Originally Posted by Nota

Yeah. If you're a reasonably strong cyclist, and so long as you keep your heart rate down, by spinning a small gear up the hills, you really can go all day. Dealing with the saddle sores and lower back pain, was more of a challenge than the leg fatigue pedaling aspect. I (regularly) took "Advil for back pain", to deal with the lower back. That helped a lot. As for the saddle......well, you just deal with it - "push through the pain". The one good thing that did come out of having to do most of the last day in the rain was that my brand new Brooks B17 saddle (finally!) got broke in good 'n proper. It's now permanently sunken down in and molded to the shape of my arse....uber comfortable. I'm going to buy a black one to put on my Trek Madone......and then go ride it in the rain.

I know some people seemed to think that I missed a whole lot, by doing so many miles each day, but as you said, my olefactory senses work just fine; I smelled, and saw, quite a bit. I may not have stopped and gotten off the bike at each scenic overlook, but had my head turned towards it and enjoyed just the same, as I was pedaling by. By far, the best smells were up at the "balsam" area, near Pisgah.

Out of curiousity,Charlie, just what part of Bal'mer, Merlin are you from? I actually grew up in Baltimore, having lived all over the city and parts of Baltimore County, but moved down to the Carolinas about 20 yrs ago now.