wheels are about 8 to 12 inches apart at the most.  What this does is create a draft (a void in the air) that you can sit in and do a lot less work, thus givng the rider following the leader a break.

What is shocking to me is how many large farms and properties there are down here.  I swear it seems like everyon has 10 acres and there own personal lake.  The farms range from Cattle to hay fields and are all bordered by beutiful woods with Pines and large oaks.  It really is beutiful to ride through.

Ok so yesterday i told you a little bit about the training we did to prepare now I will tell you a little bit about the bikes and how they are set up.

So first off we are not riding you typical touring style bike.  If we were going unsupported we would be riding a much different bike.  It would more then likely be made of steel, have a triple crank and 26" wheels.  We where originally going to go this route but as we started to research what we were doing we found out that our standard bikes would do just fine.
My bike is a German made Carbon frame made by a company called Focus (I purchased mine at Sunday Cycles, if you want one go talk to Joe and tell him I sent you).  My version of bike is called a Cayo  this is a classic geomittry bike frame.  Basically it puts the rider in a more upright positon then some other style of frames.  This position helps with comfort over high mileage and in climbing.  You may be asking why Carbon, it is purley for weight savings and comfort.  The carbon like steel absorbs the vibrations of the road, it is not a necesaty but it shoure is nice.
My drive train uses Shimano derailures (these are the guides for the chains front and back), a compact SRAM crank.  So we went with a compact crank to give us an advantage in climbing hills, and we have been climbing a lot of them so far.  Basically this means that both the large and small front rings are smaller then on standard size cranks.   We are riding on a set of hand built ( thanks Bob from the Bicycle Vibe for a great build) and are Mavic Open Pros with Ultegra hubs.  They are a high spoke count wheel which make sthem extremely durable, i can vouch for this as I have run over just about everythign you can at this point.
Last but not least the Sadde (seat), this is the most popular touring saddle on the market.  It is made by company called Brooks.  This thing is worth the money, after a few hundred miles it litterlally forms to your backside and then it is like riding on a cushon of air.

Well tomorrow we say goodbye to Jerry our RV driver and say hello to Less our new driver.  Jerry it has been a blast you did a great job and will be missed but we will see you in San Diego.

Lesson for the day.   Adventure does not have to be an unplanned event it just has to be a challenging or unique outting that allows you to make memmoreis.  I think that everday we have small adventures and miss the opportunity to share them with each other or realize that we have them.