"Achoo! ... We need the Sun!"

Well, I was worried about health issues before the ride (refer to my third post in this blog) but now we are starting to deal with some health issues that are a bit different than my prior concerns, but not surprising.  We have over 500 miles completed and over a cumulative 25,000 feet of climbing in 9 days of riding; and our systems are starting to be taxed.  We have been making sure we get enough fuel, both carbs and protein.  And we are doing a good job making sure we get enough sleep.  But probably due to some of our rides in the rain and wind, we are starting to get scratchy throats, sniffles, sneezes and coughs.  We attribute a lot of this to the restaurant we stopped at for breakfast in Oakdale, Washington, to fuel up and warm up after riding in the rain.  Unfortunately, it took 45 minutes for our food to get on our table and there was an air conditioner cooling us off.  We were very chilled when we left that restaurant.  Saturday was a very tough day for Bill to ride, due to shortness of breath and suffering from a cold and today he decided not to ride.  The saying is “discretion is the better part of valor”, and we think “wisdom is the better part of valor”.  Bill rode in the SAG car today so he could save himself and be able to ride another day.  Jim and I waited until noon, before we started our ride, and we decided to ride as far as we could before the rain stopped us.  And we got 26 miles down the road to the little town of Waldport, Oregon before the rain started in earnest.  We sat under an overhang, called Dennie and waited for the SAG car.

Tomorrow we are going to keep an eye on the weather again.  If it is dry, we will ride and ride as far as we can again before it rains again.  Unless scratchy throats, sniffles, sneezes and coughs dictate otherwise. We are so looking forward to sunshine again however the weather reports do not look promising for the next four days.