I once again woke up at my AirBNB to fresh bread and coffee but this time I didn’t stick around too long to hang out. I set off on an 86 mile journey to Ridgeland which ended up being a very difficult ride. I ended up riding in suburban rush hour, on a bike trail, on country roads, on US17, and parallel to I95 at different points throughout the day. In addition I filled my water bottles up from the unfiltered tap at the AirBNB which gave me a nice marshy tasting surprise when I took a sip. Woof!

Anyway I made it. The day started on the West Ashley Trail in Charleston which was very scenic but also very slow since I was riding through damp sand in what felt like an uphill. It beats the hell out of US17 in either case. Here’s a few pictures from the trail.

The trail spat me back onto the US17 death trap for about 10 miles which I once again survived. The ECG route then put me on some side roads which was great but they eventually turned to sand which meant slow riding. It also directed me to trespass through 3 fences which was a nice surprise.

I was glad they told me to do this though because the path was away from people and cars which was a relief.

Up to this point I was having a good time but once I was directed towards Ritter I got really bored and basically wanted the ride to be over. The biggest excitement was the Manhattan Club at the top of Catholic Hill in Ritter (this is the middle of nowhere). I regret not coming through at night time to see this club scene.

I kept looking at my odometer and calculating in my head how much further I had to go and then figuring out when I’d be arriving. I did this over and over and over again for hours (real exciting stuff let me tell ya). I fought through though and eventually made it to Ridgeland and am currently icing my knees and watching Tedy Bruschi and Mark Schlereth yell at me through the TV screen at the Quality Inn. About to take a shower and grab some food next door and call it an early evening.

Tomorrow I head to Savannah but I’m not visiting the city, just stopping by. It is too big a pain to get into and out of Savannah and I am looking forward to getting to Jacksonville in 3 days.

I woke up at 8:00 in my extremely comfortable bed and walked downstairs to fresh bread, jam, and coffee. I hung out with Brent, one of the AirBNB hosts, on the back patio and ate breakfast by the marsh in the back yard while waiting for Enterprise to come pick me up. Once I got my car I headed off to Black Tap Coffee which the fine folks at Jubala Village Coffee in Raleigh had recommended. It was very good but not quite as good as Jubala. I got an espresso, coffee, and a ham and cheese stuffed croissant.

After being properly caffeinated I headed to Patriots Point to see the USS Yorktown aircraft carrier. It is absolutely enormous and while I understand the physics of it, I still find it unbelievable this thing floats.

This next picture reminded me of a networking closet only 100x more ridiculous. I can’t imagine trying to figure out which cable is malfunctioning in this mess. Such a feat of engineering that these ships operate effectively.

I also enjoyed this story about the ship dog.

After the ship I headed to Sticky Fingers to eat some Lowcountry BBQ and holy shit it was good. They even had an amazing oil painting of Stephen Colbert in the hallway which was a nice touch.

I decided after consuming this monstrosity I should walk around a bit so I headed to the battery and checked out the park down there. It was really neat (and very bicycle friendly). There are a bunch of live oak which are awesome and some statues, canon, and guns.

The only interesting thing going on tonight was a Dave Chappelle standup show but it costs $55 which in my opinion is absurdly overpriced. Instead I headed to the Joseph Manigault house for some $10 informative fun instead. I was the only person on the tour which was … Interesting … But it ended up being pretty cool. The Garden Club of Charleston had outfitted the place to the theme of the 12 days of Christmas using vegetation that would have been around in the 1800s. I didn’t take any pictures of that, but here’s the main staircase!

Finally, I headed to Tommy Condon’s Irish Pub for some amazing shrimp and grits and a couple beers. Unfortunately drinking by yourself at a 1/4 full Irish bar is pretty depressing so I left and went to Publix to buy a sub for lunch tomorrow and a bunch of Cliff bars.

Doing laundry now and listening to the Gators/Jayhawks game on the radio and will be heading to bed rather early tonight. Going to get up and out by 7:00 or so to ensure an on time arrival in Ridgeland tomorrow. Should be about an 80 mile ride.

Today I rode 90 miles at about 10.6mph into Charleston. I felt like I was pedaling normal so it must have been the 10mph wind directly in my face that slowed me down a bit. It was also supposed to be bright and sunny and 70 degrees for the majority of the day but it ended up being foggy and cold for about 75% and sunny and hot for the other 25%. The only other place I’ve seen weather this bizarre is in San Francisco.

The direct path to my destination on US17 would have been about 60 miles but since that is the worst road possible to ride a bike on, I detoured through the woods as a self preservation measure. It looked like a scene from LOTR for about the first 30 miles.

I ended up on US17 for 10 miles in a dense fog which was very nerve wracking. I survived but riding on a highway with no shoulder in the fog isn’t ideal biking conditions. I also got another flat after biking over a fishing hook that stabbed through my tire. Needless to say I wasn’t a very happy biker.

I eventually got off the highway and onto some safe roads which led me through Francis Marion National Forest. It was still foggy and cold for most of the time I was in the forest which was starting to depress me because I hadn’t seen the sun in like 3 days. Here’s a picture inside the forest…

The sun came out after about 40 miles and I had to take some layers off. I put on my sun screen and plodded on.

To get into Charleston you have to go over the Arthur Ravenel Jr Bridge which was really, really, really cool looking (and very steep to bike up). There is even a bike and pedestrian section of it so you don’t have to battle traffic which was a nice relief. At this point it was in fact 70s and sunny. That is the USS Yorktown in the background which I will be visiting tomorrow.

Throughout my ride I was eating Cliff bars and other snacks but never stopped for a real meal. Why didn’t I you may ask? Because this was waiting for me at mile 85!

FUCK YEA PUB SUB!!!!!!!

After that I mozied to my AirBNB for the night and am going to just take it easy tonight. Too tired to go out. Tomorrow I’ll probably rent a car again and do touristy fun.