Festivelo de Charleston

Four days of cycling squeezed in between Thanksgiving and Christmas...what more could you ask for?!
A little less traffic. All of the routes started out on a pretty busy thoroughfare, but at least that part of the ride was on a four-lane road. The scary stuff came later each day, when we were sharing two-lane country roads with traffic moving at 55 mph (or more). Some scary stuff.
A little warmer weather. Starting off each day in the upper thirties to the low forties made for a cold ride. It would eventually warm up and the riding became much more pleasurable. Staying warm in the tent at night was another challenge.
Better food. The food was mediocre. Frogmore stew and steamed oysters at the nightly movie was fun and tasty, but the entrees each day were not very good. Sadly, the seafood night was probably the worst :-( The best food we had was actually at the rest stops. The vegetable soup, cornbread, and pistachio cake at a local church and the shrimp and grits at the turnaround point on Day One were memorable. So was the Italian wedding soup, cheese and crackers at beautiful Mepkin Abbey (where we were greeted by Santa with some minty chapstick).

My goal was to get a December century done and I accomplished that on the first day, despite my head cold. Would I do Festivelo again? Maybe. Not many other bike rides going on in December.