Pactour Elite Southern Transcontinental: Day 14

Day 14:	Forest MS to Camden AL
Mileage/Ride Time:	172 miles 9:27	Time Lv/Arr:	6:30am/5:08pm
Climbing:	3700ft	Avg Speed/Work:	18.2mph/4203 kJ

It was hot in Alabama today.

Today was a real scorcher. 99F in the shade at the last water stop:

[From left to right: Don Magie, Jeff Weible and Chris Block.]

Add to that rolling hills all day long for 3700ft of climbing over 172 miles and subjectively, it felt harder than the previous couple of 170 miler days. (See the Epilogue blog entry for a formula on how days can be compared.) See profile:

Course (MapSource and Google Earth):

Notes:

• My legs were a little heavy from the last two days, so I started out in the middle group hoping for a little less intensity.
  But because some people in the first group missed a right turn, I ended up riding much of the day with first-groupers Don Magie, George Metzler and Chris Block.
  But once you start riding with these guys, you want to hang with them for as long as possible, Oh well!

• My front tire (Vittoria Open Corsa CX) delaminated today.
  The layers of rubber had separated.
  As I changed the tire, I also found the inner tube "glued" to the tire. It literally had to be peeled off:
  
  I'm a bit superstitious when it comes to bicycle tires. I haven't had any tire trouble since Day 2 with 4 flats. I've been carrying 4 tubes and 4 CO2 cartridges in my Moots trunk pack for insurance since that day.
  I ended up tossing both the Vittoria and the sticky tube. I hope I will not have tire trouble tomorrow.