Mobile, AL

Our first century! We had two options for a route going from Milton. A shorter, but hillier and busier 92 mile option that would take us through downtown Mobile or a flatter, more scenic and quieter 108 mile option including taking a ferry across the mouth of Mobile Bay. The group decided on the longer ride even though it meant getting up at 4am to leave by 6am and get to the Ferry by 2:30.

Everyone did great. Only one rider had to be picked up, because he ended up getting dehydrated and the heat got to him, but I have no doubt that he could have finished. The flat ride and the scenery really helped things. I got there in time to take the earlier ferry but opted to wait for the rest and spend some time chilling out by the water. It was a nice break around mile 80 of the ride.

On the other side of the ferry we still had about 25 miles to go, much of which included the unshaded and brutally hot causeway that took us from Dauphin Island up to the mainland of Mobile County. It was a beautiful ride, but I was so glad to be done. My previous long day of riding was somewhere around 70 miles, so it felt great to smash that, especially this early in the trip. I think getting this under our belts gave the entire group great confidence for the rest of the trip. We definitely have some long days that will be even harder, so I think this will nullify some of our fears. You feel pretty invincible when you can say you biked 100 miles in one day!

The work in Mobile was good. We worked with Mobile County Habitat for Humanity, mostly laying sod while a few people painted. They are building entire communities in the Bayou la Batre area as part of Operation Home Delivery, a Habitat International response to the hurricanes of 2005. Many of the homes where we were had been more or less finished, so the 27 of us, plus a few other volunteers and homeowners worked on laying sod. We finished faster than they expected and it was great to see the result of a good day's work from 27 people: three lawns that were previously huge patches of lumpy dirt now looked like lawns and the buildings that looked like construction sites that morning had taken a huge step toward looking like homes.