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Day 33: DeRidder to Bunkie ( 101 miles) April 17

Happy Easter to all who celebrate!

Today was the longest mileage day remaining on the tour - 97 miles. We should have known things wouldn't go well when the trip leaders told us the night before to ignore the cue sheet between miles 70 and 90. Just follow the route signs, and you'll be fine. Well, we weren't fine.

At mile 48, I had a flat. I rode about 7 miles on a very low tire until I could find shade. I found a house with a big tree in the front yard and pulled into their driveway. I fixed it in a reasonable amount of time.

After the flat, we proceeded on to the part of the route that was changed on the fly last night. On the way, we got a text that yet another part of the cue sheet should be ignored, and we should follow the route numbers. You don't need to know the details except that it didn't go well.


* Generally speaking, roads with numbers are paved. Roads with names are not, some are just dirt and gravel. 🤦‍♀️

After several fits and starts, and going three miles out of our way, we finally got back on track, and made it to the hotel. The silver lining is that because of the extra miles, I made today's ride a Century. It wasn’t my personal best, but it was my first (and last) Louisiana century!


We did take notice that we entered a whole new eco-system. All along the roads were combination crawfish and rice fields. We saw a lot of interesting “road kill”, large snakes, turtles, birds, and large frogs. The sides of the road were so soft and marshy that the SAG vehicles had to be very careful where they pulled over. Tomorrow, we cross the Mississippi River!

Louisiana sky. Roads are flat with nice wide shoulders. This is LA-26 E.


Crimson Clover (over and over) 🙂

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