Total over 8 days: 386 miles, 14,533 ft climb, 9.6% grade max, 10.3 mph average speed, 31.2 mph max downhill speed Day 0: Short jaunt to the Missouri River for the back-tire dip. >> 16.3 mi, 341 ft elevation, 4.1% max grade, 11.7 mph avg, 22.6 mph max Day 1: The hills! Butt-kickers!! Now we know of how very flat Florida is. We trained for the heat. We trained for the distance. Nothing compares to the hills! The gearing on both of our bikes was having issues, so it made for a pretty long, sometimes frustrating day. Nevertheless, we’ll give tomorrow a shot and see if we do any better. >> 44.2 mi, 2,271 ft elevation, 6.7% max grade, 9.1 mph avg, 30.4 mph max Day 2: Pete fared better today, and we seemed to hit our stride. Until the middle of the day when my blood sugar decided to drop. I had plenty of food with me, and they were all things that had gently raised my blood sugar perfectly on past rides. But the hills! The constant grind up hundreds of feet per hill just sucked all the glucose out of my system. Just when I was considering whether I should take the SAG van to the overnight town, a road-side tent appeared with home made, full-sugar root beer. So. Unbelievably. Delicious. 2 cups, some doggy snuggles, and a 30-min nap at the next town and I was good to go. Keeping my sugar up the rest of the day was a challenge, but manageable. Stay tuned for tomorrow. I’m not sure if we’ll be able to get through the whole day, but we know we can get through at least the first half. Tomorrow will be the toughest. >> 44.3 mi, 1,492 ft elevation, 7.1% max grade, 10.0 mph avg, 31.2 mph max Day 3: Humbling day. Ended up SAGging at Bridgewater >> 30.4 mi, 1,706 ft elevation, 7.4% max grade, 9.6 mph avg Day 4: OMG, we did it! Pedaled sunrise to sunset and completed 78 miles. Did much better managing time and managing carbs today. >> 78.4 mi (longest day!!!), 3,125 ft elevation (most climb!!!), 8.6% max grade, 10.1 mph avg, 30.0 mph max Day 5: The hills mellowed out some but the wind kicked up! >> 63.1 mi, 2,217 ft elevation, 9.6% max grade (steepest climb!!!), 8.8 mph avg, 28.9 mph max Day 6: A few big hills and pretty breezy. Almost made it halfway before the towns rolled up the sidewalks (and support services closed) behind us. Free ride to Mount Pleasant! >> 35.2 mi, 1,198 ft elevation, 6.6% max grade, 8.7 mph avg, 29 mph max Day 7: OMG, WE DID IT!!!! >> 47.6 mi, 982 ft elevation, 5.4% max grade, 9.8 mph avg, 22.6 mph max