Ride Days 56 and 57

I never had time to do yesterday's update because the wifi was just too slow where I was. The last couple of days were hard riding for me. On day 56 I rode 82 miles when I had only planned on 50 miles. The extra 32 miles were all during the hottest part of the day and the heat was draining the strength from my legs. We left Tallahassee and rode the bike trail for 20 miles then had to essentially double back to get on the route to St Augustine. The bike trail was beautiful with a smooth surface and great old oaks covered with moss shading the trail. We saw some tortoises as we rode along. In the afternoon though it got very warm and humid. We had planned on only riding about 50 miles but could not find any place to stay in that range so we just kept riding until we found a place at 82 miles into the ride. I got a flat tire just as we pulled into the hotel for the night. I found a leak and patched it then tested it and found a bunch of leaks so I had to throw the tube out and put on my last new tube. Afterwards we went down to the hotel bar and had a few cold ones. In the morning we headed out to St Augustine only 31 miles away now. The bad part is I had a bad night of running to the toilet and got almost no sleep. When we started our ride today, I had absolutely no energy. My legs were noodles. I did not feel very good at all. This day was supposed to be a happy, last day, short ride to the coast. It ended up being very tough for me to finish. I had to stop a lot and rest. I could not get any power into my legs. We stopped early and ate a good big breakfast which I thought might help me, but after eating I just felt worse. I told Gary that he could just ride on ahead and leave me behind but he would not do it because he could see I was doing poorly and I think he was worried about me. I was also overheating and sweating way too much. Gary is just too nice and responsible to abandon me like that. So I tucked in behind his rig and rode right up tight to him to reduce the head wind that we were having today. It helped make my ride easier but I was still just a weak worm on the bike all day long. The ride should have been quick and easy but it took me a long time riding slowly to make it all the way. I thought about hitch hiking in to the coast and coming back later to ride it but Gary just kept telling me to go just a bit further first, and then finally we were there. We did find an unfinished bike trail that we rode along until it suddenly dead ended on us. We found a way through the dead end that got us back on the main route without too much doubling back so it worked out ok. When we got to town we rode straight over to Anastasia State Park Beach to complete our coast to coast segment of our rides. We took a few pics and then rode over to the hostel and checked in to do our laundry and get rid of our packs so that we could go down town and eat and have a few beers to celebrate the end of a long 4100 miles 57 day ride for me. I am happy the ride is over for now. I am ready to let my butt heal again and rest up so that I might get back some of the weight I lost. I need some spare tire you know. We ate at an ale house but after an appetizer of blue crab artichoke dip and a few beers we ate some desserts of fried banana split and rum bread pudding. The deserts were huge and filled us up so we never ate a main course. Later tonight we will be hungry and will eat more. Tomorrow I will write more about what I felt today getting here finally. Otherwise more later...