Stage 16 - Holy Hill

Because of work commitments I decided to swap tomorrow's mileage for today's. That means a goal of 74 miles today and 56 tomorrow.

I split today's by riding a bit at lunch and then going big after work.

The route went west to spend one final day climbing in and around the Holy Hill area. For you Velocity riders I have good news and bad news. The good news is that the construction on Shannon Road is complete and what was once a rough and tumble road is now as smooth as a baby's bottom. The bad news is that Shannon Road is now open and during the Hell Loop ride we'll have to do the terrible climb again.

To make today's climb of Shannon Road even worse than usual a honey bee went down the front of my jersey. The bee and I both panicked. The bee stung me on my left pectoral and I smushed the bee in my jersey. I don't know which was worse; the pain of the sting or the pain of the climb.

A little while later I noticed what appeared to be ominous black clouds overhead. I followed the cloud trail to the west and saw what appeared to be a massive tornado. A black, v-shaped cloud reaching from the ground up to the clouds overhead.

Noting that the rest of the sky was clear blue I became confused. It all made sense when during the evening news it was reported that a pile of 1 million tires had caught on fire. The huge plume explains the 'tornado' that I had seen.

At the end of my ride the nearly full moon was rising and the sun had already set. I was in a nervous hustle to get home before the light faded when an open topped Jeep drove by and 5 seconds later a pack of firecrackers exploded about 20 feet behind me. Scared the bejesus out of me.

Just about the time I recovered from that shock another car drove by and a Coke can and a hamburger box came flying my way.

What the heck is going on here? Don't these idiots know that the full moon is tomorrow night?

These incidents caused me to think, "What is bejesus anyway?". I did a little research, and for an irreverent and funny synopsis go HERE.

Today's beautiful moment came when I received a weekly report from the host of this site that tells me how many people visited and where in the world they visited from. An average of 38 of you visit each day. You come from 9 different states as well as the country of Belgium. It would be great if the Belgian visitor would send me a quick note to tell me who you are and how you found the site.

To all of you - Thank-you. It's nice to know that someone out there is following the adventure.

Today's totals; 3594 vertical feet in 79 miles of riding. The biggest ride of the Tour.