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.