Day 30 - Metter to Tybee Island

I'm not sure where to start about today. We woke up at 6am like usual. The room smelled of wet bike shoes. If you're not sure what that smells like, good for you.

The request was that everyone wear their Pac Tour jersey today. It looked really cool at breakfast to see us all look like we were a team. You could tell that we were all excited about being on the last day. No aches and pains, no saddle sores, no complaining. We all just wanted to get to the coast an celebrate.

I started off with the fast group today, older Greg, Jeanine, the ever speedy Hofstra's and Aussie Jonathon. We went through the first two checkpoints faster than normal. At that rest stop, Dan got his final flat. Between him and his son Brian, they now hold the record of having had 21 flats. The rest of the ride was pancake flat. Well, apart from the bridges over the river channels.

As we got closer to the coast, I got more and more nervous. Normally I am happy riding in traffic but I was worried about not being able to finish. The quote I've heard from many riders is "EFI". "Every F**king Inch". I just wanted to make sure I got to do the whole thing.

We all regrouped at mile 82. That left us 5 miles to ride in together as a group in a double paceline. Looking around, everyone was catching flies with their massive smiles. Approaching the hotel, we heard cowbells and cheering. We even had a proper toilet paper tape finish line. Awesome.

We rode over the boardwalk and right down onto the beach. I tossed my gloves and socks straight into the first available trash bin. The jury is out on my shoes at the moment. From there, most of us jumped straight into the ocean. It was definitely warmer than the Pacific in Oregon. After that, back to the hotel car park to break down the bikes for the trip home and for some beers. Literally 5 seconds after I got up to my room a storm rolled in and Tybee Island got hit with thunder and lightning. Finally we lucked out and didn't get drowned on the bike. Yay!

At the moment, I'm sitting in my hotel room, listening and watching the storm. I'm feeling quietly contented with myself. I've ridden my bike a lot and run many marathons before but I've never done anything so intense for so long. Practically every week on this tour has been the most miles I have ever ridden in a week.

We are having a big banquet at 6pm so I might update more details later. At the moment, I'm just going to take it easy for a wee bit.

Tomorrow, I fly back to Portland late in the afternoon. The plan is to go back into Savannah first thing in the morning and do some sightseeing... by foot.

Photos are here