Thursday, April 23- 48 miles
Some pictures and lots of news today. Nan drove me out to the Coasters' motel on US 90 and the starting point for the day's ride. I was a little anxious about the difficulties that I encountered the prior day but wanted to ride since this route was short and quite flat. Rose and Judy chose to escort me in case I had any recurring problems. My guardian angels:
We began riding through an Allee of Live Oak trees completely overhanging the road and passed several nurseries and horse farms. The first stop was at Tupelo's Bakery in Monticello at mile 18.
After a leisurely iced coffee and bear claw pastry it was back on the road to Greenville. I was feeling OK but not great and had to stop frequently in the shade to hydrate and catch my breath. The next stop at mile 34 was a highlight as we all had a chance to make some music with Ray Charles in his hometown:
So, feeling refreshed we set off for Madison reaching there after a struggle for me up one last hill in time for lunch. As we finished eating Judy and Rose turned to me and announced that they were going to stand in for Nan and take me to a hospital. I did not argue as it was apparent that I was not able to ride or sustain a normal pace. We found Ed and Joyce who provided transportation for our bicycles and us to the North Florida Community College center housing the Coasters this evening. Rose drove me to the brand new hospital even though it was only 100 yards away.
Registration, quick admittance to the ER and I learned that I had a sustained heartbeat of 135, roughly double normal. It took multiple attempts using three different medications to lower the rate. In addition the EKG revealed that I had a regular arrhythmia, known as atrial flutter. So, the next move since the hospital in Madison did not have a cardiologist on staff was an ambulance ride back to Tallahassee's main hospital.
We began riding through an Allee of Live Oak trees completely overhanging the road and passed several nurseries and horse farms. The first stop was at Tupelo's Bakery in Monticello at mile 18.
After a leisurely iced coffee and bear claw pastry it was back on the road to Greenville. I was feeling OK but not great and had to stop frequently in the shade to hydrate and catch my breath. The next stop at mile 34 was a highlight as we all had a chance to make some music with Ray Charles in his hometown:
So, feeling refreshed we set off for Madison reaching there after a struggle for me up one last hill in time for lunch. As we finished eating Judy and Rose turned to me and announced that they were going to stand in for Nan and take me to a hospital. I did not argue as it was apparent that I was not able to ride or sustain a normal pace. We found Ed and Joyce who provided transportation for our bicycles and us to the North Florida Community College center housing the Coasters this evening. Rose drove me to the brand new hospital even though it was only 100 yards away.
Registration, quick admittance to the ER and I learned that I had a sustained heartbeat of 135, roughly double normal. It took multiple attempts using three different medications to lower the rate. In addition the EKG revealed that I had a regular arrhythmia, known as atrial flutter. So, the next move since the hospital in Madison did not have a cardiologist on staff was an ambulance ride back to Tallahassee's main hospital.
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