Today, we rode 51 miles from Marcola to Oakridge. It was mostly uphill, but only a short stretch was really steep. We were on Highway 58 for a good part of the day, and there was a lot of truck traffic, so we were careful to stay on the side of the road as we peddled, though there were times when there was only an inch of shoulder.

Last night, I went into the emergency room in Springfield. My heart rate was about 130 during the day while I was peddling hard, but after 4 hours of resting at the end of the ride, it was still up to 130 bpm. I called my doctor, and he suggested I go into the emergency. The pastor of the church we slept in last night, who is a good friend, drove me in. When I finally got in after waiting several hours, everything was Normal. They did blood work and an EKG; it was all good.

Today, my heart rate was still up to 130 bpm during the day, but it dropped to 70 after a couple of hours when we got to camp. I think every day, both the high while riding and the resting, will continue to come down as I get in shape.

The campground where we had our reservation also had cheap rooms to rent, and because it is supposed to rain hard between midnight and 3:00 am tonight, we rented a room, and all four of us are sleeping in it, poor Kathy!

Tomorrow we have a very steep climb of 5,000 feet. That should be a lot of fun!