Day Forty-two

Big John Hurley and his roomie Larry with a bunch of fans from Larry's riding club. Everybody loves Larry!

This shot is dedicated to Shawn and John but particularly to The Grand Wizard of Wrong Turns ("but I'm never lost") Lester.

Ring of Fire

…and he went down down down…

If you’re reading this at breakfast you might want to save it for later or skip the next couple paragraphs.

It’s time to fess-up and admit that yesterday I had the worst case of diaper rash since I was 18 months old and if this is what I have to look forward to post eighty I’m understanding why they say old age ain’t for sissies. I called the mother of two good boys and she made some recommendations but stressed that I should “talk to the pharmacist”.

I’ve been extremely careful since day one about getting out of my gross road clothes as soon as possible and attention to personal hygiene has been exemplary (as usual). This thing came on like gangbusters at the end of yesterday’s ride to the point where I couldn’t even sit on the bike seat for the final ½ mile. There was no way I could ride today in that condition so I carefully followed the advice and smeared my (very firm) butt with hydrocortisone cream. It wasn’t pretty but I slept pretty well and this morning felt good enough to give it a test. I reapplied the cream at both SAG’s and probably should have changed shorts at the same time but I forgot to bring them with me so I crossed my fingers and figured I’d ride until the pain knocked me off the bike. Although I was aware of some minor discomfort it never flared like yesterday and (how do I say this)…the most recent visual confirms that the fire-engine red has muted to a much nicer “oakwood”.

I think I’m over the hump and I’m SO HAPPY. The only thing I can think of is that we did a laundry the other night and used one of those laundry sheets for the first time instead of standard detergent. Maybe my tender (but firm) butt reacted to something left on the fabric. As a precaution I’ve soaked and rinsed my shorts and obviously won’t use those things again.

BTW…thanks for your concern but save your home remedies. This is obviously common knowledge among all my riding “buddies” and I’ve heard them all from Fresh Lemon Scented Pledge to used tea bags to lighter fluid.

The last couple days of riding have really reminded me of riding at home. Many times I think that a particular stretch of road is just like a section in Sutton or Millbury. Much smaller farms than we’ve seen and handmade signs for “brown eggs”. Also noticing lots of matching mailboxes for the first time which is always a sign of true civilization. One thing that is different is some of the massive lawns. Huge swaths of green and today I saw what looked like a husband and wife on his and her lawn tractors enjoying their day-off mowing in matrimonial bliss.

Long days but great riding on generally quiet back roads. Drivers around here are much more like the ones back home…as in less patient!

My virtual rider today was my good buddy, Ken Stevens. He and I have had some memorable rides including around Nantucket, Martha’s Vineyard, and Block Island.

Tomorrow’s mileage has been increased a bit because they moved us to a different hotel this year so we’ll get another century. Don’t know what we’ll be doing in beautiful downtown Erie, PA on our last day-off (Monday) but just a lazy day by the pool and maybe a little bike TLC wouldn’t be so bad as long as we can find a nice dinner with good wine and beer somewhere.

I’d forgotten that it’s the weekend and I know it’s hot back home but the weather is nice so I hope you’re all enjoying it as much as we are.

Thanks for reading!

Today’s ratings: (the higher the better or easier)

Scenery: 5

Road conditions: 4

Grunt factor: 4