Day 17 - gulf shores

Thurs 12/16/2010
Today was a pretty uneventful day. Cyclist dan left early after saying goodbye, but I had a leisurely morning and barely made the 11oclock ferry. I was the only person in it! The crew members used a bike for riding up the pier to the gate on the fort morgan side. One of them was working on it during the ferry ride. I offered some tips but he politely declined.
Back on the road, I was snapping a picture when I saw miro, from slovakia, on his bike. He was going the other way, but he hit the ferry dock, turned around, and soon caught me. He was a high level amatuer racer who had a condo in gulf shores for training. We rode together for a few miles at a good clip, but I had to recuse myself from the tempo in order to save my legs. Ill bet his bike weighed less than the water I had with me. After maybe I made it to a bike path that went the final 8 miles into gulf shores. I really love not riding with cars.
Unfortunately, the guerilla mobile mechanic event in gulf shores did not pan out. Had it been july I could have tuned up beach crusiers to my heart's content. But, in the off season, there just wasnt anyone around. My plan was to set up shop by the bike path and target passerbys, but I only saw a few people out all day. Gulf shores had maybe the best bike infrastructure ive seen (paths, lanes, signs, racks etc), but no riders. Lots of signs for VRBO though.
I took the long way through gulf state park before calling it a day. I just have about 40 miles left to Pensacola, but its supposed to be rainy all day friday, and maybe into saturdau. Hopefully it will clear by 10 am, the time for the next mobile mechanic event. Its at ever'mans, a natural food store in pensacola. Should be lots of fun. Enjoy the pictures, im almost into the last week!