Ostuni: If you ever want someone to ride with PM me and we can figure on a venue. There are a couple of great rides here in Cola & I would certainly like to ride some of the other parts of the state before I escape to the west in about 9 months.
Congrats on the epic ride!!! Your questions of "how others do it" will soon-enough change to "how did I ever think that this was a challenge? Where's my next hill?".