Day 3, Port Allen, LA - 101 miles

 

Today's ride was... interesting.  You could call it fun.  It was hot, it was humid, and it was long. But I am quite tired now and don't feel like blogging. Check out my photos to get a taste of the day. I will try to add details later.  No internet tomorrow. The hotel sounds... interesting.

Here are the details:

Today we started rolling at 7:30 and I didn't get in until 4:30.  In between, there was heat, humidity, road kill and a paucity of water.  Because the cue sheet said we were supposed to ride 96 miles, we were all up early and on the road right away.  Some were riding earlier, and some (me) couldn't find the snack table and started a little later.  Our first three miles were retracing our route back to the river from yesterday. When we hit the ever-present levee, we headed north again. 

In our map meeting last night, we were cautioned about two areas.  The first was the Gramercy bridge over the Mississippi at mile 16.  It turns out there was a very wide shoulder and plenty of room for bikes.  In addition to that, the police showed up and blocked the right lane so traffic was no where near us.  Unfortunately, three people got flats on this bridge from all the debris.

 

View from Gramercy Bridge

Police escort

The second area was a complex interchange where we met up with Interstate-10. There was no police escort this time but our support car rode behind each group of riders with flashers on keeping traffic at bay.  In addition, using Google maps I found a great way around most the traffic.  Overall, today's route was some of the calmest biking I have encountered.

In between, we saw plantation after plantation on the River Road.  Oak Alley Plantation was one of the most beautiful and is where many movies have been filmed, including Forrest Gump.  

Oak Alley Plantation

 Also along the River Road were many gas and oil refineries.  You might think this would be a bad thing for bikers but not so.  Because of the refineries, there were porta-potties about every 10 miles, which were relatively clean.  Because it was Saturday, there were no trucks on the road.  And the occasional building servicing all the facilities provided shade and, at one point, a cooling water spigot to drench my head and refill my bottles.  

So the day was hot, and it was long, but dinner was great and the company was, and is, greater.  Tomorrow is a short day but the hotel isn't exactly... good, or so we've been told.  There is probably no internet so I will have to socialize with my group.  You know, I might enjoy that.