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Day Two Recap: WTF BBQ? (350+ miles!)

So I go out for dinner all excited about a sign I saw for a place called "Whittman's BBQ" - figured I'd have some good local Tennessee barbecue cuisine. Woops, uh, no - turns out that's a chain fast food restaurant. Go figure - so I drove up and down the main drive looking around and honestly every restaurant parking lot except Cracker Barrel and Applebees was empty. Not sure what that says about America, since I followed the trend and went to Cracker Barrel. Oh well, could've been worse.

Rewind - Today was a good day overall! The first 100 or so miles were a fair horror of cold hands, misery, and random near-death-experiences from numb hands+crazy wind. Then, as I hit 100 miles on my trip odo and started looking for gas, I saw a sign of wonder spread out before me on the road... And thus began my pilgrimage to the holy Target, which provided me with warmth, clothing, and encouragement.

With all those extra layers and the ski gloves (I bought XL so I could triple glove if necessary - turns out double gloving them with my running gloves worked ok), suddenly the entire feeling of my trip changed. First I did a quick 20 mile run without stopping and didn't feel cold! Then I extended to another 80 and almost enjoyed it! Finally the sun worked its incredible magic and MORE WARMTH came down from above!

The next 100 miles was excellent, a completely different experience from the last few days. Only slightly chilled, with very rare wind, and CURVES. HIGH SPEED CURVES! Zoom! By now I have quite a bit of confidence in my gear's rigging and I'm glad to say it held up. I'm still a little leery taking a high speed sweeper at 90MPH (what if it came loose!) but that didn't stop me from trying a few times. I'm also still not quite over my bike accident, since psychologically I get VERY nervous any time I throttle into a fast corner... maybe that's a good thing.

Random thoughts for the day:
  • Energizer lithium batteries are sweet. 1 AAA has kept my mp3 player powered for two days now and still shows as 1/3 full!
  • Baconators (from Wendy's) are not really that good. I felt sick and I don't think that was real bacon. Not doing that again.
  • It's amazing how your body adapts to the cold. Aside from my hands I'd only feel mildly uncomfortable - until I warmed up. Then I would start shaking and shivering and feeling like I was going to die. Then when I started again it would feel insanely cold for 5-10min then I wouldn't notice anymore. Weird.
  • I think I might have sunburn on my cheeks and nose. I did not see this coming (hello, I'm wearing a helmet!). Sunblock is definitely going on tomorrow.
  • I can mms videos to this blog from my cell. Sweet. :)
So, tomorrow I actually plan on getting off the bike for a bit and checking out the Parthenon in Nashville, the main reason I came this way. It's supposed to be pretty sweet, and I hope to spend a couple hours there. I haven't decided where I'm heading after that - probably another couple hard days on the bike, since I still want to get out to the Southwest ASAP. Weather report says it should be in the 60's tomorrow, here's hoping...
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