Meditation

I'm leaving Jekyll Island tomorrow morning for a 10-day meditation starting that evening, so you won't be hearing from me for a while. The weather has been great for me on the island giving me a nice relaxing stay. The bugs have been pretty awful at times however. I made a video compilation of the video footage I've accumulate so far. My videography skills could use some work, but it gives you an idea of some of the beautiful places I've been riding through. Talk to you in a couple of weeks!

Bicycle from Tyler Wheatcraft on Vimeo.

Georgia, Day 29 - 34

Day 29 - Tuesday, November 5th
I ended up staying at a bicycle hostel last night that was pretty awesome! It was newly renovated and since I was the only one staying there had the whole place to myself. Got a shower, did laundry, and, since the owner also does catering, ate a bunch of leftover tasty food. I got up and out early this morning headed for a warmshower in Vidalia, GA(home of the onion). Cruised through a few small towns and a lot of farm land. Covered the 72

miles to Vidalia by 2pm. Chilled out at a cafe for a while and refueled a bit. Met up with my warmshower host for the night, who, as it turns out, has ridden over 100,000 miles on his bicycle! Got some great insight about cycling and my route options in Georgia.

Day 30 - Wednesday, November 6th
Got an early start today, not knowing exactly my destination. I was 60 miles from Jesup where my

meditation is, but I was making too good of time and would be seven days early. Since there are no campgrounds in Jesup, but there are some on the coast, which was another 60 miles past Jesup, I was considering trying to make it to the coast. I made it to Jesup around 1:30pm and decided Jekyll Island Campground on the coast of Gerogia was my destination for the night. I had never ridden that far before and new it would be a struggle; and it was. I pedaled the rest of the day,

only stopping for minimal breaks to refuel, and got to the coastal town of Brunswick as the sun was setting. It was another 15 miles to the island, in the dark, and fatigue was starting to set in. Finally made it after a grueling last few miles for a total of 123.2 miles for the day! My first century(bicycle lingo for 100 miles in a day)!

Day 31 - Thursday, November 7th
My body was so amped up from the mileage and

caffeine last night that I barely got any sleep. I ended up reading a cycling magazine off and on most of the night. I've decided to stay on this island for all seven days to give my body a break and wait for my meditation. Biked around the island and laid around most of the day. My body is feeling pretty exhausted from all the riding. Got a nice nap on the beach.

Day 32 - Friday, November 8th

Feeling much better today after a good nights sleep. Went for a long walk, stretched out a bit, and did some more exploring of the island. There's a collection of old mansions that have been pretty cool to check out.

Day 33 - Saturday, November 9th
Did some more exploring and stretching. Walked down driftwood beach where all the driftwood in the area seems to gravitate. Pretty cool to see! A

family of dolphins came pretty close to shore which was a pleasure to watch for a while. They were pretty evasive, but I finally got a photograph.

Day 34 - Sunday, November 10th
Went for a bike ride down the beach this morning. Did some yoga on the beach, and then some reading. Cruised around the island for a while, then chilled out and did some reading and watched youtube the rest of the day.

Out of The Mountains! Day 20 - 28

I've finally finished the Blue Ridge Mountains!! 48,000ft of climbing was a huge challenge, but the climbs led to some pretty amazing views and descents. I'm now rolling through Georgia in the very last remnants of the foothills enjoying the speed of more level ground. I haven't posted in a long time so I'll try to catch you guys up for the most part.

By the way, you can now subscribe by email on the right side to get an email whenever I make a post.

Day 20
I camped out last night at a campground not far from Blowing Rock that turned out to be very crowded. My neighbor invited me to his fire with his two little girls where we made chai tea and smores. It was a lot of fun! I was 2 days out from Asheville with Mount Mitchell(6600ft) in between us, so I knew there was a lot of climbing to come. Did a lot of climbing and camped out about 10 miles from the peak.

Day 21

Woke up ready to climb, and climb I did. Mount Mitchell was a five mile detour from the parkway and when I reached it it was overcast. Everyone coming down said it was so foggy that you couldn't see anything, so I decided not to make the climb to the top for a view of some fog. It was all downhill into Asheville and the cruise down was more enticing. The 4,000ft descent into Asheville was an awesomely long and fast ride. Those long descents are always and adrenaline rush! I got

into town, found a place to stay from warmshowers, and decided to take a day off to check out Asheville. The couple I was staying with, Jerud and Ching, made some great dinner while I took a nice shower and did laundry. Felt very refreshed after all that!

Day 22
Today was my explore Asheville day. My number one priority was to get a new rear wheelset, which

I found by 9am for only 40 bucks, leaving me the rest of the day to see this great city. I rode the historic bike route around the whole city, which gave me a pretty good overview of the city as a whole. I really enjoyed that and even came across a tumbleweed tiny home, which I think would be really cool to build one day. I got some delicious fish tacos at White Duck Taco and walked around the Arts District for a while. Met a lot of nice people and enjoyed everything about the town. Got

dinner with Jerud and Ching at a food truck, which was a first, and went to UNCA to see a documentary about a blind mountain bike rider.

day 23
Rode out in the morning with Jerud. I broke off on Blue Ridge Parkway and he headed for work. It was all climbing today, starting at 2,200ft going all the way up to the highest point of the parkway at 6053ft. Took a lot of energy to climb, but at the

end of the day I was only one day out from the end of the parkway. Camped out at a little overlook.

Day 24
Did some climbing this morning, then it was all downhill to the finish in the Cherokee. Cherokee was a Native American Reserve; it was a decent little town. Continued on to Sylva where I had a warmshower lined up. A guy named Ron let me

stay at his classic bike shop. It was cool to see all those bikes and he gave me a great deal on some waterproof panniers(bicycle bags). Got some mexican food with his family and chilled out the rest of the night.

Day 25
Cruised on down to the town of Clayton and camped out behind a Home Depot. Nothing too

eventful today.

Day 26
I'm still in the Great Smoky Mountains, but it's finally starting to flatten out as I make my way more Southeast. Covered 80 miles today, my highest mileage day so far, to reach the town of Athens where I found an awesome guy on warmshowers who had down some extensive touring himself. He made me some great food and then we went to a bar for some live bluegrass music. Enjoyed the music and people of the town. There's a big bicycle community there so I fit right in.

Day 27
Brett, the guy I stayed with, hooked me up with a big breakfast and gave me an old riding jersey and some gloves to make things more comfortable. One of my favorite places to stay so far. I headed out South and soon came across some guys getting ready for a group ride who I ended up talking to for a while and getting advice on my route. About 15 miles into riding my left pedal started to lock up which made riding quite a challenge. I searched for the closest bike shop and rerouted in that direction, which was slightly more West than I wanted to go. There happened to be a warmshower in the town who I contacted and got a prompt reply. Luckily my pedal worked for the most part, but did continue to lock up from time to time. Made it to the warmshower around 5, which was a beautiful home on Lake Sinclair. They were a really nice intelligent couple with two cool dogs. Appreciated the place to stay as well as the good conversation.

Day 28
Enjoyed my stay on the lake and even got some fresh eggs from their chickens for breakfast! Headed down to local bike shop where they discovered that one of the bearings in my pedal had been crushed. They swapped out the bearing and got me all fixed up. I'm sitting in a coffee shop in town now(Milledgville, GA) finishing this blog, then I'm heading for Dublin to camp out for the night. I'm gonna try to update this blog more often now that I'm out of the mountains so I don't get so far behind. I'm still having a great time out here and should make it to Jesup where my meditation is in a few days.