Day 6: Point South, SC to Givhans Ferry State Park, SC

May 18, 2008

54.11 miles, 3:55:55 Ride Time, 13.76 Average Speed, 34.8 Maximum Speed

I got up really, really late. Yesterday's long day must have taken more out of me than I realized. Looked out the window and saw that it was cloudy. This was shaping up to be a blah day. Finally got everything together, carried the heavy bike down the steps (my room was on the second floor of the Best Western; inexplicably, all of the less expensive single rooms were on the second floor. Isn't this some form of discrimation?), and checked out. The Dennys next to the motel looked busy, and I didn't feel like waiting.

So, I rode down the four-lane, then two-lane road to Yemasse. Nothing appeared to be open for breakfast in Yemassee, so I asked a local guy, and he suggested I ride back toward the interstate and find a place called "J's". That sounded interesting, so I rode off-route a few miles to "J's", which proved to be a major disappointment. Very weird vibe in the place; the waitress was surly (and looked like the androgynous "Pat" character from Saturday Night Live), and the breakfast bizarrely didn't include biscuits (her terse response when I asked the waitress about it: "We don't make biscuits here."). Ok, then.

I had the first tiresome "put a motor on it" comment of the trip from a fat guy sitting nearby: "You should have gotten you one of them mo-pads, that would be easier, haw haw haw." So, so irritating.

I ate the mediocre, overpriced breakfast (twice as expensive and 1/10th as good as the one I had in Odum a few days ago), and left the "mo-pad" guy and his wife.

There really wasn't too much to see today. The clouds did eventually go away, but I never really got interested in the ride. It was the stereotypical depressing Sunday. I rode through Hendersonville (not much to see there) and the much busier Walterboro (pop. 5,153), and endured quite a bit of traffic on 17A in and out of town.

I arrived in Givhans Ferry State Park around 2:30, after stopping for chocolate milk and Gatorade at a little store just outside the park. My mood was lifting (was it the chocolate milk?) as I rode through the park, which was nice and shady. I found the campground, but no one was in the park office, so I decided to wait there until the ranger (or someone) eventually showed up.

I'd been sitting on the porch at the park office for about a half hour when another touring cyclist rode up. It was Robert Ford (http://www.bike-360.com), who was riding around the perimeter of the USA - he had left Houston, TX on April 1st. We talked for a while, then the park ranger came by and checked us in. We rode over to the campground and set up our tents, then rode out of the park to a gas station a few miles away for some Hunt Brothers pizza, which we ate out in the parking lot. It's a shame that most of these places have no tables and chairs inside.

Back at camp, before getting in my tent for the night, I observed Robert struggle a little while putting a new folding tire on his bike. What did I learn from this? Never, ever buy a folding tire.

Actually, not that much to see in this part of South Carolina.

We stood around eating Hunt Brothers pizza in the parking lot of this place. That was dinner.

Today's ride: 54 miles (87 km)
Total: 421 miles (678 km)

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Mike Ayling"Never ever buy a folding tyre."
Have you changed your opinion over the years?
I usually carry a couple of those old toe straps which work well in holding part of the tyre down while I work my way around the rim.

Mike
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5 years ago

Jeff LeeHa - I actually think I've used a folding tire a couple of times since then with no problems. The one that Robert Ford had seemed super-flimsy, though, and he was never able to get it on the wheel. The last I saw of him he was STILL riding on his literally-falling-apart old tire, which he had covered with masking tape.

As I recall, he quit his tour in the Washington, DC area. I wonder if his tire problems contributed to the premature end of his tour?
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5 years ago

Mark BinghamRobert Ford..... interesting name for a biker since it's also the name of the crack-smoking Toronto mayor. From Wikipedia:

"On March 7, 2007, Ford spoke out against cyclists sharing roads with motorists, which were 'built for buses, cars, and trucks, not for people on bikes.' As councillor, Ford opposed the installation of bike lanes on University Avenue and Jarvis Street and during his election campaign, proposed spending money on off-road cycle paths. Bike lanes were installed on Jarvis in 2010 over the objection of traffic advocates, and Ford made it a priority to get them removed during his campaign."
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1 year ago

Jeff LeeTo Mark BinghamHaha. At the time I don't think I'd heard about the infamous Robert Ford, or I might have kidded the nice cyclist Robert Ford about his namesake.

The Robert Ford I met originally had an ambitious plan to ride around the perimeter of the USA, starting in Texas. But when he got to Washington, DC (I found out later), he quit.

I wonder what he's doing now? The internet is clogged with search results for the infamous Robert Ford, unfortunately, so I can't find out.
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1 year ago