Day 5, Akita - Tsuruoka: In a Word - Exhausted

Sorry for no post yesterday.

We had a mega-long day that wasn't supposed to be mega-long. We rode about 215 km and we didn't get started until about 11:45, because we took a morning ferry from Hakodate to Aomori. We arrived at our host's place at around 8:45, showered up, had a beer, and basically fell asleep.

I thought yesterday's ride was "only" going to be 175 km, so I messed that up a bit. We knew we were in for a long one right away, though, when we saw a road sign with our destination on it, since it told us how far we had to go (190 km, from that point).

Today, luckily, I overestimated the distance, so we had a really short one, just 120 km or so. We arrived at our hotel at 2 p.m. and have been trying to rest since then. Jody is in bed right now, and I was, too, earlier, but I went to the first floor hot spring to try to ease the muscle strain in my legs. I also went to get some food for now (peanut butter sandwiches, homemade) and lots of drinks, since I am probably still dehydrated.

Strangely, both of us are having some trouble with our hands. I can't move the fingers on my right hand together and back apart with my palm facing down. I first noticed this two days ago toward the end of the ride as I had trouble shifting with my right hand. I don't have any pain and I'm able to type this, so I don't think it's anything serious, but it is a bit annoying.

Jody has blisters on his palms and is therefore also having some trouble shifting and braking.

As you can imagine, we are aching in other places, too, but doing our best to hang in there.

Tomorrow we are supposed to ride 200+.

Today we rode through a lot of rain, but that didn't really bother us, since we had a short ride. We stopped several times, which we hadn't been doing up until now, really, and in the morning (before it rained) were therefore able to take more pictures than we had been. Until today, all we really did was ride like mad. This is nuts.

I'm just about out of energy for this post.

I've been teaching Jody quite a bit of Japanese, so when we go into restaurants or convenience stores, for instance, he can ask for water, tell the staff we don't need a bag, ask them to heat up his favorite Japanese food, onigiri (rice balls), and even ask where the onigiri are. It's a lot of fun for both us and the Japanese!

Last night at the Akita train station (we spent the night in Akita, but not at the train station), 5 Japanese college-age girls walked past us so I said "Hi" to them. Then we got into a conversation and they ended up clapping for us when we told them how far we had ridden that day, where we were going, and that we were from America. It was hilarious. I really think they clapped at least three times for us. Too bad I didn't get a picture of them.

We've obviously had similar stories, but that's really all the energy I have. My body is not happy.

Wish us luck for tomorrow!

Good night

p.s. Sorry for not adding the ride stats but Jody has those on his Garmin and I didn't bring that down to the lobby. We will get that info up ASAP.

p.p.s. I never said what was special about 714. It's the number of HRs that Babe Ruth hit...

p.p.s. Since the ride has begun, I have yet to check ESPN.com and several other sites that I normally check, which shows you how little time I spend online. I have no clue what's up in the news, either...

Today's ride stats:

Distance: 79.54 miles (128.007 km)
Elapsed Time: 6:55:58
Time in Saddle: 4:50:37
Average Moving Speed: 16.4 mph
Maximum Speed: 33.1 mph
Calories Burned: 4481
Elevation Gain:1850 ft
Max Elevation: 236 ft
Average Temp: 78.5 F