St. Francisville, LA to Hammond, LA

4/18/18

It was 60 degrees and muggy this morning as we prepared for our 88 mile ride to Hammond. We left the plantation at 7:40. The first 15 miles or so where gentle, rolling hills. After that it was flat the rest of the way to Hammond. We had good shoulder, bad shoulder, debris shoulder and no shoulder on our roads today. Some of the roads were smooth. Others were full of pot holes and deep cracks. 

Our first SAG stop was at 22 miles. Our second was at 43 miles. We reached the 62 mile stop at noon where the SAG was to be but we were ahead of it. So we stopped at a gas station and got something to drink and took a 15 minute break. We talked to locals who would ask us what we were doing. They always seem amazed or think we are crazy when we tell them. 

We came upon a strawberry patch at 80 miles into the ride. Hammond is the strawberry capital of Louisiana. The strawberry smoothies hit the spot as it was 82 degrees by then. We rolled into the motel at 2:20.  As I put my bike in my room I felt my tire.  It was slightly soft.  I suspected a slow leak.  I waited until after supper to see if it had gone down any and it had.  I changed the tube and found the piece of glass in the tire that caused the leak. I am just happy it didn't go flat on the road.

"My Lady" isn't talking to me...."My Lady"is gone....I can't hear "My Lady".  I have said this or heard this from someone else almost everyday. "My Lady" is the Ride with GPS lady. She gives us turn by turn instructions for the route. She can be temperamental sometimes. LOL Sometimes she doesn't activate and doesn't give directions or sometimes she just turns the volume down or turns the program off. This morning she wouldn't activate and my mileage sensor wouldn't work either.  I got "My Lady"to speak to me about 10 miles into the ride.  

Total Miles: 2335

Flats: 4

Ruined Tires: 1

 Getting ready to leave The Butler Greenwood Plantation

 Map meeting

 Pecan trees

The roads started out nice

 SAG stop

 Strawberry patch stop

 Strawberry fields

Shelli, me and Trudy

 Yummy Strawberry smootie

No shoulder

Slow leak flat