Magnolia Randonneur

The March to 2012

2011-11-02T07:41:00.000-05:00

Well, it is time to start getting serious again. I have been playing around far to long without a plan.

I just finished my "long" ride of the year and now it is time to get ready for 2012. I don't have a transcon in site, but I do have a couple epic rides scheduled.

Current 2012 Goals:

1. 300 miles at Sebring 12/24 hour race.
2. Complete a full randonneuring series in Texas including the Mineral Wells 600k.
3. Complete 500 miles in less than 48 hours in the Texas Time Trials.

This should keep me pretty busy and hopefully leave me in pretty darn good shape to head into 2013 where I hope to spend 2-3 weeks touring Alaska...

Looking forward to a great year!

The NOLA 600k

2011-11-02T07:35:00.000-05:00

I can't believe how good this weekend was!

I don't remember when I decided to go for the 400 and 600. I know I was gaining confidence riding at night and that was probably a big factor. The fact that I was riding stronger and better because of the Lake Michigan trip played a part in it too.

I drove down to Pat's in New Orleans Friday afternoon and as I was the only one from out of town (only Pat and Steve did the ride with me) I had the cassita to myself. Got to bed early but was concerned about a very howling wind. The forecast had the wind dying down by 6am, but at 9 pm Friday night it was whipping up really good. I woke to a nasty wood against sandpaper sound of a tree limb hitting the cassita rooftop because of the wind. It was pretty ferocious sounding. It was also pretty durn cold. Only 48, but with the wind, I was struggling to figure out how to dress. I layered up really good. Steve even mentioned that I would be glad once the headwind hit me in the face on top of the levy. I was still pretty chilly as we left the house heading for the levy. The wind was strong and throwing us around. Not as bad as some of the Arizona winds I have ridden in, but in the dark and cold it was not much fun, especially since I knew we had 200k of it. At mile 3, yes 3, I was burning slap up. I don't know why I am having so many problems regulating my temp, but I am. I had to stop to take off my neck buff and I traded my jacket for my wind vest. This was a little better. The guys had stopped and waited for me for this layer. But another mile or two down the road I started trying to take my gloves off. With the wind, I dropped back and rode one handed while biting the long fingered glove liner and pulling my hand out of it then putting the half fingered glove back on. This finally got my temp right, but this time the guys did not wait up for me. I struggled in the headwind to catch back up. About the time I was going to latch back on something would come up - debris, curvy part of the levy, to slow me down. I was getting discouraged way too early in the ride. The guys were waiting for me at the end of the Levy. Once we got onto River Road, we stayed together for the next 40ish miles. I am not sure why but the next 100k was a struggle for me. I don't know if Pat was riding stronger today than the 400 or if I was just slower, but I could not keep up. I was never so far back that they had to come looking for me, but unlike the 400, I was not on Pats wheel the whole time. It bothered me that I couldn't hang on, but it did not mess with me mentally. I was enjoying the beautiful day. I had on a lightweight long sleeve undershirt and a short sleeve jersey and was absolutely comfortable. The temps were perfect. The wind was heavy but not demoralizing. I was really enjoying myself. Plus with the riding I had been doing, my body is comfortable with 300k - beyond that, not so much.

We got to Baton Rouge, stopped at the control for a quick dinner. We were behind schedule and concerned about not making it back to one of the stores about 30 miles out before it closed at 8. Just seconds out of the control, Pat hits a really bad pothole - more like a crevasse - I should have noticed it but from my vantage point it did not look as bad as it actually was. We both hit it hard and I heard the tale-tale hiss of a pinched flat. Luck was with us and we had it changed in 7 minutes! For the most part, I was able to stay up with the guys on this stretch - tailwind maybe? They would pull away, but I was never too far back. We pulled into the store at 7 - gaining back some time! However, the next 30 miles would really challenge me. I got sleepy and was having trouble staying awake. I was sipping 5 hour energys, but they weren't working. I got dropped really bad - I could see Pat and Steves taillights but they were just blinking lights. This was when my mind started conjuring up negative thoughts. I just don't like riding at night alone. About that time, I lost the taillights all together. The night was beautiful, the stars were shining and the moon was a beautiful crescent giving out a lot of light for such a small sliver. But something jumped out of the ditch just ahead of me - cat, rabbit, coon, I don't know but it scared the bejesus out of me! At that moment I decided to DNF. No way was I riding out here in the middle of the night by myself - damn it. I was just going to get a motel in Sorrento - the next control. I could easily ride back to Pats alone the next day. Dang warewolves out here in the middle of the night on Halloween weekend. Only stupid idiots would be caught dead riding a bike at night in the middle of no where! Right!? Anyway, I worked up a pretty good lather from the spooking and stomped up to the control. The guys had not been there very long. They still had not made it into McDonalds yet. I blasted that I was tired of this ride, was going to find a motel and ride back in the morning. I was not going to ride at night alone and I can't keep up so I was going to pack my toys and go home!!! Well, little did I know that there was no motel in Sorrento, not even a Super 8! Steve knew this and told me later that he slunk off to the bathroom to let me blow off steam. He said he knew I would be okay once I ate the magical wonderfully delicious McDonalds oatmeal. So, I did walk into the Micky Ds and walked up to the counter, ordered the magical wonderfully delicious McDonals oatmeal, asked the young lady to sign my card (I really thought this was funny because I was DNFing so why did I ask her to sign the card?) and then I asked her where the nearest hotel was. Well, she had to think a minute and answered "Gonzalas". Well that is in another town. So I pouted my way to a seat with the magical wonderfully delicious McDonalds oatmeal when I heard Pat tell someone on the phone that I was considering DNFing. I spat at him that there is no motel in Sorrento so I would have to just keep riding. I then sat down and relished my magical wonderfully delicious McDonalds oatmeal as pixie fairys sprinkled rando dust on me.

Alas, all is well in the world and we start the 4th 100k on the way back to Pats. It seemed to have dropped 30 degrees in the 20 minutes or so we were in McDonalds. I put on everything I had with me donning the jacket instead of the vest. Steve would later take the vest. My teeth chattered for sometime but eventually I adjusted to the cold and I think it became warmer as we continued toward New Orleans. The one thing that did bother me on this leg was several times I started to fall asleep on the bike - just close my eyes for a second and then jerk awake. I was sipping 5 hour energy at the control, slapping myself, pulling my hair. The only thing that seemed to help was singing childrens songs - Old McDonald, Knick Nac Patty Wack, and at least a dozen more. I even sang 100 bottles of beer on the wall but started at 32 cause we had 32 miles to go and I sang it all the way to no more bottles of beer on the wall. The other thing that kept me awake was playing the memory game with Pat and Steve. Ya know the game - I am going on a bike ride and taking my bike, flat tire, full bladder, Perpetuem, flag, red light, edge bike computer - each person has to recall the list and then add to it. I just love that game and it really helped to concentrate. Unfortunately we, (I?) slowed down on this leg and we did not get to Pat's until 3:15 a full hour later than the 400k. It took an hour to get a shower and get everything ready to do all over again and my head hit the pillow at 4:15. Pat would give me a wake up call 1 hour and 10 min before we were to push off again.

The phone rang 2 hours and 15 minutes later. It seemed like meer moments. I asked Pat if I could DNF, he responded with a sharp no, so with that I got up and got ready. We pushed off at 7:48, 1 hour and 45 min later than the original plan. This is where I really had to pull myself together. My knees and ankle hurt (ankle?! I did not even know ankles could hurt), my legs were sore and heavy and I was tired (whine, sniff, sniff). Pat and Steve were really pushing hard - we had a ferry to make and that put us on a pretty strict time schedule, plus we had a terrible headwind (probably wasn't that bad but seemed it at the time). I just could not do it. I just wasn't capable of keeping up. This was the lowest moment for me and I was ready to give up. Steve and Pat stopped to wait for me and I told them just to go on without me. There was no way I could do it. They put me behind Pat and Steve whispered encouragement to me for the next 15 miles. He said the wind would be at our backs when we got off the ferry and that this is the hardest part of the day. Once we left the familiar territory of the levy, he told me what to expect up ahead. This was the reason I was able to push through and make it to the ferry. Once on the ferry, I thought I would burst into tears. 400k down 200k to go.

The next 100k was not very eventful. But it seemed to take FOREVER!!! I enjoyed riding in new territory. What amazed me was that I did not fully understand where we were going. I thought we were headed in the exact opposite direction of day one which would have been east, even though we were going to ride on the "west bank". I had not seen a map of the route, but after looking at the map on Monday morning we would have ended up in Mississippi had we gone the way I thought we were. 10 miles off of the ferry we come up to my favorite bridge in the world, the Huey P Long. When Pat told me there's the Heuy P, I was really confused. I asked what was on the other side and I know I confused him. It probably took two miles for him to explain that we were riding parallel to our route from yesterday. This made no sense to my now very addled brain. We were on the "west bank". So the rest of the trip Pat would point out the west bank side of my very familiar east bank landmarks. Mind blowing stuff after 250+ miles!

This 100k, the 5th, was the eatingest, stopingest 100k ever. We stopped for meat pies about 20 miles past the ferry. I walked in to the meat pie store and they had BANANAS!!! Yeah!!! Just what I wanted. The guys ate meat pies. 10 miles further down the road we stopped for chicken fingers. Nothing sounded good, but they guys said there would be no food at the turn around so I bought one chicken finger. It was really good. We pushed on for the next 30 miles to the turn around only stopping for bio breaks in the pretty corn fields (erh cane fields, they look the same to me until you realize there is no corn on the cane stalks). I was falling behind again. Pat and Steve were a good bit in front of me. Pat stopped and fell behind me and started squeeking orders to me in a funny voice. Sharon Stevens from LSR had been texting us back and forth from her 600k and Vickie Tyer had sent me a message to "pedal, pedal, pedal", so Pat was telling me things like this encouraging me to sprint up to Steve. I realized that I did have more energy in me than I thought, so I pushed. I would try to coast for a minute and Pat would squeak, "Pedal Pedal Pedal", I would try and coast and he would squeak other words of encouragement to me. I don't know why, but this really helped me mentally and physically. We finally made it to the control, but were still and hour behind our new schedule with a headwind approaching our last 100k.

The Last #$%^#@ 100k, the 6th, was my favorite 100k. As we pulled away from the control into a headwind I immediately started to fall back. I started to get discouraged. Then remembering Sharon/Vicki/Pats "Pedal Pedal Pedal" and the surge I had earlier, I thought of training for my transcon. To train for it I had to get angry, had to push myself to do the drills. I have not pushed myself that hard since getting back from the transcon. So I gritted my teeth and caught back up with the guys. There was no way I was going to be out to 10 pm finishing this thing. I told the guys the only way I was going to be able to do this was to get angry and that I needed to scream some cuss words. Irreverent as it may seem, it pushed me and pulled me to keep up with the guys. I yelled at every Parish line sign and every landmark and I rode harder and better than I have in a long time. No way was I going to loose Pat's wheel this 100k. I kept up!

We were going to finish!!! We stopped only once at the chicken finger store to get the final supplies to finish this ride off. I bought Powerball tickets - it is up to 245 million ya know and that would buy a lot of bikes. We had plans to meet Pat's wife Cindi at Steve's house at 7:30 and we were pretty much on track. Steve's wife, Candace, was going to order us some pizza and I could not wait. We slowed down in the dark having to cruise back on the levy path and then the winding streets of Gretna. The traffic was heavyish and the threat of potholes tremendous. Just when we thought we were done I heard a weird siren. It was the drawbridge, damn! I don't know how long we had to wait, probably no more than 10 minutes. We finally crossed the drawbridge for the final 2 miles to the control! Yahoo!!!!! We pulled into the Circle K 38 hours and 8 minutes after starting the ride!!

After thoughts:

Riding with Pat and Steve about 90% of the time sure made the time pass. They would sometimes ride ahead but always waited at turns or controls. We fought wind for the first 200k and were too tired to take much advantage of little tailwind left for the ride back. The second day, the wind was not as bad, but it still slowed us down a couple mph. The guys have done this ride a couple times before and finished 2-3 hours earlier. It is very flat. If you have not completed a 400 or 600 New Orleans is the place to get some confidence.

It is amazing what your body will do. I did have a good time and did not "hate" the experience. I am still not comfortable riding alone at night. I am very pleased with my food on the bike. No nutritional problems at all. I made sure I sipped on SE and Heed the entire ride, especially when I felt the least bit hungry. When we stopped to eat I ate meat of some kind but not much of it or some fruit.

I hate to admit it, but I can't wait to do some more 400s and 600s. I am going to take the next 3 months and just train for Sebring trying to get faster. Then in March I am going to head over and work up to a full Texas series.

I could not have completed this ride without the encouragement of my riding companions Pat and Steve. They both shepherded me through this ride challenging me, encouraging me and proding me along. I am very appreciative for their patience especially putting up with my off key singing of childrens songs on Saturday night! Thank you guys!!!

Wahhooo!

Effingham, IL

2011-08-05T22:02:00.001-05:00

Well here I am - 3/4 of the way to Chicago to start my tour of Lake Michigan. The drive was uneventful - it did start raining just south of Memphis and rained on and off the rest of the way to Effingham. What a name for a city. I wonder who or what the city is named for.

I am listening to John Irving's "A Prayer for Owen Meany" in the car. 6 hours into a 20+ hour book and I am loving it. Much better than that crappy "Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy".

Anyway, I am staying at a Super 8 - after staying at 13 of them in 30 days, I have become fond of them. Also, they are pretty inexpensive and have everything I need that a more expensive hotel has. Sometimes more. Alot of the nicer hotels don't have the microwave and frig in the room.

One of the more interesting thoughts that went through my head as I drove further north is that I have "ridden here before". Well not exactly, but I have ridden about an hour north of where I am staying tonight. It seems so surreal to think that I will either drive under or over the exact spot that I cycled just over a year ago. I must admit that I had a deja vu moment walking into the Super 8 with my bike. I almost expected Vikki to be in the parking lot washing her bike when I got here. Memories I will have forever...

Well let me update the happenings since I have not blogged regularly. Susan Reed and I have been planning to do this ride for almost a year. Susan has lived in Chicago most of her life, yet has never ridden all of Lake Michigan. The goal was for us to ride the first two weeks with her husband, Kirk, as SAG. The third week Kirk had other commitments and so Susan and I would ride self-supported on the Wisconsin side of the lake. However, about 3 weeks ago, Susan broke her foot and is in a boot. She won't see the doc until the 22nd so, now, Susan is also riding SAG. She has been very gracious about continuing with our plans even though she won't be riding herself.

So, tomorrow, I will meet Susan and Kirk in Wilmette and we will drive to Michigan City, IN. Bill Mendenhall and his daughters will be joining us there along with my old roomie, Vikki and her husband Craig. Susan Carlson and her beau will be joining us as well. It will be nice to reminisce with my old Transcon friends. Susan's friends, Mark and Jeff, will be joining us on Sunday.

Well, I need to oil my chain...

Remembering

2011-07-10T09:57:00.001-05:00

I realized yesterday that my Transcon started 1 year ago. I decided I would re-read my blog one entry per day for the next 30 days and just remember the great times I had. Funny as I said "re-read" - I just read the blog from July 1st to July 10th and realized I had never read them after I posted them. So this will be a fun journey to remember the greatest experience in my life. And how I have changed because of it.

I will admit that I have tears running down my cheeks right now. Why? I don't really know. I am afraid it is from regret - something I try not to have in my life. But it seems so odd that I gave so much of myself to pursue the dream of seeing America and yet I have nothing to show for the year since I got back.

Well this is a lot for me to ingest this morning. Guess I will pursue how to live a life without regret over the next 30 days...

205 miles

2011-06-20T07:31:00.000-05:00

Well, I am home and hopefully rested. It was a great weekend with my first double century in gosh, who knows how long.

The weekend started Thursday night, of course. I was getting my stuff ready for my Friday ride and when I went out to air up my tires, I had another flat. This is the second surprise "flat in the garage" flat in 3 days - one in front one in back. Since I have had 2 flats in as many weeks on the front tire I decided to change the tire. I hate putting on new tires and with much gnashing of teeth, got the new tire and tube on the rim. By the time I had all my stuff together, it was 11:30. When the alarm went off, I just went back to sleep. Over sleeping is bad because of the heat. So I had to cut 25 miles off my planned ride to get home and showered before leaving for Pat's.

Arrived at Pat's in time for dinner and went to the Tacoria with Pat and Cindy. It is a small local authentic Mexican restaurant with really cheesy enchiladas. When we got back, Pat and I discussed the merits of taking links out of my chain so I could use my 11/28 wheel instead of my 11/32. He believed that the chain would be fine. So I changed the back wheel to the 11/28 and rode it up the block and all seemed to work fine. Off to bed.

4 am came pretty fast, but I was up and ready to ride by 5. Pat and I were just going to do a "fast" 100k before the 200k that would start at 2:30. At 5 am the temperature was in the 70's but the humidity was oppressive. It felt much hotter already compared to 6 am in Ridgeland. Getting on to the levy, the overflowing Mississippi was very evident. I love riding the levy when the Mississippi is high because it brings the most wonderful water fowl - birds you would normally never see. The ride out to Crab Trap was uneventful as was the ride back. We finished the ride in 4 hours and 50 min. I retired to Pat's "cassita" - the apartment in his back yard for a shower and a nap. 61 miles down, 140 to go.

At 1 pm, Pat and I headed out to Audubon Park to meet the others. We would have 3 new randos on this ride and one person doing his second brevet, Ebon. Each of the guys had cycling experience of various degrees. Mark from Lafayette, has completed several double centuries out in California, Jeff T from NOLA is more of a racer or club rider around the NOLA area, and Jeff H "the Juggler" is a commuter who builds his own bikes. Both Jeffs had never ridden more than about 75 miles at once before this ride. Also rounding out the crew was Steve and Doug.

At 2 pm it was very hot - road temp was 110 actual was 95. I was starting the ride a little sluggish, but I knew just to keep my ride at a moderate speed and let the new guys exercise their testosterone. The guys always try to ride out too fast. I know Ebon and Jeff H would be slower as their cycling was more of the touring variety and not the "go fast" variety. It was very hot on the levy and as the bends in the river changed directions, so did the winds. At times we seemed to have a crosswind and others a head wind. It seemed heavier than the single digit winds predicted. I like headwinds in the heat as they keep you cooler than a tailwind. The heat was taking an early toll on the guys - both Doug and Ebon were out of water in the first 20 miles so we pulled off the levy to stop at a gas station for ice and water. Not long after this stop, Ebon decided to turn back as he had been sick and was already bonking. Doug came up behind me on this section and asked if I had poured water over my head or was I just sweating heavy. I was just sweating heavy - my hair was dripping like a leaky faucet. The group continued to the detour around the spillway on Hwy 61. I don't like Hwy 61, but it is the only way when the spillway is flooded. We sprinted the 4-5 miles of that section and I was ready to slow it down back on river road. The group stayed together loosely to LaPlace. At this point, I have ridden 50 miles without a bio break. I drink a V8 an make myself "go".

More later...

Let's try this again

2011-06-12T11:58:00.000-05:00

Well, I just have not been able to get it together since coming back from the Transcon. So, we will try keeping up with the blog, at least a couple times a month, for a while.

I am very fortunate to have realized in 2009 that my window of opportunity was a small one. I somehow was able to see that if I did not jump at the chance to train and ride for my Transcon, it might not ever happen. I was blessed to have all aspects of my life line up at the same time and thus enjoyed the trip of a lifetime this past July/August.

After coming home things have not been a bed of roses. Nothing major mind you, just regular life stuff. And even my "life stuff" has not been earth shattering, just inconvenient. Like 24 year old daughter and 3 year old grandson moving home. (Remember, not earth shattering, just inconvenient and hopefully not permanent!)

So I find myself some 11 months post-Transcon, ready to get my cycling act together again. I have unfortunately let myself gain 30 lbs and in need of rebuilding my endurance and speed.

So, what am I going to do about it? RIDE, of course!

In May, I rode a grand total of 147 miles - something I can do in a day. So far 12 days into June, I have ridden over 300 - a good start. I have also signed up to participate in the Texas Time Trials in September. I have always wanted to compete in the TTT, but something always prevented me from participating. Assuming the TTT does not kill me, I am also planning on doing Sebring in February. And to top it off, although I am still waivering on this one, I may even do the Heart of the South 200 in April. At least I have something to shoot for.

I also plan to attempt Pat's Louisiana fall series. I have never completed a 400k on my recumbent and have not attempted one at all since 2007. The only issue I have with the whole series is the 600. One, I have never tried a 600 and two it falls on the same day as a ride in Canton, TX. Since I have never ridden a full series, I may just attempt it for the first time. Who knows? We will just have to see.

I am also considering offering a full series in Mississippi next year. I have offered a 200, 300 and 400 in the past. Although I have not offered the 400 in two years. Unfortunately, I have to decide to offer the whole series by September.

Well, I am headed to NOLA for the June night brevet on Saturday. It will be good to practice some night riding and see how my lights do for an extended period of time.

Hopefully I will let you know how that ride turns out!

Hey, I am back!

2011-03-17T10:27:00.000-05:00

Well it has been a little while since I have posted here in my blog. I have a lot of catching up to do.
Right now, I am sitting in my pj's at my sister/brother-in-laws, house. I decided to spend spring break here at Don/Barbara's farm outside of Brenham, Texas. They finished building their new house out in the country this past year and this is the first chance I have had to visit. It is beautiful and quite here. One of the highlights of the day is waiting for the sun to set. I have seen 3 distinctly different sunsets all equally stunning. They are so stunning because you can see for miles here without interference from buildings. Nothing but horizon. When we watch the sunset, all the lights in the house are turned off and there are no lights anywhere near the house - no street lights, no headlights from passing cars. On Sunday we stayed outside long after the sun had set just talking and looking at the stars. Slowly, the lawn started to brighten as if a car was headed up the long driveway. However there was no car coming. The light intensified and yet I still could not determine the source. I decided Don had a light on the side of the house set on a timer and asked him about it. He laughed! I was the moonlight! Even thought the moon was not full, it was supplying enough light to cause a shadow. It was amazing!

I have ridden 3 rides so far since I have been here. Saturday, I rode a 200k in Brookshire, Sunday a 100k in Fulsher, and yesterday (Wednesday) a loop ride out of Chappell Hill. All three rides were pleasant, each with their own challenges.

Saturdays 200k (135 miles total) - I was riding very well. The wind was a typical Texas wind, not awful, but stronger than the wind has been in Mississippi. I had ridden this route in 2006 and remembered most of it. Kulow road has been paved and the dogs have been fenced. The temperature increased to the mid 70s and it was a wonderful day. At the turn around in Fayetteville, there were hundreds of people getting back from an MS150 training ride. There were about 800 people on the ride - a TRAINING ride! Our MS150 won't have 300 people on the actual ride and maybe only 40 on any given training ride. I took two wrong turns on the way back and ended up added 9 bonus miles. The good thing about it was that I was able to ride the last 40 miles with Ben from Katy TX. He was on a Strata and we had a good time talking on the way back in. It was nice to have someone else help navigate.

Sundays 100k - Rando 101 - this was not a very fun ride, but it was miles on a very nicely paved shoulder. The route itself was very flat with only 773 ft of climbing. However, the wind was howling! I started in the dark at 7am. Daylight Savings started just a few hours earlier so it felt like 6am. The wind was very calm for the first 15 miles and then started to pick up. As this was a highway road there was nothing to look at but run down ranch homes, a few cows, horses and goats. I like goats. I did get a good tail wind for about 15 miles. After the turn around, the wind was blowing so hard, I had to don my arm warmers and vest again as the wind made it feel so much cooler. I was struggling to do 10-12 mph. I was fortunately able to run into an upright biker and catch his wheel for about 15 miles. I really enjoyed this part of the ride even though we were slogging into the wind at no more than 13 mph. He gave me something to concentrate on and helped pass the time better than looking at the boring countryside.

Wednesdays Chappell Hill Loop - this was a great route. Potentially one of my favorites. I drove from D/Bs out to Chappell Hill in the pitch black dark and started in the pitch black dark. The route had a long 4% grade hill that started at mile 1.9! Needless to say the whole route was up and down. I wish I had more energy as this could end up being a very recumbent friendly route. It followed the Washington County blue bonnet trail, however, the blue bonnets are not blooming en mass yet. There were a few here and there but just not like the pictures I have seen in the past. I would consider driving down and doing this route again in a couple weeks just to see the blue bonnets. Even without the bluebonnets the countryside was beautiful. Lots of well manicured ranches with interestingly colored cows, goats, and even miniature horses. Most of this route is minor chip seal although there were piles of gravel on the side of the road every few miles so I would think this route may have fresh chip seal soon. One mean dog around mile 30 and a pack around mile 60. After being chased by the pack, I was chased by what looked like a small ram and two more dogs. The ram/goat could not get through a hole in the fence, but the two dogs could. The ram/goat looked pretty pissed that he could not continue the chase!

I have more to post, but this is all for now. Hopefully I will be posting regularly again! I was going to post pictures, but my new SD card wont fit the card reader. Ugh!

Mountain Biking!!!!

2010-10-17T22:01:00.000-05:00

OMG!! What a rush!!

For the past 3 or so years, I have played around with the idea of mountain biking. I would never commit to it nor was I total convinced that I would want to do it as I always had a big road biking goal looming in the near future. For the first time I don't have a major road cycling goal, so now is the time to give mountain biking a try. If I break my arm, then, oh well, I break my arm. It wouldn't mess up any major training.

So, for the past month, I have been trying to make arrangements to get to borrow a bike to take to the trails. Well, a borrowed bike never happened, but I did find a used one on Craig's list. So I took the plunge and bought it before I had ever ridden it in the dirt! I decided that if I hate mtn biking, I could probably sell it pretty easy.

This weekend was the Magee Lungbuster Mountain Bike race and festival. I really did not know what to expect, but it would be this weekend I would get to try my hand at riding a bike with big knobby tires in the dirt.

Somehow, I was able to talk Jay into taking me out Friday afternoon. The mountain bike trails are not far from the house and we drove over to them. There were several people there doing the last minute preparations for the weekend. Jay and I rolled out of the parking lot and into the wooded trails. I am on my new red and black Specialized Rockhopper a little trepidatious. I had no idea what I was getting myself into. First the trail is single track. This means only wide enough for one bike to get through. There are trees everywhere. Trees to the right of me, trees to the left with just a small dirt track that is only about a foot and a half wide. Not what I was expecting. The trail is also not flat - at least not in many places. To realize that this piece of property is less than 5 miles from the house and is as wooded and "in the middle of no where" astonished me. It is strikingly beautiful. There is one section that the mtn bikers call the cave - it is actually just a carved out area, but one would never imagine this small cut out (in sandstone?) to be just a few miles from my house.

So, we set out and head up. I have not figured out how to use my gears yet. They are somewhat different from my old Specialized road bike in that you have two small levers to push in opposite directions to change gears. I am keeping my eyes right in front of my tire - probably no more than 1-2 ft out. We are climbing a somewhat steep hill and all of a sudden the blue tape marking the course is right in front of me. I should have been turning to the left, but did not even realize I was suppose to be turning. Womp! Down I go - haven't been on the bike more than 15 minutes and I have already hit the dirt! Amazingly, it did not hurt at all. I jumped up and Jay and I analyzed my mistake. I should scan a good way in front of me as I check out the terrain right in front of me. This is something I had to do on fast descents on the road bike during my cross country, so once I figured out I did not need to look right at the front of my wheel, I was able to anticipate turns better.

From that point we would ride up and down and up and down. My heart was pounding with excitement and I was breathing as hard as I ever had. I was red lining big time. I did not have on a heart rate monitor, but I guarantee I was at or over 185 - my theoretical max - not once, but most of the time. It was exhilarating! At one point we see deer running along in the woods not far from where we are riding. Squirrels squirt across the dusty dirt trail regularly. My biggest difficulty was really sharp turns - especially when they are trending up steeply and there is a tree in the apex of the turn! Many of these turns I would have to unclip and walk up a couple steps to be able to get through the turn. My second issue was getting back on the bike after coming off during one of the turns. I would not be in the right gear to get the traction I needed and then immediately start climbing again - especially if there were roots in the trail.

We rode for about 2ish hours and Jay estimated we rode 5 or 6 miles!!!! HA!!!! We also rode again on Sunday afternoon. I was a little more apprehensive at the beginning, unclipping in some areas of the trail I did not have any problems with on Friday, but the longer we rode, the more confidence I had. I still was unable to climb the hill with the really sharp turn with the tree in the apex, but I got further up the hill before bailing. I also fell twice, but this time I either over cooked my turn and lost footing in the pine straw or lost traction in a turn and my back wheel slid out from underneath me. Neither fall was bad - I guess they were not really falls at all - just skids in which skin touched the ground briefly!

Mountain biking and road riding are worlds apart. watch out for that tree, ugh brake, pedal, push up this steep short hill, stand up to take the descent, brake, pedal, brake, yikes close tree, sharp turn, tree! I was constantly in thought keeping Jay in my vision, trying to look past him, but scanning the earth in front of me. It will be hard to learn to navigate through the trails without riding with someone for a while. It is easier not having to do the navigation totally on my own. I guess I need to have him ride behind me during the next ride for a little while so I don't get too accustomed of having someone to follow. Both cycling disciplines are amazing ways to exercise and be outside in our wonderful world. It is just fun right now to do something a little "off the paved path"!

Now What?!!

2010-10-10T11:05:00.000-05:00

Okay,

I will admit that I am still having issues with goal setting since I have been back from my Transcon. I am a person who needs goals - requires goals, otherwise, I just seem to flouder around without any purpose. My problem is that I just don't know what I want to do athletically right now.

My passion is touring. However, I just found out that I can't self support tour with my CA2 - it is not recommended to mount racks on this carbon bike. So, to tour, I will either have to get my Independent Fabrication out of the moth balls, put my Corsa back together, or borrow Dougs Giro. So, Friday, I got the IF out of moth balls and took it in to get a few parts repaired. I will see how I do on the IF before playing with the Giro or Corsa.

Next, I am just bored. If I am not touring, the next "goal" for me in cycling would be ultra racing. I just don't want to have to train as hard as I will have to to race. Plus, if I were to race, I would want to win and my competitive nature is not a nice one. I don't like my attitude when I have to "be the best". Why race if you don't plan on winning? I am the type of person who tosses the monopoly board if I am not winning. Although, I hope I can be more mature than tossing Boardwalk and Park Place across the room, do I want to put myself through that frustration on a bike?

I could continue my randonneuring. I am still riding 200 and 300k rides somewhat frequently. The pursuit of doing my cross country trip and the fear of riding at night has curtailed my riding the longer brevets - the 400 and 600k rides. I have not completed or even attempted a 400 k on the recumbent. I am much faster now and have better lights. Pat and company finished a 400 k last night - somewhere around 3 or 4 am. Yuck! They made great time finishing it in 21 hours - 6 hours to the good. I just don't know that the pursuit of pushing yourself to ride as long as possible is fun to me anymore. I used to love, and still do love to answer the question "what is your longest ride" with 257 miles! But, do I really want to do that now?

Is it time now to experience some other athletic endeavors?

Mountain Biking: I have always wanted to try mountain biking. I never have as I have always had some other goal looming in the future. I was afraid that the day I tried mountain biking I would break something and not be able to complete whatever my upcoming goal was. Now is my chance to try. I am going to go out to the Fat tire festival next weekend and see what it is all about.

Running: I have always hated running. I just don't get it. You are outside, which is a requirement for me, but you can't see as much as cycling, plus it hurts more to run! And it is boring. And I can't run for more than two minutes at a time. And I "run" (more like walk) a 15 minute mile. So, what an opportunity for a goal! Yeah, I love goals. I have made it a small goal to be able to run 2 miles without stopping by January 1st. This is not easy, mind you. With all of the people out there doing marathons, I would have thought it was easy. I can certainly ride my bike across America, but this running is hard and makes me breath hard and my hips hurt. But, I need a goal and this is it for right now.

Swimming: I don't know how to swim. When I was 10 maybe a little younger, my brother and I flew out to see my grandparents in Oklahoma City. That was not a good visit. First I puked all over my brother and myself on the plane. Puked chocolate chip ice cream within the first hour of being at my grandparents house after the plane trip (to this day I can't eat chocolate chip ice cream). And puked every morning of swim lessons after they tried to teach me how to dive. Not gonna do it I tell, ya, not gonna do it. So, at 44 years of age, I can probably keep myself alive if I am tossed from a boat, but that is the end of my swimming abilities. So another goal, although I haven't set a firm goal is to learn to swim.

Triathlons? HA, can't swim and can't run! This may never materialize! Let me learn to run 2 miles without stopping and swim some laps without drowning and I may look at a tri - doubt I will ever do one, but who knows, stranger things have happened.

Hiking and camping: I would love to start hiking and camping more. I will need help with this whole endeavor. David is too busy fencing right now really to hike or camp. I don't mind sleeping in a sleeping bag in a tent. Matter of fact the few times I have gone camping, I have really enjoyed it. I think camping should be in coolish weather. I love looking at the stars at night and walking in the woods during the day. Fording rivers, searching for waterfalls, encountering wildlife are all so much fun. I need to learn how to use a camp stove.

Anyway, I am just looking to experience life. I don't want to leave any stone unturned. We have so much opportunity. I just don't want to let any of it slip by...

Silver Comet Weekend Part 3

2010-10-10T10:14:00.001-05:00

Back at the Holiday Inn, which by the way, is at the top of a long hill, we planned to cleaned up and then meet back to conquer some red meat. I was starving. Bill had given me some trail mix that was overflowing from the small bag he uses on his bike. I devoured it and drank my Recoverite. Boy was I ready for that steak. We found Petro's a nice Italian/Steakhouse which our nice older overweight guy who does know the definition of bad hills told us about. It was not a 5 star restaurant, thank goodness, since all I had to wear was my cargo pants and cycling t-shirts. They had the TVs mounted over the bar and the MS State game was on! Can't beat traveling to GA on the weekend that MS State plays GA to get to see the game on TV! We both ordered steaks and for all I know mine was well marinated shoe leather. I was so hungry, I did not care. It was however a pretty decent steak.

Bill and I planned on meeting around 7 again to head out for Atlanta (Smyrna, actually). I awoke to rain. It had been raining and would rain all day. The radar looked like we would have scattered showers all day. Fortunately, the bands were various shades of green - the yellow and red bands had already passed by. I was ready a little early and walked outside to see what the weather was doing at that moment. It was still on the darkish side as sun rise would be a little after 7. Outside under the awning was my happy, yet slightly trepidatious group of black women. Boy was I shocked. If Bill had waivered at all, I would have gladly not ridden in the rain. Yet, all of the ladies that we encountered on the Chief Ladaga were all suited and helmeted up ready to ride to Atlanta in the rain. I was impressed by their fortitude! Remember that many of these women were on hybrids and were overweight. They would be riding over the first 10 miles of pretty substantial hills in the rain! They invited me to join them in a quick prayer and they were off.

Bill and I left about 30 minutes after our courageous ladies. At that moment it was not raining but the sky was definately gray and not welcoming. The temps were moderate. I was wearing arm warmers but no leg warmers or my vest. As we approached the first substantial hill, we caught up with our courageous ladies. The youngest and a couple others made it up the hill while two had to walk it. I was just hoping I could get up it without walking since our warm up had been less than 5 miles. We stopped at the top of the hill and talked to the ladies who were waiting for their friends. I took a couple pics and wished them luck as I knew that they had several more substantial hills to climb - and we did too!

The morning was beautiful even thought the hills were not kind. There was a lazy fog drifting over the low mountain range flanking us. Everything was dripping from the early morning rain. We stopped to take some more pictures, but soon the rain started. Although we had asked for a late check-out at the Holiday Inn and it was granted to us, we felt some slight urgency as we would be slower in the rain and would have to get back to Jackson that night, so the picture taking opportunities would pass us more often than not on this leg of our journey.

That first 10 miles leaving Cedartown were not easy. The worst of the hills were in that first 5 miles of the trail (8 from the motel). Bill named one section the the 3 Witches (with a B) after I told him about the 3 Amigos in Mineral Wells, Texas. This section, as I mentioned earlier, is not on a railroad bed. It does however cross at least half a dozen live railroad tracks. Rain had started to fall while we were on the hills. It was not an awful rain - just wet. It would have been very welcomed on a hotter day. The last set of railroad tracks we encountered was at the end of the worst of the hills. It crossed the road at a diagonal. Of course, tracks are very slippery in the rain and even when it is not raining a cyclist should cross them at a 90 degree angle. Well, even as I am telling myself these words of caution, I don't feel like pulling out wide in the road to cross the tracks at 90 degrees, so I hit them at a 45 degree angle and before I can say "slippery when wet", I am down. OUCH! I was going less than 10 mph, so I really had no chance to really hurt myself, but when I went down my knee hit first and the handlebar jabbed me in the abdomen. I am tangled up in the bike with my left foot on the front wheel pinning my right knee on the ground. I couldn't move my left foot without putting more pressure on my right knee. Bill is able to help me somehow lumber off the bike. At this moment, my side where the handlebar hit really hurts, but it subsides in a minute. My knee is bright red with nice road rash - my first in about 8-10 years! I carry hand sanitizer and baby wipes, so I am able to clean it all up with only minor whimpering. Yes, it does sting. We still have 90 ish miles to go, and so with little ado, we are off again. The terrain flattens out slightly from that point - still not on a railbed, but the hills would no longer be considered steep. The trail takes us along a busy highway and through some farm land. This portion of the trail is deserted.

We finally make it to Rockmart - the first town after Cedartown. This is a very nice town that may be a good town in which to stay. It may be more of a touristy town that non-cycling spouses would enjoy. They have a very nice park and community center along their portion of the trail which also follows a nice brook - very picturesque - so we did stop and take some pictures. At this point we do start seeing other cyclists and runners. The people we encounter today are different. I don't know if it is the rain or if it is truly a difference in the cycling personalities of the Silver Comet vs the Cheif Ladaga. The cyclists/runners we encountered today were all too busy to say hi. They were in training. "Leave me alone, I am riding/running fast and don't want to be bothered with pleasantries" I am sure they were thinking as they rode/ran stoically past us. I missed our happy friends that we met yesterday as I wonder how our courageous friends from yesterday are doing.

Anyway we continued enjoying our very wet ride on the nice flat railbed towards Smyrna. The neatest part about this portion of the trail were all of the tunnels. Some short, some much longer, some dark, some lighter, the tunnels were all fun to travel through. Of course, I had to hoot, "Who hoo, who hoo hoo" to hear my echo. We stop at a bike shop on the corner of the trail 4 miles before the end to find the best place to eat. It is pouring rain at this point - much heavier than any part of the day - not take shelter hard, but, soaking a$$ wet hard. I start to get cold and don't warm up again until we are in Bills car with the heat on 80! We find out that there are NO good places to eat along the route. We can travel a couple miles off the route to find a Quick Trip at that intersection or travel a couple miles off the trail at the end to find a grocery store, or we can go to a Shell station across the street and take our chances with less than favorable microwavable sandwiches. Well, we cycled to the end and did not want to try and find the grocery store and then we cycled back the 4 miles to the corner where the bike shop was located. Had it not been raining, we would have searched out the Quick Trip, but in the pouring rain, we took our chances with the less than favorable Shell station microwave food. I walked in and immediately noticed that there were no hot dogs, but did see refrigerated beef and bean burritos with green sauce! YUM! Burritos make great bike fare! I warmed it up in the Micro and headed outside (it was very cold with the air conditioning in the gas station) to eat. Bill, I think, was not so sure about the long distance cycling eating choices. He was obviously starving and bought several different things consuming all of them, much like I did my steak the night before. We ate our scrumptious lunch in the only warmish dryish place we could find - under the island next to the gas pumps!

We continue our ride back - I don't remember how slow we had been on the first half of the ride - but it was slow. Our pace was much better on the way back. I am guessing that the route climbs most of the way to Smyrna and descends towards Cedartown. The rain comes and goes and is lighter on the way back than it was while we were in that 4 mile section at the end of the trail. I do recall being very cold on some of the longer descents and was ready to climb the longer grades to keep my core temperature up. I had picked up a couple plastic sacks at the gas station and stuffed them down my jacket for extra insulation. My teeth were not chattering, but I was cold. Before long, we see our courageous friends - all wet but obviously having the time of their life! They were all together and we all hooted and hollered at each other as we passed - they would be home soon after enjoying a great adventure!

We get back to the 5 mile section of substantial hills and I am too tired to try and climb the first one. It was by far the steepest on the entire route. I walk it and Bill makes it up but not very fast. I am blaming the fact that I have my 11/28 on the bike for not being able to get up it - that is my story and I am sticking to it! Bill is concentrating on not falling over so he can't look to see how steep that hill was, but it had to be over 15%, my guess, it was closer to 20%. We make it back to the 3 Witches and the first climb is also steeper than any of the previous hills and I walk a portion of it. Bill waits for me and we are able to really pick up our pace. The hills are not as bad going back as they were coming out except for the first two.

We make it back to the Holiday Inn at 6 - later than our 5pm check out, but they graciously don't care. We get warm showers and pack the car and head home.

I had a blast on this ride and hope that Bill did as well. He seems to enjoy the longer rides at a touring pace. He conquered his first century the previous weekend and now had two back to back! If this is not a randonneur in the making, then I don't know one!

I really recommend the Chief Ladaga and Silver Comet trail. I do recommend parking in the middle and doing each side instead of trying to do the whole thing at once unless you do have a full set of panniers. This trip would have been very difficult had we tried to stuff everything we needed in our brain boxes. Make sure you carry a good bit of food with you unless you are comfortable searching for food in the towns off the trails.

So, when are we going again?

Cheif Ladaga Part 2

2010-10-04T07:15:00.000-05:00

We continued past the boy scout camp on our adventure towards several small towns - Peidmont, Jacksonville and Weaver, which all things considered is part of Anniston, Al. What surprised me about the trail was the lack of depots. I was expecting rest stops in the form of small sheltered areas with bathrooms and water every so many miles on the trail much like the Longleaf Trail in Mississippi. Although there were gas stations in the towns at some of the cross roads, nothing was advertised well enough to get off the trail to search for it. In Piedmont, there was a small house - the Eubanks House that served as the town welcome center. It was a restored old home and it was staffed by a volunteer and had some minimal information about the trail. They also sold powerade, water and crackers for those that stopped while cycling.

As we were cycling towards the end of the trail, a comical thing occurred. We were cycling through the very quaint college town of Jacksonville. The college campus stood out proudly albeit quietly. Bill and I wondered if this was the college that beat Ole Miss a couple weeks back. I thought the small school was in Tennessee. As we continued cycling through the small campus we saw a women walking her dog near a stop sign. We stopped and asked her about the town and the college. Yes, this was the college that beat Ole Miss and she was very proud of it! We took a picture of Bill with the Jacksonville State sign for kicks and giggles. We also inquired as to a good place to eat on the trail and were directed to Struts a local sports gathering restaurant, not really a bar, that serves regular sports watching food. We decided to continue towards the end of the trail and stop by Struts on the way back.

Arriving at the end of the trail, I was underwhelmed. I really thought that the trail head would be really nice. They did have bathrooms and a small picnic area, but nothing shouting "Looky here! We have this great rails to trails"! Don't get me wrong, the trail itself is amazingly beautiful with the mountains flanking and the tree limbs covering, but it lacked the small depots and fan fare that a trail of this magnitude deserves. Bill and I took the required pics at the trail head and turned around headed for Struts.

At Struts, a decent chicken restaurant/sports bar similar to Abners, we both ordered BLT sandwiches and watched TN vs UAB on the TV. We then headed back to Cedartown. We noticed as we passed the Boy Scout camp that it did not look like the Scouts had returned. We guessed that we would not pass packs of them on the way home. Shortly we started passing very hot and tired looking little boys. They were very spread out - at least 5-6 miles from the first to the last. As we passed I would shout encouragement to each. One little boy I yelled asking how far they had gone. He did not skip a beat and answered "There and back!" Apparently, their total trip was 40 miles. Pretty good for boys on various bikes - mostly mountain bikes, all in shorts or jeans.

As we continued back to Cedartown we would encounter groups of people out riding. One group in particular was a group of black women of various ages and sizes. They stood out as they were all wearing white and blue baseball type t-shirts. Most of them were riding hybrid bikes. We did not talk to them very long, but they were very pleasant and seemed to be enjoying the trail.

We got back to the Cedartown trail head and much to my disappointment, the depot was closed. The biggest, nicest, well only, depot on the trail did not have much in the way of hours. We only had 92 miles so I somehow convinced Bill into venturing out to see how bad the hills were that our older cycling buddy had cautioned us about earlier in the day. And boy oh boy - never underestimate an overweight older guy with a Silver Comet baseball cap. He does know how bad the hills are! The 10 miles heading East from Cedartown are not, and I will repeat, NOT on a rail bed! These 10 miles just keep the trail heading toward the state line. There are several steep climbs over 10%. I think they hit 12% in a couple places. We only went out about 3 miles and decided to turn around. The glimpse of the hills was enough for us. We would tackle them in full the next day.

Part 3 later.....

There and Back Again - Chief Ladaga Silver Comet Weekend

2010-09-28T07:36:00.000-05:00

The adventure continues! I am definitely settling down into life after the Transcon. I have been looking forward to this weekend since I got back. Matter of fact, while in the car coming home from Virginia, I called Jim at Ride South to inquire as to when he had scheduled the trip to Anniston Alabama for the ride to Atlanta via the two rails to trails - The Chief Ladaga and the Silver Comet. As the day approached the possible cyclists making the trip started backing out. I think several people became intimidated by riding 100 miles, carrying very minimal provisions without any support along the way. I wasn't thrilled about the prospect myself. None of us have racks or panniers that fit our bikes yet, so we were going to be stuffing our brain boxes with one change of clothes to wear out to dinner after the ride, toothbrush/paste, flip flops, as well as our regular bike supplies of Hammer products, rain gear, etc. Bill or actually his wife Teresa, had a great idea - scrap our plan to ride from Anniston to Atlanta, park half way and go out and back each day. This was a great idea! So as Friday dawned, only Bill M and I were left standing to adventure out to ride the two rails to trails.

Bill is new to ultra cycling and this would be the longest riding weekend of his cycling career. I really think it was a good route in which to ride 200 miles. We left around 2:30 or 3:00 Friday afternoon and arrived in Cedartown at 9? or so. We decided to meet at 7:00 am to start our adventure. We chose to start our route headed west to Anniston. We thought that by heading west we would be tackling the hardest part of the route first, plus the forecast had us heading into a headwind first with a tail wind on the way back. HA!

So, we weren't all together at 7. Additionally, something had happened to my cyclometer speed sensor on our drive over. Also, I had forgotten to replace my camera scan disc so I could only take 6 pictures with the small sample disc that came with the camera. Bill suggested that we stop at CVS to get a new battery for the speed sensor and a disc for the camera. CVS had everything we needed for both the camera and the speed sensor, however, we could make neither work properly. So at 8:20 we headed for the Cedartown trail head.

The morning was coolish. Not hot but not cold. It was humid. By 8:20 it was light. The Cedartown depot looked really neat. It had the appearance of a true train depot. It was closed when we arrived at the start, but I was hoping we would be able to go through it when we got back later that afternoon. I was also hoping to find patches for my coat. As I said earlier, we were heading towards Anniston as I knew we would be going through the Cheaha Mountains and I just knew we were heading for the hillier portion of the trail. HA! Since we were on an old rail bed, the grades should only be 1-2% but we had heard that there was a few miles of hilly somewhere on the route. The ride to the state line - about 15 miles was very pretty, but no where as beautiful as the route we would ride as we continued west. The hills were just popping up and you could see where the rail bed had been dug out between the hills. So far the route was very similar to that of the Longleaf trail in Hattiesburg. Flat to false flat - it looked like you were on a flat, but in truth we were climbing slightly. Fortunately, we had Bill's Garmin to tell us when we were truly climbing and when we weren't.

We arrived at the Alabama/Georgia state line and were greeted by an older version of Slow Spokes - a group of 5 or 6 people most likely in their 60s and 70s resting at the state line. Bill and I stopped to take pictures and a very friendly older gentleman asked if we would like him to take the pics. We started a conversation with him and learned a lot. He directed us to a great restaurant - Petros for dinner that night. Most importantly, however, he explained the lay of the land. He told us that we were headed to some of the most beautiful scenery on the trail and that the hilly part was behind us. Ugh! He said that we would have about 10 miles of hilly but that the first 4 miles were really bad. How bad could they be? This was coming from an older guy riding a hybrid. Lesson 1: Never underestimate "hilly" from an old guy on a hybrid!!!!

Our "old guy" was correct about the beauty of the trail we were riding. The Cheaha's, foothills of the Appalachans, began popping up all around us. You could see the very first hint of the leaves turning. One good cold spell and color would replacing the viverant green of these hills. One of my favorite parts of the trail was the fact that most of it was entirely tree covered. Riding through the canopy of trees made the trail very quiet and serene. Squirrls and rabbits would scamper as we rode along past them. The bridges were mostly wooden planks over small creek beds - adding to the tranquility of the trail.

A few more miles and the tranquility was upset! We encountered a small group of young guys on a variety of bikes. They shouted an apt warning - there are at least 5 more groups behind us. Well, we had come across a troop of young boy scouts camping and riding. They were definitely going to get their cycling badge today. We passed another small group of boys and then rounded the corner to a mass of them. Most of them were weaving about not holding a line - they probably did not know what a line was! They were riding three and four abreast and were not concerned that a lady on a bent was loudly stating RIDERS UP, RIDERS UP! They had no idea I meant for them to get over and let us through! Nothing like playing chicken with a 10 year old! We finally made it pass the swell of boys all full of excitement and energy. Bill and I both hoped that they would be off the trail before we returned.

Riding further we discovered the Boy Scout campground. Dozens of tents were set up, some under awnings. It would have been really fun to see them all running about and to know how late they stayed up the previous night. It would also be funny to see how active they would be after they get back from their ride. Hmmmm, I bet there will be some tired little boys.

Well, I need to get ready for work, I will post more later.

Life is Good

2010-09-19T08:11:00.000-05:00

Well, I as I sit here drinking my coffee, I must say that life really is good! I have had a great weekend. Friday I had no set riding plans so I sat around drinking coffee and playing on the internet trying to decide where I wanted to ride. Finally got off my rear and did a new route - actually a modified backwards route of our Labor Day route. Ended up riding 57 miles - it was hot - I should have been up and out by 6 but I just have a problem doing that when I don't have someone to meet. The route was virtually car free and very enjoyable. It is nice to be so carefree.

After the ride I went to the Madison County Library to find out about accessing a website through the library - wow has the library changed since the last time I went to it! They offer a ton of stuff over the net.

Saturday I got up early to participate in the Cyclist Curing Cancer Century. Like an idiot I rode my bike there. The morning was only coolish - I could tell it would be very hot before the day was over. I started in the dark, but with my headlight, helmet light and new taillight I was very comfortable and could see well. The combo head/helmet light gave me all the light I needed to be confident riding in the dark. I enjoyed it much better than the last early morning ride with Pat and company in Franklinton (the difference being the helmet light). The ride to the Healthplex in Clinton was further than I thought - 16 miles which is not a big deal, but I knew I wanted to be there by 7, so I felt pressure to ride faster than I would have liked. I did arrive at just past 7 so it was no big deal. Bill, Bard, Jodi and Sarah were there. They are fast becoming good riding buddies. They all seem to love being outdoors - fishing, kyacking, hiking and so on. Maybe I can have them help me become a better all around outdoors enthusiast. Boy I would love to learn to kayack.

I rode the century with Bill - we really match up very well. He is faster than I am but not so much that he gets too far in front of me. He really rode strong on his first century and I hope that we can ride together more. We both rode very strong to the 50 mile turn around. I think we were averaging 18 or something thanks to a slight tailwind and coolish temps. After the turn around we slowed considerably. I died on the hills in the heat. I was glad we had the wind to keep us "cool". Okay, it was not cool at all, as the wind was a very hot wind, but it was better than no wind at all that would have left us baking in the sun. The volunteers for this ride were very gracious. It is hard to believe how many people gave up their time so we could ride with support. JMC has quit doing organized rides as they have trouble finding volunteers.

I was able to meet up with Mike and Earline Kelly. I have not seen them in years!!! They were the first people to take me under their wing and teach me to ride somewhere other than Highland Colony Parkway. I remember falling behind the group on roads that I know now like the back of my hand, but at the time I had no idea where I was. Earline was kind enough to wait up for me and she and Mike rode with me back to the car. I started riding out in Clinton with them sometime after that. And my love affair with all things cycling started. It really is amazing to think back to some of my early days of cycling. I so appreciate the Kelly's and so many others that got me started in this wonderful sport.

I also talked to Paula and Jeremy about Mountain Biking. I want to attempt it too before I plan something that would keep me from trying it out for fear I will break my arm.

Fortunately for me, Bill has a two bike carrier on the back of his car and only lives a few minutes from me. I gladly accepted a ride from him back to the house. 117.5 miles in the heat was enough for me. The neat part is that this was my 33rd ride over 100 miles this year. So, should I try to reach 50 rides over 100 before the year is out?

The Last Transcon Blog Entry - I Hope You Dance

2010-08-29T15:37:00.002-05:00

It has been very difficult to sit down and write my final words concerning the Transcon trip. I admit, I struggled with depression when I got home. I just did not want to enter back into "normal". I longed to be back on the road riding to somewhere new. I was glad to be home, but I wasn't. Even writing this blog right now I long to be riding somewhere.

That said, I am back home and life is continuing. I took it easy the first two weekends home. I kept the mileage down and increased the intensity on the second weekend. Of course, I can't stay off the bike for very long and did my first 200k yesterday.

I have struggled with having so much time on my hands. For the 16 months prior to my ride, I trained. Almost every Friday, Saturday and Sunday I had certain drills or rides I was to accomplish. Fitting in "life" around cycling was a challenge. Fortunately, David helped (well, did everything) around the house and I made time to go shopping here and there. Now, it is hard to remember what I did before I started training. I got home last Friday after riding just a short ride with Jim and had no idea what to do next. I did go shopping, but got bored with it quick. David and I have been cooking on Sundays after church, so that has helped the non-cycling time go by. I also set up a Face book page. My, what a time waster!

It is still hard to believe that I have accomplished something like riding my bike across the United States! I am so excited that God protected us and was with us every mile of the trip. I really appreciate that He opened my eyes to see so many wonderful and beautiful sights across our great Nation. We are truly blessed. I crossed off the number 1 thing on my Life list! That is so rewarding! However, I struggled for several days not having any idea what I would do next. Fortunately, I think I have decided to ride the "Circle Tour" around Lake Michigan - unsupported. HA! I have to have an element of challenge and adventure in everything I set out to accomplish!

So, I would like to challenge each of you that have been reading this blog, to reach for your dreams. Stop making excuses. Okay, getting a month off to ride your bike across America may not be possible in your life right now, but you can start setting the foundation. I could have used two years of training to have been fast enough for this trip - but I only had 16 months. Start working toward your dream now. Get in the best physical shape possible. If money is keeping you from living your dream, start setting it aside. Give up fast food and use that to start a small savings account. You don't have time - turn off the TV! Still have kids at home? Get them involved in something involving your dream.

I have always loved the words to the song "I Hope You Dance" by Lee Ann Womack. These words from that song is my wish for you:

I hope that you still feel small when standing in front of an ocean. I hope that you never fear the mountains in the distance. I hope that you don't take the path of least resistance. I hope you give the heavens more than a glance. I hope that when given the chance to sit out or dance - I HOPE YOU DANCE!

Me dipping my bike in the Chesapeake Bay

Vikki, Me and Ann

The group at the finish!

Thanks for reading and supporting me as I lived my dream!

I hope you dance!

Afterwards - Day 1 Random thoughts while driving to Atlanta

2010-08-11T20:35:00.000-05:00

I am now sitting in the car headed home via Atlanta. It is a very bittersweet trip. On one hand I am very glad to be going home, but on the other hand, I am struggling with the fact that my adventure is over. I loved every moment of this trip. Aaron Ralston, the young mountain climber who had to cut off his own arm to survive after pinning his arm against a rock once said, "Just because you are not having fun doesn't mean you aren't having fun!" Honestly, there were so few moments that I wasn't having fun and the few, I am proud to say, I was able to work through it mentally (the crying day) or jump in the van (the bad traffic day and the steep climb day). I truly enjoyed Every Fantastic Moment - one of my main goals on this trip. The first was to see America by bike and the other was to do it with a positive attitude enjoying the journey!

I succeeded! I remember how scared I was the last couple weeks before the trip. I would say that I was nervously apprehensive before the trip. I also thought that if I had "any excuse" travel insurance that I would have backed out of the trip. I worried - what if I can't do it? The return answer was what if you can? Well, I did do it and I am very pleased that I now have a large bank of memories to remember this fantastic trek.

Yes, I will do another Transcon. I am not sure when, but I figure there will be many more transcons in my future. I love touring and I love seeing the nation via a bike. You experience and live America seeing it in this manner. I will admit that I would like to do a semi-supported tour that may have to be limited to one or two states at a time. I would like to tour the state with less dependence on a set schedule and more time to visit the neat places along the way. Montana, Wyoming and South Dakota especially had so many things that I would have loved to have stopped to investigate - definitely more time at Mt Rushmore and we completely missed Yellowstone and all things Lewis & Clark. So, I will be planning state tours for the years I don't do transcons.

What were some of my favorite experiences?

Just riding every day. There were some mornings that I would have liked to have slept another hour or so, but there was never a day that I did not want to ride. Every day would be an adventure in itself and I did not want to miss it.

Dinner at night - getting to get together with a big group of other riders was one of the highlights of the day. I loved talking to each person to learn where they were from and why they came on the trip. We ended up with a fairly consistent group of dinner buddies and cutting up and joking and telling stories that would make you laugh until your stomach hurt.

Our crew was fantastic! They worked long and hard every day - even their ride days to support us. I really appreciate John Lake and Jim H for helping me get my bike put together on the first day. I will never forget Carl loading or moving bikes on the caravan during the rainstorm. He was soaking wet. Dave was the first crew member to figure out that my bike would fit on the caravan. He and Tim J both rescued me from having to walk up long steep hills. Then there was Veronica. Being roommates for a little over a week, she gave me insight into what the crew goes through - and it is hard work. I really appreciate her for anticipating my needing a sag on one of the really windy days - one of the ones that should have been easy that was actually pretty hard. I enjoyed my rides with her and was glad when she was our caravan driver. She also made the raisin toast with the most love!

The beauty around the corner - we live in a most beautiful country that changes around every corner. Seeing snow covered mountains peak out from around a bend was breath taking. Seeing the badger, prairie dogs, prong horn antelope, and even white tail deer thrilled me.

Montana was both my favorite and least favorite state. It was absolutely beautiful and we stayed on roads that paralleled the Clark fork river almost the whole time. I now have kayaking the Clark fork river on my life list! However, they were the absolutely hands down least bike friendly state. It still pisses me off that I was pulled over for not riding on the white line especially since there was not a shoulder on the road I was riding.

Did I train enough? Yes, I think I trained as much as I could during the 16 months I knew I was going to do this trip. Yes, I could have used more time to get faster, but that time did not exist. Now that I am stronger and faster (although still slow) I have a better base to continue to improve upon. My next transcon, I would like to be mid-pack fast so I would have time to take more pictures. I need to become a much better climber.

What would I change about my training?

I would have trained with more upright bikes. I think that training with the uprights would help improve my climbing skills. Or, I would have recruited another bent to train with that could have gone on the trip with me. Although Cynthia, the other bent, was on this trip, our riding styles were different and I was slower so we were not able to help each other very much.

I needed more climbing training, but I just don't think I would be able to improve on that in the time I had living in Mississippi .

What would I not change:

I am very glad I had Michelle Grainger as my coach. She understands ultra cycling and thus could anticipate what I was and would be going through.

Lon & Susan repeated that best thing for us to do was ride as many days of back to back 100+ mile days as possible. There were a bunch of these days that I sure did not want to do another 100 miles, but this was where the potential problems presented. I was able to acclimate to the heat, figure out how to handle heat rash, anticipate problems with my shoes and tires all because of the multiple days of riding. Knowing how to handle the problems before they cropped up gave me confidence that I knew how to handle them when they did. This was an area that I was very fortunate as none of the problems I thought I would have ever happened to an extent that I could not handle it.

Crossing with PAC Tour - yes, they advertise that they are the hardest touring company in America - and I believe it. Yes, I probably could have ridden every mile with America by Bike, but Lon and Susan know what they are doing and care. To see Susan in action shopping for what we would like at Wal-Mart or picking up fresh fruit at a road side stand I know she has the riders best interest at heart and wants to provide us with anything that would make us have a better trip. Lon is the same way. He can fix anything or suggest a better way to go about doing something. I will find it very difficult to do another Transcon without it being a PAC tour.

Something that I realized on this trip that I will take with me through the rest of my life is that "it is never all downhill from here"! You hear the phrase, "it is all downhill from here" sometimes as an assurance and sometimes as a joke. I convinced myself on several days that it was going to be all downhill or that a particular day would be easy based on its profile. The trip and life is never all downhill. This is not to be pessimistic, but just realistic and I am really glad that it isn't all easy or that it isn't everything that we expect. The Mt Rushmore day, I truly thought was going to be very hard to the monument and then literally all down hill from there to the motel. Boy was I wrong! The climbing was some of the hardest of the trip for me. The next day we were supposed to have the same climbing over 145 miles as we did on the 45 mile day. I just knew that it would be an easy day! Once again, I was very wrong. That day was hotter than previous days plus we were battling a decent cross wind most of the day. The next day should have been easier, but that was the grasshopper day. Needless to say, that day was not all downhill! On the other hand, we had days that should have been much harder than what they ended up being. So, I learned to judge a day as potentially difficult and not to set my expectations unrealistically. I am also glad that the days weren't easy. I really enjoy the challenge and my blog/life would be boring without the occasional grasshopper story! I want to remember this as I go forward in life to respect each day and its individual adventures regardless of whether the day is uphill, downhill or full of little bumps!

Stay around another day as we will be driving to Jackson tomorrow. No telling what will cross my mind while we continue our drive home...

Day 30 - The Finish Line

2010-08-09T16:47:00.000-05:00

If your dreams don't scare you they are not big enough! This quote is from Spencer Klaassen in his write up of his Pony Express bike trip. Yes, my dream scared me, but just a few hours ago all the hard work and discipline paid its dividends!

Today I walked in the sand and into Chesapeake Bay (or a river that leads to the bay) with my bike held high in my hands capping off the greatest 30 day experience of my life. It is hard to believe that:
1. I actually rode my bike across the United States
2. The ride is over

The day started like all others except that David was my roommate! He took my bag out to the car instead of me having to load it in the van. I originally believed that I would be able to ride leisurely to the meeting point and everyone would wait for the last rider to arrive and then head to the beach. I was mistaken! We were given a 12 noon time. The fast guys would have to wait and us slower riders would have to get there at the appointed time or be left out of the final processional. So, leisurely, it was not!

It was still on the darkish side at the ride start and very humid. I would still have to say it was on the coolish side though. My goal was just to keep someone in site and not get dropped too far back. Although I have embraced being the last one in or the first one sagged, I did not want to be too far back today. I was basically time trialling the ride. There were times that I was breathing heavier today than any other day of the trip. The road was pretty decent rolling hills - just a few 5-6% rollers. I was able to catch up with Cynthia and Jenae and ride with them some, but
lost them at the second sag. I did leave before a couple others, but I knew that they would most likely catch up with me before arriving at the meeting point. That is when my cue sheet navigation skills came in handy. For what ever reason, several of the groups of riders started making odd route choices. I knew I was following the cue sheet so I just kept going. At least 3 different groups made wrong directional choices. So with 10 miles left to go, I knew I was not going to be last if I kept up my 15.5 mph pace! Whoo Hoo!

The processional was awesome! We lined up 2 abreast and rode 4 miles to the beach! A lot of the cars passing would honk encouragingly at us as we passed by (you can tell the happy honks from the mean honks). It helped that we were all in our matching jerseys! Susan had a banner and tape for us to break as we entered the beach area! We had arrived! It only took a matter of minutes before we had taken off our socks and shoes and were trotting out to the bay with our bikes hoisted above our heads - or just cradled in our arms!

I did it - I rode my bike across the United States!

Many people say a trip like this changes you. I am not sure how I have changed, but it may surface along the way. I do know that I have a deeper affection for the United States and its vast differences from region to region. I will always remember the beauty we cycled through and the strong friendships forged over the last 30 days

Okay, now for the f word! No, not that f word - Flats! I became obsessed with tires and tire performance right before I left for the trip. I had experienced 3 catastrophic blowouts using Serfa tires before leaving. I liked them because I could change them easily by myself. The other tires that fit my rims were much harder to change and it would take me 30 minutes or more to change them. I purchased 8 heavy duty, not to mention expensive tires, for the trip. HAHA - I had one flat!! ONE!! I am still laughing about it! It was on a Serfa tire with 600 miles on it. I was only 2 miles away from the hotel, so I changed the tube out on the side of the road and then changed the tire again once I was in the parking lot of the hotel. I was now using Continental 4000s. Two days later, I change my other Serfa out for a Conti 4000 and I will never use Serfas again. The Contis have over 2000 miles on them and they still look brand new! Yes, they are harder to change, but they are fantastic on the road. Some people were not as lucky. Bob Lewis had 7 flats total, Ann had 5, Jeanae had a double catastrophic flat.

Injuries - we were very lucky in that department. Last year on the tour they had 3 people fall and break hips. We just had a hand full of minor accidents. On the second day, we had 3 people go down in about the same spot at completely different times. Apparently, there were rumble strips hidden in shadows and that caused the 3 guys to go down. A sore shoulder and road rash were the results. I think we also had 4 more accidents caused by something in the road clipping a persons tire and taking them down. The results of these were also road rash. So, we were very fortunate that no one was hurt any more than this.

My issues - was I very lucky in this department. "Issues" were the main reason I changed to the recumbent to begin with. The last two tours I did I either cut my thumb or got a blister on it. Not this trip! While we were in South Dakota I developed my regular heat rash on my quads - it went away after two days. Also during this time, I developed a very nasty heat rash on my back. At first it completely covered my sports bra area and burned very badly. After a few days it landed just across my mid back region and stayed there. It still itches, but with Gold Bond powder, it continues to improve. My tendon in my big toe hurt for a couple days. And that is it. The body is a very amazing thing. I made it through 30 days of cycling with no problems what so ever.

What worked: Food wise, steak and potatoes. I rode my best after eating a good portion of red meat and potatoes and a salad. I also did well with grilled pork chops. The pasta nights left me too hungry to ride the next day with any energy.

What worked: physically - massages! At first I planned on getting them only once every 4 days, but then I found out how well they really work and got one every other day. Jon would massage my quads, glutes and i t bands mostly and I would ride so much stronger and without general muscle soreness the next day.

What worked: bike food - Hammer rules. 3 scoops of SE and 1 scoop of Heed at every rest stop. Also electrolytes, Endurance Amino and Anti-fatigue caps regularly. I am now sick of bananas and pay days, but I would eat at least one banana a day and a pay day about every other. My favorite afternoon snack was Lays Stacks - they are just like pringles and I loved them.

About to go to dinner will post more later!

Day 29 - Can you believe it?

2010-08-08T20:36:00.000-05:00

Wow! LOL! Yes, I am using Wow again! It was a great day today. There were moments - brief ones, when I really wanted to get off the bike, but as the odometer ticked off mile 100, I was very glad I was still on the bike. I can almost smell the ocean in Williamsburg!

I woke up before the alarm went off this morning. As I laid in bed, I was thinking about todays ride. I really wanted to ride the whole route, but we were going to be climbing over the blue ridge parkway which meant 2000 ft of climbing in the first 27 miles. I wasn't sure how steep the climb would be but it looked like the climb would be about 7 miles and "steeper climbing" was the description for about 4 of the miles. So, I could attempt the climb and if I fell behind, I would get sagged along an easier section that I could have enjoyed or I could sag right off the bat. So, I decided to sag right off the bat.

Once again, the morning was cool. I can't believe our blessing with our weather. It was perfect. As the rest of the country broiled in 100+ temps, we have pedaled along in cosy comfort. It rained twice for less than 3 hours. Yes, it was a down pour both times with cyclist scattering thunder and lightening, but it wasn't an all day miseralble rain. Yes, it got hot - once or twice, but nothing like the 97+ degree 100% humidity of Texas on my last traing rides there. We have truely been blessed with good weather!

Fortunately for me, Dave was the crew member in the caravan. He dropped me off at the top of the climb so I could practice my now pretty decent descending skills. PAC Tour's motto is "making good cyclist better" or in my case "making mediocre cyclists good" (that is pretty funny!) and they have certainly made me better at descending, riding a straight line, riding in heavy traffic, fixing my rear deraileur, being organized and gosh, probably a whole lot of other things. The first 7 miles were in the Shenadoah National Forest again. The tree line roads were very beautiful and very cold as I was descending at 30 mph. The next 93 miles were not so pretty.

For my local cycling friends, the picture is easy to paint. Take Livingston/Lake Cavalier road for those of you who live in Madison or take Shiloh road for those of you in Brandon and double the hills in length and ride it over and over and over for 93 miles and that was todays ride! So, we have houses of various ages and various need for repair spaced farther apart than a neighborhood but closer together than the farms of the previous days. So, not much to look at. The draw for the day however, was the almost perfectly asphalted pavement. The traffic was at times heavier than I would have liked, but the road surface for 95% of the day was pristine! Gotta love Lon for finding these back roads!

I did get to ride with Susan C today for a few miles. We were reminiscing about the first few days of the trip. It is hard to believe that it is almost over. Everett seems so far away, yet it seems like we were there yesterday.

The other great thing about the day was having David waiting for me at the motel when I got in. It is nice to have him as my room mate tonight - sorry Vikki - at least you can put your bag on the extra bed! I know I will cross the country again one day in the future, I just don't want to be away from David for 30 days the next time I do it!

Tomorrow is the big day - we will leave for Williamsburg early and then have our dinner and after dinner program. I will have seen America from Washington to Virginia in 30 days. It is really hard to believe that I have accomplished my dream! Please just don't let me wake up tomorrow and realize that I still work for NS2 and it is still 2009!

Top of the Blue Ridge Parkway in VA - where I started my ride today!

Barn of the day

So, is it Bum Pass VA or is Bump Ass VA?

Oh yeah, there was some corn on the route today too - only a couple days break from it. BTW, since I just rode across the US, I noticed corn and soy beans. So where are the rest of the vegatables grown?

Tomorrow we will ride to Williamsburg, VA and all I can say is Wow!

Day 28 - Waving the White Flag

2010-08-07T21:20:00.001-05:00

Today was another flagship day - crossing the Appalachians and boy it was not easy for this recumbent rider!

This morning was cool - to the tune of 50 degrees at the ride start and it was foggy again. I elected to sag forward to the second sag stop since the first 30 miles had 4000 ft of climbing. The total climbing for the day would exceed 10,000 ft. Looking at the route card, I thought the section I chose to start with would be gently rolling and would get me warmed up for the big climb to the Virginia State Line. Oh, was I wrong - gentle and Appalachians do not go in the same sentence. I was climbing an 8% hill, or should I say bump in the road, at mile .8! The only thing that kept my mind off of falling over was looking at the beautiful scenery. The sun was shining through the trees and you could see the mountains that we would soon cross looming not too far in the horizon. There was still a little fog hanging in the recesses between the mountain ridges. Very peaceful. We soon turned onto a little one lane road. The road did have small gravel, smaller than a pea but bigger than sand, scattered over most of the surface. As long as it wasn't deep, it did not pose a problem. Otherwise, my tire could skid in it and cause me to fall. As long as I was climbing, which was mostly at 4 mph, a fall would not hurt too bad, but if I were descending, a fall could end up hurting pretty badly. So, I was more cautious on the downhills which robbed me of some momentum. This section was very steep climbs of half a mile or more with switchback type rollers with really sharp turns and sudden pitches. It wore me out! Some of it was so steep, I had to just walk the bike. I honestly did not think I would ever get off of this road and to the sag. I think I was at mile 11 when I finally made it back out to the main road. 11 miles and it felt like I had been out there forever! We had about a 4 mile downhill section and then we started another long climb. This one jumped up to 7% in a big hurry. I was able to ride for about a mile when it pitched a little higher and I just couldn't stay steady. So I would walk for a little bit and then get back on the bike for a little bit. This went on and I was prepared to continue this to the top when Tim J passed with the sag van! Yeah! I was never so glad to sag! Although 7% doesn't sound too steep, I just couldn't keep it up. So, I waved the white flag! I surrendered! Whoo Hoo!

I ended up sagging to the Virginia state line. The climb was 7 or 8 miles and was steeper than my earlier climb. Before I left the state line, I checked my stats. 17 miles, 8.5 mph, and 1765 ft of climbing - over 100 ft of climbing per mile - pretty tough. So, from the state line we hit a really beautiful section of the Shenandoah National Forest - a very thick tunnel of tree covered road.

So, even though I did not get to ride as much of the climb as I wanted, I still feel that I did the best this flatlander could. Steep is not my favorite, but it was very very beautiful and I am glad that I was able to climb as much as I did.

Congrats to all of the riders that did make the whole ride - it was not easy!

Foggy start in the Appalachian Mountains

Barn of the day

View from the twisty steep pitchy one lane road.

Bob L at the top of the climb Tim J rescued me on

Tim J, a 24 year old mathematician and crew member from MN, at the Virginia state sign.

Blue butterflies

Tree lined Shenandoah National Forest

Tomorrow will be another climbing day - we will be going over the Blue Ridge Parkway and hopefully it will start to flatten out.

Day 27 - Are we all crazy?

2010-08-06T21:19:00.000-05:00

Our ride today included a tour of the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum - you know you have to be committed to do this ride - HA
The morning started out very nicely. The temperatures were much cooler than the last couple days - probably back into the 60s at the ride start. We started 30 minutes earlier than the past few days and had a beautiful pink and blue sunrise. Today was also our first day back in longer hills. It was really funny because after several days of averaging 15-16 mph my average plummeted to 12 mph. As I was riding along I felt like I had been on the bike for a long time and I would look at my odometer and I had only gone 4 miles. Then I would look down again and think I should have gone at least 12 miles and had only gone 8. That went on for several more miles before I realized that I was back in the hills again. These were really long but only 4-6%, so I was just really slow on them.

Our lunch break was on the grounds of the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum. Pretty fitting for a group of cyclist crossing the US! Susan N bought our tickets for the short tour. Our tour guide had actually been a nurse at the asylum from 1966 until it closed in the 1980s. She then became a tour guide after she retired. Currently, the building is in really bad shape. They are in process of raising money to restore it as it is considered a National Historic Landmark. I think it was one of the first asylums to paint the rooms pastel colors to calm the patients. To raise money, they also have ghost tours that are conducted at night and they throw a pretty big Halloween party. It would be very scary to be in that building at night.

The rest of the day was pretty uneventful. We are all having mixed feelings about the trip right now. In a way we don't want it to be over, but in another, we are ready to see our family and friends. David left this evening for Birmingham. He will stay with Ken and Brooke before going to North Carolina and then to Ashville to meet me on Sunday. I am really excited about seeing him!

Morning sunrise in Parkersburg West Virginia

Gerry Goode

Barn of the day

Veronica in front of the Trans Allegheny Lunatic Asylum - the name does not seem politicially correct, but I guess people did not care about being politically correct back in the day...

A patient room at the asylum - notice the peeling paint

Scott, Ernie, Tom, John, Charles, Ann, Steve, Greg, Rick and Mike waiting for the next tour

Tomorrow we cross into our 11th and last state - Virginia. The ride will be difficult with over 10,000 ft of climbing. I will probably sag forward at the start as I want to do the big climb to the Virginia state line and won't have time to do it without a small push. So far I have ridden over every state line and I intend to continue that trend tomorrow. It will also be my 28th consecutive day of riding. I would really like to see how many days I can continue to ride consecutively - do you think David would let me ride on Tuesday?

Day 26 Hocking Hills, Waterfalls and West Virginia!

2010-08-05T21:30:00.000-05:00

Today we headed into the Hocking Hills of Ohio. The morning started as usual but as I took my bag out to the truck I saw Ann T with her rain jacket. I asked her if it was supposed to rain and her answer was "Yes, hard". I always carry my rain jacket and probably 10 lbs of other stuff, so I did not worry about having to find it. It was definately overcast but on the cooler side at the ride start. Within the first 10 miles or so it started raining pretty hard. I did not like it as we were riding hills and I had problems stopping at crossroads on the downhill. I could not get my brakes to respond as fast as I wanted. Eventually it let up.

As I cycled through the small town of Laurelville, I stopped to check my directions and two Amish or Meninite men came out of a restaurant to ask me questions about our ride. They had seen the other cyclist come through and just wondered where we were going. They pointed me in the right direction and I was back on my way.

For whatever reason, I started going mental about the ride. Pat, my buddy from NOLA, would tell me that I was thinking too much and I probably was. I decided to sag at the first stop and I was 30 minutes behind the others anyway. This was actually a good thing as I was able to take a short hike into Ash Cave. It was a beautiful carved out area with a waterfall in the hocking hills. The area was very forrested and had sandstone walls. There were a lot of trees and ferns nestled in the carved out area along with a small brook. As you walked deeper into the carved out area (not really a cave) you could hear the waterfall. It was very serene.

At lunch, pb&j and pears, I was waffling about sagging all the way in to town. Thanks to Cov insisting that I get back on my bike, I rode in and had a great ending to my day. I did get to ride to the West Virginia sign which was hanging from a bridge in town. I guess Parkersburg is like Texarkana - a city situated in two states.

The terrain finally changed from farmland (corn) to beautiful rolling hills.

Walking to the waterfall and carved out area called "Ash Cave"

Sandstone forming the carved out area of Ash Cave

Waterfall at Ash Cave - okay, so it is just a trickle - it is still a waterfall in my book.

The waterfall is next to the tree in this picture - prettily camaflauged

Vikki and Chris at the 2nd sag - they both get lots of mail...

Crossing into our 10th state - Whoo Hoo!

Tomorrow we will continue into the Appalachian Mountains. I will probably have to sag for time over the next couple days, but I will do my best as we roll closer to our goal of Williamsburg, Va.

Day 25 - Fantastic Day Mentally and Physically!

2010-08-04T16:20:00.002-05:00

What a great day! I was so at ease and relaxed today!

The day did not start out as well as it ended up. As I walked out of the motel this morning with my bike, it was already hot. I don't know what the temp was but the humidity had to be at 97% or more. You could cut the air with a knife - and it was soooo still. Fortunately, it was overcast. I woke up not feeling very good - probably under caloried again. I tried to eat some cereal and a cinnamon roll, but my stomach did not like them. I continued to get ready, but told Veronica that I may sag today. I went back into the motel to get my bag and grabbed a cup of yogurt. I really did not want it, but I knew I need to get something in my stomach.

We rolled out and I was amazed at how good my legs feel. I had my massage last night and I always ride better the day afterward - thanks John J! 4 miles into the ride I see a great barn. I don't normally stop this early in a ride to take a picture, but I had to today. My stomach was still very queasy, so I was nursing my Sustained Energy. As I rolled along, I realized that I was really rolling. Todays route was a perfect recumbent route. The hills were just the right size to power down and roll up. Only a couple needed to be pedaled over. Although I did not feel well, I was really enjoying the ride. I had to stop a couple time for bio breaks which slowed me down, but otherwise, I was rolling right along.

When I got to the first sag stop, I was the last one in. Lon indicated that Kirk and Priska were a few minutes ahead of me and that Bob K had to attend to buisness today and was not riding. So, I told Lon I would sag if I got too far back. He then told me I was doing fine on time (I was averaging 15 but stopped a few times probably putting me closer to 14 average overall) take my time and just plan on being in by 4! Wow, that really made me feel good!

The issue comes that when those of us who are on the slower side have a good day, typically the faster guys also have a good day in the same proportion so, we on the slower side are still slow. But today, I was just going to ride and not worry about how far back from the main pack I was because I knew I was in the time limits! So, I grabbed a banana and rolled out of the first sag! For the rest of the day I stopped when I wanted to take pictures and really enjoyed the rollers.

As I was riding I thought about shoulders - not the ones that attach your arms to your body, but those that are on the side of good roads. For the better part of the morning we had a good 4 ft shoulder. Most of the tour, we have had good shoulders or we have been on really low traffic back roads. Having shoulders really makes it much easier for a cyclist to ride. We are out of the way of the traffic and don't have to worry as much about being hit by cars. Mississippi does not have many roads with shoulders and that is a really big shame. We could cycle too so many more places using roads that have slightly higher traffic. I would love to ride to Leland to see the Kermit the Frog exhibit, but the roads to get there just aren't as safe. Anyway, we lost our good shoulder just before lunch. The traffic seemed to pick up and I was buzzed by 3 18 wheelers. They just don't like to move over. I then had to completely get off the road for one as he was going to mow me over even if I was riding just to the right of the white line - we still had a 6 inch shoulder. So, it is amazing that I can ride my bike across the US on roads that 90% have shoulders, yet I can't ride 60 miles to Leland MS or to Yazoo City even as I consider the roads too dangerous.

Okay, off the soap box about shoulders - I will listen to my Ipod (one ear only) tomorrow!

Hands down - barn of the day! I know I appreciate everything American - especially our flag since I have been on this trip!

White barn with quilt design

Red barn with quilt design hidden by the tree

Different red barn with quilt - can you see the thick air?

Apple Orchard - or "archard" if you are from Maine (hey Kelli! Say hi to sag mom for me!)

LOL! Very fitting for Nancy's comments yesterday!

Rumer was right! Grilled cheese and tomato sandwiches, pears and a pickle. You really don't know how good it really was!

Great Dog protecting his goats. I was riding by and say the goats in the field. I wanted a picture of them for Dianne. The dog comes bounding out of the dog house in the back and the goats all run away from the fence - I got a really big kick out of it.

Also had a great dane run towards me a day or two ago. He was a happy looking dog, but we were looking at each other eye to eye! Fortunately his owner called to him to come back and he minded! It was pretty funny as he looked at me very curiously!

Headed to the Hocking Hills and to a new state tomorrow. The next 4 days will be very challenging!

Day 24 - Easy Day to Ohio

2010-08-03T17:12:00.000-05:00

Today we left Indiana and made it an easy ride to Ohio. When we got up it was very humid and someone said we had a 40% chance of rain. Did I say it was humid? Susan N commented that it was only 7 am and it felt hot - its not hot! We have been really lucky with the weather on this trip. We had the one heavy rain day, but it was not as bad as it could have been. The main weather blessing has been the temperatures. Hopefully they will stay fair as 100 degree temps have been common around the country. I can say with confidence that my last 4 training rides in Texas two weeks before this tour were harder than any 4 days of this trip. The reason was the 97+ degree temps, heavy winds and chip seal that will rattle your teeth. Cross your fingers that we will continue to have mild temps, favorable winds and smooth roads.

Anyway, today was an easy flat ride. I just rode at my own pace - averaging 16 to lunch (and still riding at the back, not that it matters). Today there was less corn - surprise! It appears to me that the last several days we have had really big farms with really large masses of land to plant the crops. I don't know if the land is owned by a corporation or by a family, but the crops were very expansive. Now, it seems as if the crops or the land the crops are grown on is smaller with more farm houses separating the crops. So I am guessing that these are most likely smaller family owned crops. However, this did not translate into more barns. Darn.

The highlight of the day was lunch. Matter of fact, lunch is a highlight of most days! It is always neat to see what Susan and the crew have fixed us each day. Today was grilled chicken in a hot dog bun. I ate mine with BBQ sauce. Grilled chicken day may become one of my favorites. My hands down favorite lunch is grilled cheese sandwiches (w tomato), followed closely by hot dog day. I like hot dog day because I get a second dog to go and eat it on the road or in the motel room after the ride. I also like burrito day, but those don't taste so good when you have a climb immediately after lunch. Of course there is also hamburger day. We always have a wide variety of veggie salads. Today was cabbage and beet salad. Yes, this is something I would have never ever tried had it not been on PAC tour, but because it is PAC tour, I ate it and it was good! We had quinoa beet salad a week or so ago and it was good too. Another salad favorite is something with carrots and rice noodles - I really like it. We almost always have chips and sweets, but I don't eat as much of those. We have had sweet corn several days recently too. It is sooooo good and fresh. I have also had really good peaches and watermelon.

Morning glory growing on a corn stalk - I would have taken more pictures of the morning glories as they were beautiful, but I got caught in the corn field as I took a "bio break". Someone saw my bike and thought I was injured - nope, just couldn't find a better place to pee!

I think this is the barn of the day

Entering our 9th state - whoo hoo!

Sunflowers in a garden

More flowers in the same garden

Time for dessert! A yummy chocolate/butterscotch chip cookie that Mark's girlfriend made. As you can see I ate all of my beet and cabbage salad and all my chicken on a bun except that last little bit of bread. We use sporks and paper plate holders every day at lunch - I do try and color coordinate my plate and spork!

Barn hiding in the bushes

Message board - every day we have to check the message board for any instructions. Typically it will tell us what time breakfast will be. As you can see - we weren't supposed to drink the water! Fortunately, the boil water notice was lifted not long after we got in. Notice breakfast is at 7 again - yeah - 30 more minutes of sleep!

Thanks again for reading and commenting. I really do appreciate all yall (plural of yall!). I really look forward to checking the comments.

It looks like we have another shortish day tomorrow - only 94 miles. This is the last of the flattish days - we will hit the Appalachians on Thursday.

Oh, BTW, rumor has it that tomorrow may also be grilled cheese and tomato day! Yeah!

Day 23 - Emotions part 2

2010-08-02T21:12:00.000-05:00

First, let me say Happy Birthday to my Dad - "Happy Birthday, Dad!"

Okay, I debated about blogging about the events of today. I really want to be positive and have a happy blog, but at the same time, I want to show an honest picture of the trip and remember the emotions when I read back over my blog over the next umpteen years. So, first let me say, I had a great day and rode well and feel great right now and I am having a blast! However:

Warning!!! Guys this is girl stuff - Stop reading here - it is sappy!

Warning!!! Mom, and everyone else who really know me - I am fine!

Today started like all other days. I had my massage last night so I felt good when I got up and hoped that I would have a strong cycling day. I got my stuff together, got my bike in order and was 3rd or 4th in line with my bag for the luggage truck. The morning was humid, but comfortable. We started out and had light traffic for the first few miles - nothing too bad. After we cleared out of town we all passed the Indiana sign and stopped to take pictures. I was fortunate to be able to latch on to Paul's wheel as he was pacing Vikki. I was able to ride strong with them for about 15 miles or so and boy was I on cloud nine! I have been saying the whole trip that if I could just get the right conditions, I should be able to ride with the group on one of these flat days. Then we came up on a detour as a road was under construction. I was following Vikki and we both slid in a mud patch that was hidden in a shadow. I did not go down, but it really unnerved me. In the few seconds it took to get composed, I was off of Vikki's wheel. So, I popped my gears to my big ring to hammer to keep up at the same time another group passed me. Instead of going into the big ring, my chain falls to the outside of the ring onto my crank arm. This has happened at least once every day since I have been on the trip. Anyone reading this considering Q-ring - save yourself the money - they are awful. I wish I had never used them! I will take a hammer to them on August 11th! Anyway, the adjustment necessary on the derailleur to make them work right is just to precise for a bike that is ridden for Randonneuring or trans-American travel. Maybe if you are a good mechanic, but someone who is not - Qrings are abysmal. So, I have to stop and fix my chain and not only lose Vikki, but the second group that rode by as well. Once again I am at the back of the pack. Why today do I let this bother me, I don't know. I have grown accustom to riding at the back. I am okay, and very glad, that I am not under the pressure to ride every mile. I have enjoyed getting each days ride in and if I do the whole thing great and if I don't then yeah, I get back earlier to get other things accomplished. But for some reason slipping in the mud, the chain and loosing the pace line really bothered me today. I started crying like a girl! I knew I had gone mental and kept trying to tell myself to think good thoughts. All I could do was cry "Gary Indiana, Gary Indiana", which is a song Mike started singing on the third or fourth day of the trip at lunch and Vikki and I have been laughing about for a day or two. Then I would cry more, then I would try and think happy thoughts. I finally stopped crying but pulled into the first sag and Vikki was worried about me when she realized I had fallen off of the back of the pack. So, when she asked me if I was all right, I started crying again. All the girls tried to console me and who knows what the guys thought. I heard one of the guys ask if everything was alright and Susan C said it was just a girl thing. That cracked me up. Then, everything was okay again. Just releasing the tears made me feel better. Had I been at home I would have watched My dog Skip or Steel Magnolias to have a good cry!

Anyway - Jim looked at my bike and made a small adjustment. It did not fix it completely, but it helped. I rode on and ended up having a very good day. The route was fabulous. Lon has done a fantastic job keeping us on back roads. Although we are still ensconced in corn country, searching for good barns has kept me very interested in each days ride.

Indiana - lost track as to how many states we have crossed - is this 7?

Neat old building with bikes hung as decoration

My favorite barn of the day - it is yellow although it looks white in this pic. BTW, the American barn is winning yesterdays barn contest. Feel free to vote if you haven't though.

Soybeans in front of a barn

My foot! No, actually this is today's picture of corn - corn to the right and to the left!

Another barn

Tomorrow we head to Ohio. It will be a short day with only 85 miles.

Day 22 Fog and Barns

2010-08-01T22:09:00.001-05:00

Today started out extremely foggy. Visibility was probably no more than one mile and probably not even that much. Riding out in the shroud of fog, I had problems deciding if I needed my sunglasses or not. The sun was bright through the fog, but with glasses on it really hindered the visiblity even more. I was riding with Susan Reed for the first 10 miles and I could see her fine, but much more up the road, fog enveloped everything.

I realized right off the bat that I had no power and that my muscles ached. It was apparent that I would not be able to keep up with Susan and told her to go ahead and ride with some of the others she knew on the tour. This was the first day of the trip that I just did not feel very good. I have been very lucky to this point not to have any issues. As I rode along, I realized that I really had not been eating very well the last couple days and I was probably "under caloried". When I don't eat enough the day or so before a ride, I lose power and feel nauseated and this was happening today. So at the first rest stop I refill my Hammer products and take a banana. I still don't feel any better at the second rest stop and I don't feel like eating anything, so I choke down another banana. Finally at lunch I was able to eat a turkey sandwhich and drink some coke and finally started feeling better. Young Greg and I started riding together at this point. Once I rode my 100 miles for the day, I decided to sag in and try to recover better for tomorrow. Although, I did not feel well, I still had a great day and was pleased that I was able to diagnose my problem. I did eat steak and potato tonight for supper and will have a protein drink before I go to bed.

Foggy morning flowers - corn is hidden in the fog!

Susan Reed on her Lightening and Walt talking about his 4 person RAAM expierence

Okay, I know this is a stupid picture, but it is of I-55 - we crossed under it today. Unfortunately, there was not sign...

Now, we are going to have a favorite barn of the day contest, please let me know which barn you think is the best:

Barn 1: Proud to be an American Barn - I love this one as it symbolizes why I wanted to ride my bike across the US

Barn 2: Red barn with wagon - I just really like red barns...

Barn 3: Gray barn with white doors

Barn 4: Cool old grey and white barn

Flowers and corn without fog...

Susan Reed and I with our bents

Our progress so far

Tomorrow we cross into Indiana 1.3 miles into the ride - isn't that crazy?!

Day 20 Crossing the Mississippi River

2010-07-31T21:56:00.000-05:00

I am going to be making this short and sweet again, but today was a very good day! I think it was one of my best cycling days of the trip. My legs were loose and my hips were pain free. Plus, we did not have any substantial hills on the way out so I did not get dropped as fast as I normally do and rode into the sag stops with others.

The highlight of the day was crossing the Mississippi River. Why this meant so much, I don't know, but I have always loved the Mississippi and have enjoyed crossing it by car in Vicksburg and the several different times on my trip to Wisconsin in 2005. The bridge over the river was nice and wide compared to the bridge at Greenville, MS/Lake Village, AR. We also crossed early enough in the morning that there was not much traffic.

When I got in this afternoon, Susan Reed was already here. Susan and I met over email thanks to Rob Welch. We have been emailing each other since March and she really helped me with tips to prepare for this trip! She and I will cycle to Danville together tomorrow before she heads back to the Chicago area on Monday.

Rebecca H (Lon and Susan's daughter), Paul from Australia, and Mark from Indiana in the sag van after the rain yesterday.

First view of the Mississippi River from Iowa. Yes, I know it looks the same in Vicksburg and New Orleans, but I just wanted a picture of it!

Mississippi River sign

Bridge we crossed over the river.

Riding on the bridge.

The group was almost all together when we crossed the river into Illinois - the land of Lincoln. If you ever get to Springfield, the Lincoln museum is fantastic! I visited it on the way back from my Wisconsin cycling trip.

Today's picture of corn. There are more soybeans in Illinois than there were in Iowa. I'll try to get a picture of them tomorrow.

Day 20 - Rain

2010-07-30T21:14:00.000-05:00

Its going to be short and sweet today - I am tired and it is late. It rained for the first time on the trip today. I dont have any pictures and will write more tomorrow.

We will be crossing the Mississippi River tomorrow and we will be crossing into Illinois - our 7th state!

Day 19 - The road greatly travelled!

2010-07-29T20:14:00.001-05:00

Let me start by saying I had another wonderful day! The best part of this trip is that I feel I can ride as many or as few miles as I want each day. I originally wanted to ride the whole day, but as the ride unfolded, I elected to ride in the van again until conditions improved.

Today's ride started with a nice ride out of town but quickly turned to busy hwy 141 in Iowa. It was one of my least favorite roads on the whole trip. Think Natchez Trace width with no shoulder, stack 25-30 lake cavalier hills 1.5-3 miles apart on the road and then add somewhat heavy traffic including 18 wheeler traffic going 65 mph, then break up the pavement pretty severly in the tire rut so you have to ride truly on the middle of the road and have no where to go when traffic comes by. The route had us on this road for 70ish miles - I lasted 23 before I elected to stop at the first sag. I believe in enjoying every moment of this trip and the stress of riding on that road was not enjoyable!

Checking with Lon, we would be getting off that road after lunch, so I sagged up with several others. After lunch I was one of the first to leave again, so I had no pressure to ride in fast, so I meandered my way to the hotel just thinking and having a great afternoon. We had a slight headwind, nothing bad, and the temps were mild. I was only sweating on a climb. Once again we were surrounded by corn and soybeans.

My shadow in the early morning sun

Church in a soybean field

Wild flowers on the side of hwy 141 in Iowa

Praying Mantis yard art in Coon River Park

Ever wondered what to do with your old golf clubs? Windmill of golf clubs in Coon River Park Iowa

17 yr old Greg and his daily license plate. Greg has an eagle eye for the lost plates and finds at least one almost every day. I think the most he has found in one day is 5. BTW, this is Greg's third transcon and I am pretty sure he has done them all without his parents! He is more mature than most 30 year olds I know!

Today's corn - the bio break view!

Tomorrow we head to Mt Pleasant, Iowa. There is a chance of rain and most likely headwinds. I would sure like to ride at least 100 miles tomorrow...

Day 18 Favorable winds and really big rollers

2010-07-28T18:03:00.000-05:00

What a fantastic day! I am finally rested and have some power for the first time in several days! I decided I would sag early and often again if my legs did not show up, but I felt fantastic leaving the motel today. It is the second day I have not worn arm warmers at the ride start. It was coolish, but humid - my kind of morning. Right out of the motel I noticed my legs felt great and I was already crusing at 16 mph. The first 10 miles or so was flattish and then we hit really big rollers. I was able to bomb the hills going down and get about 1/2 way up the next hill before having to throw it into the small ring and spin the rest of the way up. I was having a blast! The rollers went from being really big to being really long. At that point, the downhill would barely get you started into the uphill so I slowed down some. The wind was either a light cross wind or a tailwind so I was not having to push against it.

We were completely surrounded by corn fields everywhere! There were some really nice houses tucked away in the cornfields, but corn was on the right and left of the road as far as the eye could see. Green was the color of the day as when there wasn't corn there was soy and all the trees are green.

At lunch I decided to stop at 85 miles. I felt really good and did not want to push the limits today. I also knew we had 3000 ft of climbing in the next 40 miles, plus we have 4 135+ mile days in a row coming up. I am hoping to be able to ride all of them so I just rode in with Veronica in the extra car. I learned today that just because a ride looks hard on paper, it doesn't have to be. The whole group seemed to love the day!

Iowa - our 6th state!

Nice church was the first sag stop

Corn as far as the eye can see

Interesting outhouse in Oto, Iowa

One of a thousand farm houses - barn had a nice design

I have heard of taking everything including the kitchen sink, but a bathtub?

We saw so much corn, I had to include another picture of it!

Barn of the day unless you like the one with the design on it better - then it is the barn of the day.

Ricketts, Iowa - if you look close, the sign says it is the "middle of nowhere"!

Our progress so far!

Please pray for favorable winds and that I have the strength to ride the whole way for the next several days! Oh and pray that everyone stays safe!

Day 17 Recap of the last couple days

2010-07-27T18:11:00.029-05:00

Ahhhhhh! It is 5 pm central time and I have showered had my ice bath. I am blogging now while waiting for my roommate Vikki to come in. No, I wasn't lucky enough to get in early on my own - I did sag forward and I am really glad I did. Today's ride was 115 mi and I did 58 of it.

The last three days really took their toll. I am still having the time of my life, but I really needed some rest time.

Catching up:

The Mount Rushmore Day was exhilarating, but somewhat stressful. That day was the only day I went into with extreme nerves. We had been told that the park was very hilly and there would be a lot of traffic. There was an optional 30 mile ride through Custer National Forest that only the strongest riders chose to do. My 45 mile route ended up having 3000 ft of climbing and the 70 mile route had 7000 ft of climbing. I started stressing first thing in the morning and almost opted to sag to Mt Rushmore. I was really worried about traffic and steep hills. However, Mt. Rushmore was my pinnacle. I had to ride my bike to Mt. Rushmore. I wanted to see what it looked like and always remember the first glimpse of the monument. So, I put my fear behind me and rode towards the park. First, I stopped at the Crazy Horse monument. I was really surprised to see how little has been done on this monument. I guess I have seen pictures of what it will look like one day, but did not realize that only the Indians face had been completed. I did not stay there very long at all as I wanted to spend more time at Mt. Rushmore. And would you know, the ride in was relatively easy! All the worrying for nothing! Yes, it was hilly and there was some traffic, but there was a decent shoulder. However, the best part was after cresting a steepish hill, I pulled over into a small parking lot to look at my cue sheet. I noticed people taking pictures behind me so I turned and looked and OMG! there is George Washington. It was like someone splashed cold water on my face! I have wanted to see Mt. Rushmore forever, and there was George Washington! I continued to cycle into the park and had a blast. It is huge. My only regret was not having enough time to really enjoy the park. I would have needed 4 hours at least and we only had 1.5 hours.

My biggest mistake of the whole trip happened next. With 20 or so miles to go, I made the assumption that "it is all down hill from here"! I proceeded to get my butt kicked with the climbing. Now, don't get me wrong, I loved almost every minute of it! We were on a really windy back road with little traffic and it was just up and down - some of the hills got to 9%. Thinking it was all downhill, this was a little demoralizing, but the road was beautiful countryside.

Continuing with my mistake of "it is all downhill from here", we started our longest day of the trip on Sunday. We started an hour earlier at 6am instead of 7. I thought, hey we are doing 3000 ft of climbing in 145 miles, that has got to be easier than 3000 ft of climbing in 45 miles. WRONG. Never underestimate an easy day on paper, because it may not be easy with weather conditions! Sunday was a mixed wind day. Sometimes we had tailwinds, some headwinds, but mainly crosswinds I started out having a really good day and made it to lunch early. It was really neat riding through the badlands, as I had no idea what to expect and they were truly spectacular. They are really hard to describe, but bam, in the middle of nowhere are these great rock formations. After leaving the Badlands, the wind really started picking up. I wanted to sag once I fell behind the back of the6pack by 30 minutes, but the back of the pack was waiting for me! It was nice that they waited and it gave me the encouragement to continue. I was exhausted when we got in at 5 - however, it was 6! We crossed over a time zone when we entered Murdo, SC. So we had to scramble to get everything ready for the next day and get supper.

Monday, we were still reeling from the time change. Once again, I originally decided that the day would be easy. However, after Sunday, I knew better! With only 1690 ft of climbing but a steady crosswind all day, it was a slog fest! I sagged up one rest stop and that put me back at the back of the pack! I should have sagged up two rest stops. I was just slow, and the terrain was not much to look at - corn and grassland. It started to get warm. The heat did not bother me, but it took out several of our riders not used to riding in heat and humidity. The last 20 miles, the wind seem to ease some or I got a "second wind" and I finally made it to the motel after 7 pm. Getting in at 7 on a ride at home is not so bad, but here, you still have to get a shower, dinner, wash clothes and it was my night for a massage. Yes, we get massages here from a crew member somewhat frequently! I ended up eating Arbys at 9:30!

So, that brings us to today. I told Vikki that I wanted to be in by three and that if I could not keep up, I would sag early and often! I just needed a little bit of time off the bike this afternoon. I actually thoroughly enjoyed the ride. I intended on sagging at the first sag when I could only maintain 12 mph for the first 30 miles, but it seemed as if the van was already full. I continued to ride. I felt good, I just had no power output against the wind. Then, something caught my eye! Badgers! Oh, I was thrilled! I love seeing wildlife and I had never seen a live badger before. This made me start thinking about a book I read as a kid about a boy and a badger - Sterling North's Rascal. It was a great book and I named my hamster after the badger, Rascal. BTW, other good books to read even if you are not a kid are The Yearling and
Where the Red Fern Grows. So, as I continue to slog away thinking about good books I read as I kid, I see the van! Veronica realized that I was pretty behind the others and made room for me!
WHOO HOO! So, I rode in the van with her to lunch, grabbed lunch and headed out to her last sag - 20ish miles from the end. I was now way ahead of the fast guys and no one in between me and the hotel! I could ride 5 mph if I wanted and no one would care. So, I rode at a comfortably slow pace and took pictures when I wanted. I stopped at a gas station when I got in and leisurely cleaned my bike, showered and blogged! What a great refreshing day! And to top it off I had a package from my friend Sharon Stevens from Plano. She and I rode my last 4 day training weekend together. Sharon, today was very much like our weekend in Italy - somewhat hilly, but not too bad, some wind but not as hot with much better road surfaces!

Yesterday's grasslands

Yesterday's Barn

Today's corn - apparently there will be alot of corn and soy over the next few states...

My real live and in person badger!

Hey Don - we are at an old Texaco!

Old school house - see the bell in the roof

odd mailbox

Today's barn

Looking forward to a new state tomorrow - Iowa! Pray we get favorable winds!

Day 16 - the long and windy road

2010-07-26T22:09:00.000-05:00

Hey, sorry, I have to keep it short and sweet. I did not get in until 7 pm on a 121 mile ride (max miles was 145). The wind wasn't that bad, but it did slow me down. I may have not had enough to eat the day before and therefore did not have enough energy to push through the wind. Anyway it was a long day. I am still having fun, but tomorrow, I am sagging in to arrive at the motel by 3 pm. I need to wash clothes, get a good meal and get to bed early again. Maybe I will get lucky to get in early without sagging...

Thanks for reading!

Day 15 - Badlands and grasshoppers

2010-07-25T22:17:00.013-05:00

I gotta keep it short again tonight as we just crossed into central time zone and we have another 140+ day tomorrow.

Things I learned on the bike today:

1. Read the route sheet before judging the day. If a route has 4000 ft of climbing over 145 miles it would not be hard unless most of the climbing is in the last 40 miles!
2. If the t-shirt and route card disagree - choose the one with the longest mileage and climbing
3. South Dakota is having a grasshopper infestation
4. Grasshoppers don't seem to like landing on you and more than you like them landing on you
5. Grasshoppers hurt when they hit you in the face going as slow as 5 mph
6. Grasshoppers really hurt when they hit you going 20 mph
7. I don't like grasshoppers !

Today was our longest day of the trip - 146 miles. It was very diverse. We started pretty flat and rode through "grasslands", then traveled through the very interesting Badlands, and ended up with very rolling hills. The Badlands are very interesting in that out of nowhere you have these really neat rock formations. Some of them looked like thick biscuit dough droped into a grass field!

Crooked picture of grasslands

Odd?

Rock formation in the Badlands

Badlands and sunflowers

More Badlands

Hopefully, I will have more time to blog tomorrow!

Day 14 Mount Rushmore!!!

2010-07-24T17:17:00.000-05:00

I honestly can't believe it - I rode my bike to Mount Rushmore - that is crazy! Here are some pictures - I will blog more later...

Crazy Horse

My first glimpse of Mt Rushmore - from the road coming into the park!

Me with Mt Rushmore in the background

Mt. Rushmore - Washington, Jefferson, Roosevelt and Lincoln

Day 13 - Emotions

2010-07-23T23:54:00.001-05:00

Today was another fantastic day! All I can say is life is good!

Yesterday was a great day - a long climb to start with and then a bunch of rollers. Cynthia (the other recumbent) and I were able to work together in a paceline for the first time and we were doing 18-21 mph for 20 miles or so. The rollers then became pretty long uphills and shorter downhills so we ended up riding alone after lunch, but the day was really good.

Today we started with 30 virtual flat miles and easy rollers to mile 75. The rollers turned very ugly after mile 75 and they kicked my butt! I finished my third 100+ day in a row and 5 in the last 6 days!

I did become pretty emotional today. My husband likes to say "with big events come big emotions". He is so right on with this saying. Think of the emotions that come with weddings and funerals, the birth of a child, etc. Well, that is what I felt today. It started with my sighting of my first pronghorn antelope. Several people saw them yesterday, but since I was in a paceline, I missed them. Just seeing these animals made me realize how lucky I am to be on this trip. I have gotten to see things many people will never get to see.

As I was riding along alone, I turned on my ipod and started listening to my tunes. One of my favorite songs by the Fray came on - Over My Head. This is the song that I had stuck in my head on the Mineral Wells 400k in May 2007 - the write up is one of the first blog post I ever did - look at the 2007 history if you want to read it. Well, it occurred to me at that moment listening to the song, that yes, I was over my head on the 400k in 2007, but also at that moment, I realized that I am not over my head on this trip! I am in South Dakota on my bike! I am riding with alot of different people every day and having a blast! I am truly living my dream! It is unbelievable! This brought on a strong feeling of appreciation that just came blubbering out:

I have to thank God that I am able to do this trip physically and that I even have the desire to see the wonderful world He gave us.

I appreciate my coach, Michelle Grainger, for pointing me in the right direction with my training. Without her, I would not have had the constant motivation and drills to set me up to do this trip.

I am really grateful that Lon and Susan have made it their job to take people across America on a bike. They are the greatest. I got to go to Wal-Mart with Susan in Missoula, Mt and it was amazing to see her shop for us. She would go down each aisle and talk about how much we would like this or that. She really cares about what will make our trip better.

I am very lucky to have a great group of friends with different backgrounds that have supported me and helped me train for this ride. Without this great network, I would have never made it to the start. Dianne, Nancy, Doug, Pat and Steve especially - I owe yall a lot. I would not be here without yall helping me mentally, physically and emotionally!

I really am glad I have the parents I have. They taught me right from wrong and to be proud of everything I do. They taught me that you can have anything you want in life as long as you were willing to work hard for it. I don't know if we will ever know where my long distance cycling gene came from but they had to give it to me somehow! I really love my parents!

Finally, I really appreciate and love my husband, David. He is the greatest. I love him so much. He supported my decision to come on this trip from day 1. He never doubted that I could do it. He cooked for me and took care of things I should have while I trained especially over the last 4 months. He suggested that I go to Desert Camp to train which gave me a lot of confidence showing up in Everett. There is a song I like by Dave Barnes called God Gave Me You and I think about David when I here it. Part of the words are:
God gave me you for the ups and downs
God gave me you for the days of doubt
For when I think I have lost my way there are no words here left to say, it's true, God gave me you!

David has been there for me in my ups and down and on my days of doubts and I would not be on this trip, my dream, if it were not for his loving me and trusting me and believing in me. I am the luckiest person alive for this reason alone! So, with big events come big emotions - David, I love you and miss you!

Okay, back to the day. The first part of the day was flatter green hills, but as we entered the Black Hills after lunch, the pine trees started popping up and once again you could smell a strong pine scent - Christmas in July! We had a lot of train activity and got to hear several whistles. Most of the trains look like they were carrying coal as this is a big mining state. The trains had engines on either end and sometimes two on each end. No cabooses - I don't know why, but I will ask the other train fanatics to see if they know. There were a lot of open fields - this is where I saw the pronghorns. They were all over. I tried to get a picture of them, but I don't think it came out.

Tomorrow we go see Crazy Horse and Mt Rushmore. It should be an easy day. I am only doing 45 miles so I can spend more time at the two sites.

Engine as a Caboose?

Early morning paceline

No barn today, but how bout some fresh veggies, eggs and aussie pups!

If you look really really close, in the middle of the picture, you can see the pronghorn antelope. I will try and figure out how to blow it up so you can see it better.

My Bike with the South Dakota sign - I have a funny story to tell about why I don't have a picture with me and the sign - I will tell yall about it tomorrow

Field of black eyed susan and coneflowers

Entering the black hills of South Dakota - notice the trees. My average went from 16.2 at mile 75 to 13.5 by mile 114!

Day 12 Great Day really tired!

2010-07-22T21:28:00.001-05:00

Hey, I had a great day today - 108 miles of rolling hills! However, I am exhausted. I need to go ahead and get to bed early so, I am keeping it short and will blog more later...

Barn of the day

Greg at lunch - he is only 17 and this is his 3rd transcon!

Spotted horse gas station and restaurant in Spotted Horse Wy

Field of Sunflowers near Gillette Wy - sunflowers are my favorite flower.

Day 11 - Big Horns

2010-07-21T23:05:00.000-05:00

Wow! Okay, I said it again, but Wow is really a great description for the day. First, I got to ride all but the steep 18 miles of the ride. I got in a total of 100.2 miles for the day when I really thought I would only get 50. Plus, the ride on the bike and in the car were both extremely enjoyable.

The Big Horns are a pretty big mountain range. The part we were going over climbed for 22 miles. We then road along a meadow at the top of the range before decending about 8 miles and then climbing again for 5 and descending again for 11 or so. The range is beautiful.

The mountains are not the pretty purple ones with snow on top, but more the jagged brown ones. There were a lot of aspen trees on the climb and some flowers. You could see many different shades of brown in the rock. As we crested the mountain and entered the meadow, beauty abounded. The grass was green and there were a ton of yellow and purple flowers. The most amazing thing was smelling the flowers as I cycled by. It was a cleaner fragrance than any "meadow flower" room deoderizer I have ever smelled. There was also snow on the upper parts of the meadow. It was all so beautiful. The two descents were not too complicated but they still were somewhat scary. Since you never know the road conditions or what is around the corner I kept my speed below 40 mph.

So, I knew there would be 6 daysof climbing that I was really concerned about on this ride and three of them are now in the books! I am very pleased that I have been able to ride as much as I have thus far - 1049 miles in 11 days - Wow!

Sunrise over the Big Horns - we started 30 minutes earlier today

Foot of the Big Horns

Driving up the lower portion of the Big Horns

Sunlight on the Big Horns

Vista from the Big Horns

Shadow of a bike off of the roof of the lunch van

Switchbacks!

Meadowland on the Big Horns

Red line shows our progress so far

Thanks again for reading. I sure am having fun and appreciate all yalls support!

Day 10 - The road less traveled

2010-07-20T22:51:00.001-05:00

Today was another great day! I am having the time of my life! The theme of the day was diversity. The scenery and weather were completely different at the beginning of the ride to the end of the ride. Plus today we took the road less traveled (see poem by Robert Frost). We were on back roads all day and with the exception of about 10 miles of construction, the roads were virtually car free and peaceful. I absolutely loved the route and if I lived here I would ride these roads all the time. One great thing I realized while riding today is that I have been able to stay completely in the moment enjoying each new sight or sound and even smells as I ride. I have not gotten caught up about worrying about the next day. I have just been able to enjoy each mile.

Our ride started out cloudy and cold. It was only 60, but it felt much cooler. The sky was grey - this is the first day it was not one shade of blue or another. I was cold and had on multiple layers that took a long time to shed. I did not have much power this morning, but my legs felt fine. I think my problem was that we had a real slight constant incline to start, and then we hit the 10 miles of construction. I struggled to keep my average speed at 10 mph which is WAY slower than I needed to be. I was hoping to make it to lunch before having to sag, but at this rate I knew I would end up in the van much earlier. Arriving at the first sag stop, I was 30 min behind the others. I talked to Dave and we decided I would go ahead and ride to the next stop and sag to lunch. And then, I took off and turned the corner and saw a real bad climb! It probably wasn't a mile, but I just did not have the power to get up it and struggled to get to the top. After a good downhill, there was another hill, not as steep, but just as long, and I just can't make it to the top, so I hop off and start walking. The good thing is that this is not bothering me, it just is not my day to climb. About that time, Dave drives up and sees that I am walking and tells me he will go ahead and find a place to stop so I can just sag to the 2nd stop. And, I am completely okay with this. As we drive I notice that the grey clouds are burning off and the hills are lush and green. This section was completely rollers, which I typically love, but they just were not happening today. Some just seemed very steep.

Once we get to the 2nd sag, I get on my bike and ride. This section is mostly downhill and very easy. My legs seem to loosen up some and I am able to ride with more power. The terrain has changed from lush to scrub. The yellowstone river peaked from behind some trees occasionally, but mainly it looked more like Mineral Wells Texas with mountains in the background. Soon, I was coming up on the lunch truck and Wyoming. I got in at the same time as Jim and Bob, so Jenae took our pics with the Wyoming sign. Since there wasn't a Montana sign when we crossed into Montana, we also took a picture of it.

I was aprehensive about leaving lunch as the plan was to skip the mountain pass after lunch. But as it were, I had sagged once already, and I did not want to sag again. So I hopped on my bike and took off. This part of Wyoming is desolate. It was barren and brown. Pretty in its old west kinda way. I could see John Wayne riding a horse in this area really easy. Now, I will want to go back to see where Rooster Cogburn and Cowboys were filmed. I also want to see where Dances with Wolves was filmed. Anyway, think western cowboy movie. As I moved toward the hidden mountain pass, I was really enjoying myself. I was pedalling much better and felt great, althought I never felt bad at any point in the day. I was just enjoying the moment. The pass finally came into sight and it was a gentle 4-6% climb for maybe two miles. No big deal! The rest was all downhill!

We had a great dinner tonight. Vikki, Susan, Jenae and I all ate steak at Hansel and Gretel's in Powell, WY. After our crappy dinners the last two night, this dinner was welcomed. I really enjoyed their company as we shared a lot of laughter!

Tomorrow we head to the mama-jamma of the climbs. I will be sitting out for the big climb as it is 18 mile climb with 8-14% grades. As I am here for Every Fantastic Moment, I am going to enjoy taking pictures and taking some miles off as a rest day. Hopefully, I will be able to ride in and get at least 50 miles tomorrow.

So, the internet connection will not us load pictures tonight, so I will hopefully try again tomorrow...

Thanks again for reading and commenting! I just can't express enough how much it means to me to share my adventure with yall. This has been the most amazing experience and I am having a blast! Whoo Hoo!

Stopped for 7ish minutes at a construction site - had two of these today. Riding on packed dirt roads is not fun, but better than Texas clay pot chip seal!

First day with grey sky

Jim and Bob at the second sag stop

Blue Skies

Entering Wyoming

Wyoming landscape - Hang em High or Lonesome Dove filmed out here?

Day 9 - Transition day

2010-07-19T22:09:00.001-05:00

Today, according to John J, was a transitional day. A transitional day is a day that just gets you from one point to another without anything spectacular along the way. Our route took us either on the interstate or on the frontage road for 100 miles. The scenery was ordinary compared to the previous days. I did ride very well again today. My legs were strong. I did take a while to get over the first climb, but after that I was able to really soar on the downhill sections. This route was one that could truly be called "all downhill after the first climb". I believe that we climbed 1400 ft in the first 14 miles and only 400 more the next 90! Whoo Hoo baby! Can you say recumbent friendly?

So, here is a day in the life of a PACtour cyclist:

5:30 alarm goes off and we get up and start getting dressed, put on sunscreen, pack bags
6:20 take bike out to bike racks, fill tires with air, fix water bottles with 3 scoops sustained energy and 1 scoop heed
6:30 eat breakfast - most of the time breakfast is served in the parking lot of the motel. We have bagels, cereal, yogurt, oatmeal and pasteries to choose from. Today Susan made eggs and sausage as well. I ususally just eat 1/2 a bagel with jelly.
6:59 take bag out to luggage van
7:00 start ride - most rides have support stops every 25-30 miles. So, we ride to each stop taking pictures along the way. At the support stops we refill water bottles and eat snack food. At the first stop I always get a banana and at the second I may get cookies or potato chips. Lunch is typically at mile 65-80, but was at mile 100 a couple days ago. Lunch is always fantastic. It could be anything from sandwhich fixings to grilled chicken. Grilled cheese and burritos are my favorites. We always have some fantastic veggie salad or pasta too. Plus there are always some great desserts.
3-6:00 get in from the ride - wash bike, grease chain, check the message board, get your room key, get recoverite, get wash soap for clothes, take bike in, take bag in, shower,
5-7:00 get supper
7-10:00 get everything ready for the next day, call home, write postcards, blog, go to bed...
Get up and start it all over again!

Prettiest vista of the day

The barn of the day

View of a loose paceline from the back of my bike. Cynthia is the other recumbent in front of me

Mark from Indiana on a descent

Cynthia from Wisconsin on her recumbent

Cov from Colorado and Stan from Massachusetts

Paul from Australia

Susan from Illinois

Tim, Susan, Greg, Cynthia, Vikki and Paul at lunch

Big horns are coming tomorrow along with a new state - Wyoming!

Day 8 Watercolors, murals, and sheriff of Jefferson county, MT

2010-07-18T21:25:00.058-05:00

What a great day! It was the best day so far! I am having an absolute blast! My legs really felt great today after my "rest - only 80 miles" yesterday.

We started climbing over the continental divide first thing this morning. It was more than crisp this morning - it was downright cold. I had on arm warmers and my wind vest and wished I had put on my leg warmers. Knowing we had the climb first thing, I was afraid I would end up with too much on, but the leg warmers would have been welcomed. I was able to get on the road really early and was passed by many on the way up to the divide. I think I surprised a few people to be passed as high up on the climb as I was. The climb itself was really pretty easy 3 ish miles of 4-6% grade with good pavement and wide switchbacks. I was able to get into a good rhythm and just churned up the mountain. I was a little disappointed that there wasn't a sign indicating we had crossed the divide, but we took a picture a little down from the crest. It was really fun to be up there with some of the guys.

After the screaming downhill - I am getting much better at descending - we came into a neat little town, Whitehall, MT, with murals on a couple buildings - I will post the pictures below.

Once we left that little town, the road turned and God's splendor shown in all its majesty. He decided to paint the canvass in watercolors today! The sky was a very light blue instead of the vibrant blue of the week. The mountains in the back ground were subdued and the fields were washed in pastel grasses and flowers. Even the dirt had a peachy hue to it. Magnificent! Then, just to be interesting, He splotched bright yellows on to the picture! It was as if He was at the end of a tube of yellow paint and just splattered on with no reason! The roads were recumbent friendly - long rolling hills, some of which you could bomb down hill and get almost to the top without having to pedal. As the day went on the hills got longer and I did have to pedal slowly up some of them. But, the best thing was just being out there enjoying the day and feeling strong.

Until... Da Da Duh! (Thrilling Music), I was riding along, minding my own business and I was passed by an 18 wheeler, a sheriffs car, and a regular car. I waved at each of them as they passed me. Nothing out of the ordinary or so you would think. Then, the sheriff pulled over and turned on his flashing lights. The 18 wheeler and the car continued and I started to pass by and the sheriff pointed at me to pull over!!!!!!

Me: Uh, me?
Sheriff: Yes, a lady called in and reported that you have been riding in the middle of the road, and when I passed you, you were durn near in the tire marks! You are supposed to ride as close to the white line as possible!
Me: Uh, I'm sorry, sir, I am from Mississippi and we are allowed to ride at least 3 feet off of the white line.
Sheriff: 3 feet! No, that is way too far out in the road. You are to ride as close to the white line as possible. It is for your own good. You don't want to get killed do you?
Me:Uh, no sir
Sheriff: Blah Blah Blah, citation, warning, blah blah blah
Me thinking to myself: What the heck!!!!! Do you have a 3 foot law for cyclists? If I ride the dang white line, I will get hit by some idiot that will say "oh, I did not see her!"
Sheriff: And you are supposed to ride on the shoulder
Me: I always ride on the shoulder as long as there are not rumble strips (wake the drunk strips).
Sheriff: Well you are always supposed to ride in the shoulder if there is one - oh it is safer to ride with more than one person and you have to ride single file.
Me: yes sir, there are 50 of us out here on this road.
Sheriff: Where are you going - Bozeman?
Me: Yes, tonight, but our final destination is Williamsburg, VA

And with that he let me go with a warning! If I were not trying to keep this a nice family oriented blog, I could so go off on this guy...

The traffic from that point in to Bozeman was pretty heavy and I encountered more jerks here than on a typical Sunday from mm 100 to mm 105 on the Natchez Trace. It surprised me as we have been treated very well by the majority of drivers up to this point. Even today, I still got a handful of happy honks. I do intend to look up the Montana Cycling Law to see what it really says...

Dorky picture of me after crossing the signless continental divide

Craig and Vicky just pass the divide - this is Craigs last day. Vicky should become my roommate tomorrow.

Watercolor landscape

With a splash of yellow

Whitehall Bighorn sheep mural

Whitehall mural

Today's barn picture - no trains today...

Tomorrow we go to somewhere in Montana - my route card is on the other side of the room. I think it is Columbus, but maybe not. I don't think it will be a very hard day. I do know we have at least one climb. Thanks again for your comments. I really appreciate all yall! (BTW, a lot of the people on this tour think I talk funny! I had to explain yall and its plural - all yall - imagine that!)

Day 7 You never know what is around the corner

2010-07-17T22:51:00.000-05:00

We are settling into the routine. I have no idea what day it is, where I am, or where I am going without looking at the route card. Montana, unlike Washington and Idaho, has very similar terrain day to day. Hilly mountains on either the right, left or both with the Clark Fork River mostly on the right. Today we had no train sightings. I did see a field mouse scurrying across the road in front of me. Today's ride was another long one - 135 miles. However, Susan and I talked the night before about trying to stay up with the group to lunch and then sagging over the climb. The roads before lunch would be much more scenic as comapared to those after lunch.

Once again the air was cool and crisp at the ride start and not a cloud in the sky. Getting out of town was very easy and we were staring at the river right off of the bat. The sun glistening in the river was beautiful. After several days of the same terrain, you can let your mind wander. I did not want to think too much, so I turned on the i-pod and listened to some good music. Eventually, we started this long 1-2% slog for about 10 or 11 miles. It occasionally had a downhill turn, but would then head back uphill. I was on a time crunch getting into lunch on time, and I did not think I would ever get off the slog. Just then, I rounded a corner and got a huge surprise! Real mountains again! The mountains we had been following for the last couple days have rounded and are much hillier than the defined mountains of the rockies. It was breathtaking! To see the snow capped mountains appear out of nowhere was like watching the first burst of light in a fireworks show!

Sun glistening off of the Clark Fork river

Hilly mountains - rollling hills are always fun to ride, even when they are trending uphill

Linkin Log house - there are a lot of these out here. They made me think of my brother, Chris. I loved playing with linkin logs. When we were little we used to try and launch the smaller logs into the light fixture with the green roof pieces.

another barn...

Once again, the picture does not do the landscape justice. You can see the snow capped Mountain - I think it is Mt Higgins, in the back ground. You can also see just a sliver of Clark Fork river.

Tomorrow we cross the continental divide 1200 ft in less than 10 miles. Cross your fingers, I can get over it.

Day 6 Plains, Trains, and automobiles

2010-07-16T21:46:00.001-05:00

Well, we are not in the plains yet, but we went through Plains, Montana - so does that count? Today was a hard day. My legs felt much better today, but I struggled to keep up today. Yet again, it was a fabulous day. Our weather has been absolutely perfect. This is the second day that I started out in long sleeves as it was probably in the 50s at the ride start - very crisp! Going down the hills was very chilly but i would warm slightly as I would climb the hills. Todays terrain was very similar to yesterdays - Mountains on at least one side and the Clark Fork River on the other. The river is very wide and was flowing north, so as we travel south, it looks like it is going in the wrong direction. Sometimes it is clear and smooth and other times it is flowing rapidly. Watching it makes me want to take up kayaking (another adventure sport on my life list - sorry, David and Mom).

I have become fascinated with trains the last two days. I love to hear them whistle, especially, when you can't see them first. Being close to them you can hear the freight train chuga-chuga sound. In an odd way, very peaceful and comforting - unless you live by the tracks, I guess.

Today was also our first day on the interstate. It was not too bad really. Part of one of the sections was closed to traffic, so we had it to ourselves for 5 miles or so. Lon tries to get us off onto more scenic roads as often as possible, so most of the time we were only on it for 3-5 mile intervals.

Saw what I think was a chipmunk today - or maybe a really cute rat. There were also more osprey nests in several spots along the way.

First train today - notice the mountain on the left and the Clark Fork River on the right

I like barns too

Clark Fork river - you never tire of it

Okay, I really like barns

And trains...

Headed up a decent hill, I see this oddity behind me, I pull off and as the truck passes me, the intertube thingy flys off the truck. Had I not pulled over, it would have hit me in the head!

Tomorrow is another long day to Butte, MT. Thanks again for reading and posting comments!

Day 5 Mountains and valleys and falls, oh, my!

2010-07-15T20:41:00.001-05:00

This will be short and sweet tonight - I am tired and we lost an hour changing time zones today. Our ride tomorrow will be the longest so far - 138 miles, so I need to stretch and hit the sack.

We rode the entire day in between two mountain ranges. Most of the time there was a river to our right. Totally stunning! We also had an off road adventure on a 5ish mile long gravel road - the description was "road becomes rough"! That was a nice way to say "a step above dirt"! At least it was better than the Texas clay pot chip seal on the Uncertain Times Perm.

Right outside of Sand Pointe, Id - Lake Pend Oreille (I think)

Mountains - this is Montana - big sky country

Taken from a one lane bridge just after 5 or so miles of gravel road. Everyone asked if I had trouble on the gravel. I answered - no, I get lost and sometime gravel is the best way to get home (Jim - HA) plus George E from LSR and I had 3 miles of gravel less than a month ago on the Taste of Italy ride!

Clark Fork river coming into Thompson Falls

Thompson falls - Jenae, Susan and I hiked around the falls - they were really pretty. The falls had a neat rushing sound and the sun glistened off of the pool of water below the falls.

Thanks again for reading. I am having a blast and can't wait to ride again tomorrow! I think we will be in Missula, MT.

Btw, I am not running spell check on the blog as it takes too long, so forgive my spelling errors...

Day 4 - Lavender, Cedar and Osprey

2010-07-15T00:05:00.002-05:00

First, I want to thank everyone who is posting comments and/or texting me throughout the day. I look forward to reading the comments when I log on each night. I will try to answer questions that are texted when I can, but most of yall are 2 hours ahead of me so if I answer the text at 8 you would get the response at 10 and I know most of you are in bed by then!

Today would be considered an easy day on PACtour standards. Light winds and rolling terrain made for a very enjoyable ride and everyone is still in good spirits. The day started with us meandering through Spokane. Thanks to Veronica and a guy that I still don't know his name, I made it though downtown alive! I had no idea how to cycle through one way downtown streets. Once through the city, we hit more of a tree lined range. No wheat at all today! The new color and plant that grows wild in this part of the country is Lavender. Very pretty light purple fields dotted the country side. My pictures will not do them justice. We were also passed by the first log trucks today. I had heard they are awful - all of the ones that passed me today were well behaved. The thing I like about them is the strong scent of cedar coming off of the trees they were carrying.

One of the highlights of the day was passing our first state sign. Several of us showed up right at the same time for a small group picture under "Idaho". It was neat to see the excitement that we all shared over border sign.

The next highlight of the day was actually a missed turn! I missed a turn off of highway 2 and realized something was wrong and stopped to see if anyone else was coming my way. Shortly, Susan from Chicago and Paul from Austrialia showed up. After deliberating and going one way and coming back again, we found the correct turn and were on our way. Along the way we came across these very large bird nests. The bird had a white head, but it was not a bald eagle. It would squawk at us calling attention to the nest. The birds were later identified as ospreys. I just had so much fun riding and eating lunch with these Paul and Susan. Although we were the last 3 on the road, we were able to take it easy. The lunch crew had not started cleaning up yet, so there was still plenty hamburgers and pasta salad for us. We were also treated to an ice cream bar! We only had 10 miles to go and it was only 1:30, so a nice leisurely lunch was enjoyed. We then slowly meandered the remaining distance to the motel, stopping to take pictures when we felt like it.

Once again a great day! Tomorrow will be another new state and I think even a new time zone!

Lavendar - the picture does not do it justice

Tree lined roads replace the wheat fields

A small group of us crossing into Idaho

Lake Pend Oreille - we cylced along the lake for several miles.

Paul and Susan on the bike bridge coming into Sand Point, ID

Old barn

HA! We are only 69 miles from Canada! Is that not wild?

Day 3 - God's Canvass

2010-07-13T18:48:00.001-05:00

I guess I need to come up with something better than WOW everyday, but it is just WOW! Todays ride started with a 2.4 mile steep uphill in traffic. The signs on the downhill side from yesterday said 6-10%. On my recumbent, I am just not comfortable with a 10% grade with multiple cars going by. Out in the country with the occasional car is one thing, traffic is another. So, I elected to get a "bump up" today. I started at mile 12 as that is where it was the most convienent to be let out. The weather was cool - maybe low 70's so I was wearing arm warmers - HA! arm warmers in July!!!

The terrain changed again. We still had amber waves of grain, but we added green and brown hills and dales. As I elected to start at mile 12, I ended up riding most of the day alone. I would get to ride briefly with others as they passed by, but most of the time I was solo. Today, this was great as I was in awe of the countryside. Riding along I realized that the earth is God's canvass. As I climbed each rolling hill, I could not wait to see His brush strokes! Some hills were brown earth recently tilled and others had the great yellow wheat. There were also fields of young wheat that blended every color of green imaginable. I am blessed to be able to ride my bike looking at all the beauty!

mountains, wheat and tilled earth between Wilbur and Keller WA

Young wheat - aren't the clouds marvelous, too!

going to dinner will write more later!

Back from dinner -pretty good Mexican. One good thing about this tour is eating anything you want and as much as you want.

The last two days have been really neat as we have had a fantastic tailwind and beautiful comfortable weather. It amazes me how nice it has been - even when it is hot without humidity, it is still so cool and comfortable. Yesterday my bike computer said the ambiant temp reached 108; however, it really only felt like it was in the 80s. With the tailwinds we are flying, too. I averaged 17 mph today without breaking a sweat - although todays high was only in the low 80s. It was 68 at 3pm!

Well, I have got to go get ready for bed, but here are a couple more pictures:

Mustard field

Craig and Vicki (backs turned) and Susan (back ground) at the lunch truck. Lunch is fantastic. Normally we have lunch meat or chicken salad, a variety of pasta/veggie salads, fruit, pudding, and tons of sweets. For whatever reason, minus the pudding, I dont eat the sweets. I stick to the pasta/veggie salads and fruit.

Cyclists eating lunch on PACtour benches

One of these things is not like the other... Bike parking PACtour style. Lon said that they began using this bike parking set up for the Northern Tour in 1993.

Tomorrow we will be crossing into our 2nd state! Sandpoint Idaho. The predicted low is 45! Leg warmers in July! LOL!!!

Days 1 & 2 WoW!

2010-07-12T23:01:00.000-05:00

Don't have much time to blog, but all I can say is Wow! We live in a very beautiful and diverse country. The terrain from day one to day two is completely different. From Everett to Wentachie we were in more of a neat forrest with many rushing rivers and babbling brooks. The pine trees and fir trees are different from those in Mississippi. The are "frondy-er". At one point climbing Stevens Pass, I could smell the fir trees in the same way we smell the honey suckle. It reminded me of Christmas.

Today, we were on the other side of the Cascades. After our first pass, the trees became more scarce and the mountains were a brown color. There were a ton of wheat fields. I did not know it was wheat at first - I just thought it was a weed. As soon as I was told it was wheat - "amber waves of grain" poped into my mind. So Day one is purple mountains majesty and day 2 is amber waves of grain.

Eventually, the terrain changed again to interesting rock formations. They kinda looked like mesas in some areas. We turned and rode along the Columbia River and it was stunning!

I am having a great time - I am one of the slower (probably the slowest) cyclist here, but no one seems to care and I sure don't! However, coming in late does not leave time for blogging - so I will continue to try to post regularly.

Cascade Mountains - we will be climbing Stevens Pass the first day

Babbling brook on Steven's Pass

Cashmere, Washington

Leaving Wenatchie, Wa - we got lost twice in the first 2 miles!

Wheat field and farm between Waterville and Douglas, WA. Can you tell that it was windy?

Basalt Cliffs along Banks Lake on the way to Steamboat Rock State Park

Upper portion of Coulee Dam

BTW, the bike is working better than it ever has.

How long does it take to reassemble a recumbent?

2010-07-10T23:08:00.000-05:00

Too darn long! We started putting my bike back together at 9 am. I worked on it alone for 30 min or so and was having problems, so Jim H, one of the crew started helping me. We discovered that everything I did accomplish was messed up - chain and cables assembled on the wrong side of the seat stays, rear derailer was weird. So we spent at least 30 min fixing my mistakes. The issues we had after that:

Seat stay screws on the wrong side of the seat stays
Rear Deraileur was wanting to cross thread and had to be tapped out
New wing nuts were not the same thread size
speedometer sensor broke off the mount

So, once we worked out all of those problems we started working on the headset. John L joined us and we worked on this for a long time. It was either too loose or too tight. Finally, I just settled and decided to ride it a little too tight. By this time it is noon. 3 hours working on the bike. I spend an hour getting the bike case ready to ship to Slo Joe and getting dressed for my ride to the beach.

So I finally get to start my ride to the beach. But, something is just not right. I have problems steering and the bike is really unsteady. I go back to the motel and we realize that my front tire is not tightened onto the bike. Problem solved, right - no! I ride out again and it still is not right. The wheel is just not under control. John L worked on it again, and we decided something was really wrong as nothing we did worked. john asked if there might be a part missing. i told him that I zip tie all the loose parts so nothing should be missing. I mentioned that if there were loose parts on the fork, I did not know about it and they could be missing. So, we call Jim at ride South and he gives Jim enough info to look to see if in fact I am missing a part. And yes, a small collar is missing! Ugh! John looks to see if the collar in a spare headset will work, but it does not. So I go into the hotel to see if the part may be in the bike case. Certainly, I would have seen it if it had been there. So, I unpack the bike case and the part is just not there. I am facing the fact that i may not be able to ride for a day or two. And then I just notice a small gleam of silver peaking out from a slit in the bottom of the case - it is the part! I rush it out to John as I would have to go to the riders meeting momentarily. He and Jim finish putting the bike together in 5 minutes and it is finally done! Yeah! My 2 mile test ride is good - all systems are go!

Tomorrow will be the first day heading East. It is also going to be one of the hardest days of the trip. We will ride to Whenatchie Washington. Cross your fingers all goes well!

I am in Everett

2010-07-10T10:52:00.000-05:00

Well, I made it! It is beautiful here! I will take some pictures and post them later, but I am not in Mississippi anymore, Toto!

The remaining flight was pretty uneventful except that I had an unexpected stop in Denver. I found out we would be stopping in Denver while in Chicago, so since I had just eaten breakfast, I decided I would eat lunch in Denver. Well, I did not realize that they don't let you off the plane in Denver, so I went from 8:30 to 10:00pm without eating anything but peanuts and popcorn! I was starving by the time I got to eat!

Once I arrived at the motel (2 hr shuttle ride dropping off others in Seattle) it was easy to pick out other Pactour riders. The first person I met was this neat guy - Bob Lewis from Arizona. He and I waited around to see if anyone else had not eaten. I finally got to meet Cynthia, Cov, Jenae, and Susan as well as several others as we all congregated in the lobby. At 8 Pacific time we walked to the Irishman. I was hoping for shepherds pie, but they did not have it, so I ate chicken parmesian. I could have eaten anything at that point though.

So it is almost time for me to put my bike together - more later!

The Trip to Everett, Washington!

2010-07-10T10:40:00.000-05:00

July 9 9:30 am CDT - Well, I am sitting in the Chicago Midway airport. My first attempt to access wifi and blog has failed as did my next 3 attempts. There is no free wifi in this airport. Oh well, I am composing this on word pad and will copy it to the blog later.

I have not had the opportunity to blog since the 4th and of course, much has happened. Primarily, I got everything packed on Tuesday and have been resisting the urge to put more "stuff" in my bag. PAC tour suggests a nice list that will fit comfortably in the luggage bag they supply. It looks pretty sparse for 30 days, but when all I will be doing is eating, sleeping and cycling, I don't need much. I have 3 pairs of shorts, 3 jerseys (added one on the whim) and will receive my tour jersey at the ride start. For street clothes I only have on the clothes I am wearing right now and one more casual outfit. I have a limited amount of toiletries and I am not bringing any make up, blow dryers or curling irons. I also have a small supply of Hammer supplements, whey and Heed. PAC tour will provide most of my supplements, but I did not want to get out there and not have what I needed. My bag weighed 25 lbs on Tuesday. At check in today it weighed 34 lbs. I added 6 bike tires which will be stored on one of the PAC tour vans, so I hope that removing them will take at least 4 lbs off the bag to put it at 30 lbs. Why do I care? Because this is not a luxury trip and I will have to haul the bag and bike to my room each night. Most likely the majority of the time it will be upstairs!

Contents of my duffle

Update on tires – my Serfas have not performed as I would have liked. What I liked about them was that they were easy to mount. I could change a tire in no time and did not have to use a tire tool. Changing to Kendas or Conti’s has been very frustrating. I can’t mount them as they are so difficult to get the bead over the rim. Well, I have spent at least 6 hours in the last 4 days practicing changing the tire. My hands are sore from using the tire tool to pry the tire on and off the rims. Hopefully, these tires will be better and give me more confidence on the trip.

I have been one bag of nerves over the last several days. My stomach has been full of butterflies - or in Susan Reeds words - an anxiety ball. I am sure I have gained 5 lbs just because that ball is heavy! I am told this is normal. I guess it is okay to be nervously apprehensive considering I am planning to ride a bike across the US in 30 days! Yikes!

So I am now in Chicago with a 4 hour layover. The neat thing about airports is that I have had good experiences with food in them. This morning I had a ham and egg “archipita” and boy was it good! It was a flaky crusty scrumptious Greek pastry. It was the size of a small hamburger bun and very tasty. Probably too rich and not healthy although it did have spinach in it!

I will write more later assuming I have wifi!

Train Derailment

2010-07-10T10:28:00.001-05:00

Thursday evening around 6 I get a call from Luggage Forward, the company I used to ship my bike. Apparently, the train it was on in route to Everett derailed and the bike will not be delivered until today (the 9th). Since I am still in route myself, this is not a problem. However, one of the perks of using this company is they guarantee delivery for the date requested. So, I will get a full refund of my shipping costs! I just hope that the bike gets there in one piece.

Sat Note: My bike case is all in one piece - I have not had a chance to unpack it yet to see that it made it okay, but the case looks fine!

Happy 4th of July

2010-07-04T12:45:00.000-05:00

Wow! It enormity of this ride hit me today. I got up and made it to church for the first time in a while. I will admit that I have not been "worshiping" in the traditional manner the last couple months. Trying to ride multiple days with back to back to back 100+ mile rides has prevented me from going to church. However, as most of you that know me know, I consider each bike ride as a unique worship service. I am amazed by Gods wonderful earth and the neat things that He puts out for us to see if we will take the time to look for it!

Anyway, I made it to church in time and was pleased to be able to stand and sing God Bless America and America the Beautiful. I was overcome with emotion as I attempted to sing these two songs. (My apologies to those I was sitting next to as I know I sounded awful!) It hit me and hit me hard that I will truly be living "America" over the next month. I am very very blessed and lucky to have the opportunity to see our Great Land first hand.

I hope yall have a wonderful and safe Independence Day!

The Bike is on its way!

2010-07-01T22:19:00.000-05:00

Well, it is really getting close to time to go now! The bike is packed and has been shipped.

A lot of people have asked how I am getting my bike to Washington. I have borrowed a very large tandem/long wheel base recumbent bike case. The case is huge. It is wider than David's car.

Here is a pic:

I borrowed the case from Slo Joe Recumbo. He let me use it for my trip to Arizona, too. Thanks Joe!

Anyway, David and I took it apart and packed it. David really helped me as there was no way I would have gotten all 4 wheels in the case. For those of you that don't know, I have to take an extra set of wheels and a cajillion tires and tubes since my wheels are smaller than the average upright bike's wheels. Here is a pic of the bike packed:

Interesting, but you can't see the actual bike! It is on the lower portion of the case. I have both back wheels in wheel cases and the front wheels bubble wrapped. In the upper left corner you can see my seat on its side. The bike is "wrapped" in spongy pipe insulation stuff and then bubble wrapped.

I loaded the case in the car to take to Jim's for UPS to pick up:

Here the case is in the back of the truck!

I am actually using a company called Luggage express. They contract with UPS or Fed Ex to ship the bike case. I am paying about $7 more than had I contracted with UPS directly. The main reason I like luggage express though is that they guarantee the delivery by my targeted date and they charge for a bike case regardless of weight. Assuming my case is over 50 lbs, I would have to pay more to UPS. So, most likely, I am getting a much better deal using this company.

Last long ride before the Transcon

2010-06-28T21:41:00.000-05:00

My how fast the last couple months have gone by. I was prepared to ride two more 100+ mile rides this weekend and then David and I realized Saturday evening that Sunday would be the last full day we would spend together until August 10th! So, I ended up riding Friday and Saturday and took Sunday off!

I rode 2 hours on Friday and included some drills and hill repeats. I wanted to ride 100 miles, but I realized I had too many things I needed to do to/with my bike that had to be done on Friday or they would not be done before I had to ship the bike. I ended up over at Jim's and got my new wheels and attempted to mount the Gatorskins on them - I couldn't do it and Jim struggled with it! Back to the drawing board - I may end up just using the Serfas.

Saturday, I went back to Jim's and rode the bread ride. I pulled my hip somehow Saturday night and slept the extra hour and drove to Ride South instead of cycling over there. My hip was still sore, but I needed to ride, so off I went. I started out with Doug on his new CA2, the Paiges on tandem and Keith on an upright. We were hauling the first 20ish miles to Goshen Springs - I had a 17.5 mph ave going. I also noticed that I had no hip pain - riding outside is just theraputic! I knew I would be slowing down as we would hit the dreaded hills of 471. I don't know why I hate this series of hills so much, but I do hate them. Doug and I took off on our own at 471 and old 471 heading to Pelahatchie. I checked my average again 50ish miles and I was staying steady at 16.5 with the hills. The day was pretty with blue skies, but it was heating up quickly. After getting to the Chevron, Doug suggested we head to Shiloh park. I wasn't excited about it as I am afraid of the dogs on the hills over there. I had seen emails discussing people being bitten by these dogs and that is the last thing I need. I have always loved dogs until I realized the damage they can do to you on a bike. Now on the 'bent, my leg is "big dog level" and very easy to take a bite out of. Yikes! Anyway we head to Shiloh park without incident. The best part of the ride came when Doug showed me how to get to a gas station near Shiloh on 80. New Perm, here I come!!!

I think I had dropped to mid 15mph by mile 68, but it may have been higher than that as we had the worst of the hills and heat coming up. Doug takes me on some great back roads just past the Methodist church on Shiloh rd. We took off on Bugg road and I have no idea where we went from there, but I sure liked the roads. Very rolling fun hills. Some were steep and some were just rolling - lots of fun! We stopped at Dougs house for ice and I took off for Jims alone the final 15 miles. The ride was adventurous in that I was riding roads that I had never been on - yet they ended up connecting to some of my well traveled roads. It is neat to ride in new places that are just a turn or two off your normal routes. After the transcon, I intend to scout out more new roads.

So, I ended up averaging 15 mph for my 102 miles. Interesting, this ride had 200 ft more climbing - one climb that had a 10% grade compared to only a max of 8 on my ride last Sunday in Texas. I was able to take 2 hours off this ride. It was not quite as hot - max of 109 to max 120 which was probably the biggest difference between the two rides.

So, I am hoping for cool temps on the transcon. I really think I can ride at a decent pace in temps less than 90. I am glad I had good results on this long ride. I do think that I could have ridden much faster and pushed harder on the hills had it not been so hot on any of my last umpteen rides. But, I am ready! America - here I come!

Italy day 3 & 4 - Not What I Was Expecting

2010-06-23T21:54:00.003-05:00

Well, day 3 and 4 were very interesting to say the least.

Sharon got in late on Friday night. I really enjoy her company and we had a lot to catch up on especially all things RAW (race across the west) and RAAM (Race across America) as she had just gotten back from crewing earlier that week. We did not get to bed until really really late - after 1 am and maybe later.

I woke up with a splitting headache. I can count on one hand the number of times I have woken with a headache. It was pounding. But, I need to ride and so I get ready and get on the bike. Daniel Schaff joined us for the ride. Automatically, I could tell I was not going to have a fast day. The first 9 miles or so are a gentle incline and I was suffering. I managed to make it to 8 mph going up small inclines and maybe 12 on the downhill. My head would throb when I would try and push. Since I was not familiar with how to handle headaches on the bike, I just kept going! I told Sharon and Daniel to go without me as I was going to be too slow and it was going to be too hot - forecast 97-100 degrees. I finally made it to the first control (still had some time in the bank) and bought Tylenol. I sat outside of the store on the curb for at least 30 minutes sipping on Sustained Energy. I started feeling better. However, as I was sitting on the curb I noticed that my tire was warped. It had some sort of bump in it and was definitely looking weird. Since I have had problems with my tires - 2 catastrophic blow outs since January, I was not optimistic that this tire would last long. As I was feeling better I continued to the next control. Within 4 miles I heard the all to familiar sound of a gunshot going off behind me - the tire blew! The tire has a hole the size of my pinkie right in the middle of the rubber. I walked up the hill I was on trying to find shade to change the tire. Unfortunately, the shade was behind the fence line. I quickly change the tire - contemplating whether I should continue or go back. Since I have now had 3 catastrophic flats - 2 in one month, I was not excited about continuing alone without a spare tire. It was already hot and so I bailed. I wanted to go on, but I did not want to get stranded in the middle of no where. So, I headed back. I actually was feeling pretty good, hot, but good. The countryside was really nice with mesquite trees, cows and goats.

I made it back through Milford, TX again and here is the sign about the grouches:

I stopped at the Milford Cash Grocery for a bite to eat and some cold water. The gentleman behind the counter was one of the neatest guys. He was obviously bored and in need of company. I bought a burrito and cold water and sat and talked to the guy. I mentioned that I liked the Welcome sign. He told me that every year they nominate and elect a grouch! They get a plaque and everything!

I make it back to the hotel and get my recovery drink of chocolate recoverite mixed with a McDonald's mocha frappechino. I then took my ice bath and took a 3 hour nap! Ice baths are really good for cyclists as it helps reduce the inflammation in the legs. After talking to Michelle, my coach, she thinks that the headache may have been a precursor to heat exhaustion and she was glad that I took the ice bath to lower my core temp. It sure felt good and I normally hate the ice bath.

Sharon and Daniel end up struggling on their ride with different issues - Sharon being tired and Daniel having mechanicals and they do not finish their ride until 12am. I was able to get them Subway for supper as all the good food stores close at 11. So, once again, Sharon and I are up waaaaayyyyy too late. We were not asleep until after 2 and maybe 3.

We decided to blow off the Prairie Hill Round Up and do an unofficial Jailhouse 200k. That way we could sleep in a little and not worry about the controls. This was a good and bad decision. It was good as we were able to ride for fun and not worry about how much time we were spending at the controls. And it was bad for the same reason. Typically, I take 10 min or so at a control. Just enough time to go to the bathroom, refill my water bottles and get back on the bike. Occasionally I will sit down for a few minutes for a bite to eat, but I do try to keep moving. Well, we took at least 30 and maybe even 40 minutes at the first control. Plus, neither of us were putting up a stellar pace - we were definitely on the slow side, but we did get to talk alot.

We left the first control in Abbott and headed for Valley Mills. This is the part of the ride that I only got to ride for a couple miles yesterday. And this is the prettiest part of the ride. Oh, it was glorious. There was a lot of corn fields and the headwind was present - enough to keep me comfortable. It made me think about the movie Field of Dreams with Kevin Costner. I can tell you that I love riding my bike so much, that I don't mind riding endless miles of corn fields. Now this may change in a few weeks when we ride in the Plains! The hills were lightly rolling - very recumbent friendly and I was able to settle in and get pretty comfortable. There were no signs of yesterday's headache and although slower than I would have liked, I felt good and was having fun. Eventually, we cross the Brazos river and the terrain changes to bluffs instead of corn fields and we pass a pecan grove as well. All very serene.

About 55 miles in, Sharon and I are both getting really hot and she is really tired. We start looking for a place to stop and rest. We finally come upon the Coyote Community Center and take a 20-30 min rest on their covered patio. The breeze kept up cool as it was about 10 degrees cooler in the shade - my computer read 96 in the shade! Funny, but it 96 was much cooler than what my computer was reading in the sun (the high ambiant temp for the day ended up being 120 degrees - topping my July 4 2009 high of 118!). We both stretched and Sharon took a short power nap. I found a hose and we scavenged some water to top of our supply before we started back towards Valley Mills.

It takes us 7 hours to get to Valley Mills and I know we stayed there at least 30 minutes and probably more. Remember, since we don't have brevet cards with time cut-offs we are not paying any attention to the time. Oooppss! Before heading back we investigate a little home town grocery store. I wish I had a picture of it as it had a neat mural painted on it.

So somewhere in the next 25 miles, Sharon asks if I have my lights. I told her that I had my Dinotte, but I left my back up light in the car since we surely would not need lights on a 200k on the longest day of the year!!!! Well, Sharon had thought the same thing. She did not have any lights! At our current speed, it would take us until 10 pm to get in - 1.5 hours of dark to ride in. Not good. We discussed our options as we rode back to Abbott. One of the options and the one that made the most since was trying to hitch a ride back to Italy. It would be pretty bad for us to get back at 10 even if we still had lights as I still needed to drive back home. Yuck!

Well, Sharon started picking up speed when we hit two longish hills (or I slowed down, or both!). By the time I got to Abbott, Sharon had already picked us out a nice young guy with really colorful tats to take us back to Italy! We loaded up the bikes and DNFd an unofficial 200k!

Like I said - It was an interesting weekend! Not what I expected, but one of the more enjoyable weekends I have had. I love riding in Texas and can't wait to get back!

Italy days 1 & 2

2010-06-18T17:56:00.005-05:00

Ok, I am not promising to blog everyday on the transcon. It is not necessarily easy to do. I tried unsuccessfully last night to get signed on in my motel room. The room advertises that it has free wifi, but they lie! I am downstairs in the "lobby" which is a Grandys writing this now.

First, I should explain Italy Texas. It truly is in the middle of nowhere. The Italy Inn is probably 20 room over a Shell (Texaco?) Station. Grandys and McDonalds is on either end of the gas station and the motel is the second floor. Nothing fancy - relatively inexpensive and convenient to about 1/2 a dozen or more perms and brevets. Across the street is another convenience store, Pizza Inn, and a Subway. On the other side of the interstate, there is a Chevron with a Sonic and BBQ joint. Dairy Queen is across the street from that. Add one or two neighbor hoods and a deserted "square" and you have Italy Texas.

I got in Thursday at 3 and met George Eliozondo for the 65 mile Taste of Italy perm at 4. It was hot and windy! High close to 100 however the humidity was much lower here than it has been at home so I did not feel the heat as bad.

Took this pic of a field of sunflowers on our way to Corsicana:

The ride was pretty uneventful. I enjoyed Georges company. We had ridden together in 2007 and 2008. He just started back riding after taking a few months off. This ride was one of his first rides back in the heat so we took it slow for his acclimation and my "don't need to do too much before my 300k on Saturday". The route was gently rolling and one I wish we had in our backyard. It was very low traffic and fairly scenic. The chip seal was of the Natchez trace size and even had some smooth pavement peppered in. We saw a really nice buffalo/bison that i will try to get a pic of Sat or sun. I also could have sworn we saw a purple cow. It was tan but it in shadows it really looked lavender .

The route did have 3 miles of construction where the road was just dirt. It was actually a better surface than the 13 miles of clay pot seal on the Uncertain Times perm. However, I did slip in the loose gravel on the way back through and took a tumble. I cut my right calf and bruised my left quad, but otherwise I was okay and the bike was fine - dirty, but fine. We ended up riding an hour and a half or so in the dark getting back in at 10:20. I don't like riding at night, but Geo stayed with me and we rode pretty strong at times. It was very peaceful and I felt safe until we got within 3 miles of the end of the ride.

Today's ride was to Mt. Calm a 75 mile ride out and back to Dixie's Little Stop. This too is a ride that I would do a lot if I lived here. I rode this route with Greg "Akigreg" Gross. He rides a Rans long wheel base bent. He is much faster than I am but stayed with me for the first 1/2 of the ride. We talked about all things bike on the ride out to Mt Calm. The was in the 70s at the ride start with a pesky 20ish mph head wind almost the whole way out. The wind, hill and chip seal combo was really slowing me down. Fortunately Greg understood and was patient. We both commented that the tailwind would be nice if it weren't going to be hot on the way back. For those of you who don't know, cyclists love tailwinds except in very hot weather. The tailwind creates a vacuum and you are not provided any cooling from the wind in a tailwind. So with the temps climbing close to 100, the ride would be VERY HOT on the way back.

Dixie's is a small "Ma & Pa" store/restaurant that has been run by Miss Dixie for the last 26 years. I was fortunate to actually get to meet Dixie as she was behind the counter when we got there. Here is the pic:

Dixie's is known for their fried pies. They even have a proclamation from the State of Texas saying they had the best fried pies in Texas! I can't eat sweets on the bike in the heat, but I could not pass up buying a cherry fried pie and carrying it back with me. OMG that pie was great! I really wish I had another one right now. If you are ever out at Dixie's make sure you get a fried pie - they have a dozen or so different flavors.

I told Greg to go on back without me. I knew he was faster than me and I did not want him waiting for me in the heat. And it was hot. My computer read 115 at one point - that is the ambient temp coming off of the pavement. I could tell at times I was moving much faster, but I could also feel my skin burning. I stopped twice on the way back to put on more sunscreen and one of those times bought more water and ice. I was glad I was riding alone as I got to just look and ride. I missed this great sign - make sure you read the small print at the bottom:

Well for some reason I can't get the pic to load. I will try it again later. Anyway, it said "Welcome to Milford, Texas home of about 700 nice people and 2 or 3 grouches! LOL!

All in all the day was really good and really hot. I just hope and pray these temps don't make it up north or I am going to be in big trouble. With the wind and heat I barely averaged 13 mph which is a definition of "ride in sag van".

I am apprehensive about my 300k tomorrow. 190 miles in 100 degree heat is doable but I don't want to have Sharon waiting on me in the heat. AND I don't want to ride alone at night. I may only ride out 75 miles or so and let Sharon ride faster without me and hope that she catches back up with me before nightfall. I will be happy to finish the ride in 18 hours although I should be able to do it in 15. I just don't think 15 hrs is possible with 20+ mph winds and 100 degree heat. We will see..

Oh, since it will be late when I get in tomorrow I doubt I will blog until Sunday or Monday.

Hope yall are having nice weekends and I hope it is cooler where you are!

Playing with pictures

2010-06-13T18:21:00.000-05:00

Okay, I have a new toy for my trip. We bought a netbook. I will be taking it with me on the transcon. I hope to be able to blog daily and upload pictures to it while on the trip. I just have to learn how to do it! So I am going to practice posting pics.
Here is a pic of my 2 year old grandson, Aidan:

So that is one pic so lets see if I can post another one. Here are some pics of my trip to the Long Leaf Trail:

Llama on Long leaf Trail

Emu

Pretty flowers

Okay, that doesn't seem to hard! So lets hope I can keep up with the blog while on the trip!

Last weekend in New Orleans before the Transcon

2010-06-09T22:33:00.001-05:00

I had a marvelous weekend in New Orleans. I had a blast riding with my best rando buds. I have ridden more miles with Pat, Steve and Dennis than any other randos. I really love riding with them and this weekend was really special for me knowing that they as much as anyone have supported my crazy idea to ride my bike across America.

I told them first. It was on the New Orleans 300k in March of 2009 that I announced that I was going to do the cross country. At that point, PAC Tour had not finalized the true course and it would change multiple times over the next few months, but that did not matter. Steve and Dennis listened intently as we rode along to Sorrento. I told them worse case scenario is that I would train hard, lose weight, and just become a better cyclist. Well, it looks like I have achieved the worst case scenario and everything else is the gravy!

I completed three rides over the weekend. Friday I did the Crab Shack 100k and then added miles on the levy to get to 101. Saturday, Pat and I met Steve and 3 potentially new randos for a 107k populaire. We added enough miles for me to end up with 98 for the day. On Sunday Steve and Dennis showed up at Pat's and we did the Ponchatula 200k.

For the most part the rides were uneventful. All of the rides are on the levy at one point or another. Right now the levy is flooded and home to more different kinds of ducks and duck like birds than I have ever seen.
I have been able to" identify a couple of them. The Mississippi overflow is home to wood ducks, black bellied whistling ducks, yellow crowned night herons and many other ducks and marsh birds I still need to identify. One of my favorites is a dark blue or deep purple marsh bird with a light blue beak. I can't find this one on any of the bird identifing websites.

My Friday ride was fun and gave me 40 miles of rain - some pretty heavy. This is the first rain I have ridden in this year!

Saturday, Steve, Pat and I met 3 new randos for an intro to randonneuring 107k ride. Erin, is getting back into long distance cycling and is an accomplished touring cyclist. Sharon is new to long distance and cycling in general. This ride would be her longest ever. Evan is a young guy that can easily ride long distance and do it fast. He needs a little guidance to become a good randonneur, but I don't doubt that he is capable of doing the longer rides without a problem.

We start the ride on time and within a couple miles I hear the most awful sound a cyclist can hear. Evan went down! Fortunately, he hit the edge of the levy and fell into the grass. He had a small scrape on his elbow, but was not hurt otherwise. The fall however rolled his tire.

408 miles, 5 lamas, 2 emus and a lawn mower race'n track!

2010-06-01T21:55:00.000-05:00

What a great weekend! I guess I would define a great weekend as a weekend that no matter the challenges, you can look back on it fondly and look forward to riding again.

I will admit that there are times now that I get tired of riding my bike. There are times that I really don't want to look into the future past my Transcon to new goals. But, that said 24 hours after a weekend of riding 408 miles in 4 days, 268 of these miles completely alone, I can't wait to ride again! 39 more days before I start the Transcon. I can do this! Slowly, but I can do this! LOL!

Anyway the highlights of the weekend:

Friday rode the North Trace from my house starting at 5 am. Traffic was light. I was thinking too much at the start of the ride. When you know you have 125 miles ahead of you it is much easier not to think of the miles. It is one reason to ride with others so you don't have too much time to dwell in your own company. I intended on riding to Kosciusko and back. Much to my delight, at mile marker 130 I notice new pavement. David told me last September that the Trace would be smooth paved from mile marker 130 to 160 by year end 2010. Well, they have finally started. They have paved from mm 130 to 135 so far. The pavement from this point to mm 192 is chip seal. Not Texas chip seal mind you - baby bottom smooth in Texas definition chip seal, but teeth rattling nasty chip seal by a Mississippians definition. The distraction of the new pavement really made me feel great. As I approached the construction I decided to turn around and not mess with the guys working. Plus, I did not want tar junk on my bike. I also had no desire to ride over chewed up chip seal as the road was ground up for a couple miles. The day was very uneventful from that point. I rode to mm 105 and then back to mm 135 and then home. At the bike trail at mile 124, I was at a 15.7 ave and had an elapsed time of 9 hr and 4 min. This is an unofficial PR for me for this distance!

Saturday I got up and rode over to Ride South to meet the bent riders for the bread ride. Jim does a good job getting variously skilled cyclist riding their bikes. It is mostly for bents,but a fair number of diamond frames show up too. He makes a couple loaves of bread that are ready for us when we get back in - complete with syrup, and different jellies.

I could tell that I did not have the recovery I would have liked from the night before, but I wanted to get in as many miles with other people as possible. I rode the better part of the first 30 miles with Bill Mendenhall. I think he is on a Corsa, but I could be wrong. He and I match up really well and I hope that we can ride some more in the future. I hope to talk him into doing more distance too. He works alot, and we all know that work can really interfere with cycling. At about mile 30 I broke off with a Diamond Frame, Brian, to get extra miles. Brian is a former racer and a great young guy. He could have had 200 miles to my 90 miles in the time it was taking me on the hills. He wanted extra miles and to ride with someone and although I was slower than he was, he was patient and rode with me. The neatest thing about our ride is that he took me down a new road and pointed out a LAWN MOWER RACING COURSE!!! Only in Mississippi. I would really like to see it in action. Well, not really, but it was pretty interesting. On the way back to Jim's, I ran out of water. In the heat this was not very good. I cut my ride short to get the water and was probably dehydrated. This may have affected my Sunday ride. Great day, great friends, great roads, great bread with strawberry jam!

Sunday I got up early to head to the Long Leaf trail in Prentiss, MS. It is a rails to trails that runs from Prentiss to Hattiesburg - 40 miles one way. I wanted to do it twice. I was not feeling very good from the time I got up. I wanted to leave at 5 and left at 5:20. I wanted to be on the bike at 7 and was on the bike at 7:30. I was very tired and just did not have any energy. I knew it was going to be a tough day. Less than 25 miles into the ride I became nauseated. I battled with the upset stomach to Hattiesburg where I was able to buy Cheez-its, one of my favorite on the bike foods. By mile 60, I was feeling much better. It was getting hot, but I no longer felt sick. One of the greatest parts of the ride was the Llamas and emus. There is a farm with the odd creatures that I have passed a few times before. The animals/birds have always been too far out to really get a good look at. On my way back past the farm there were several llamas right at the fence line and an emu walking toward me curiously! Really neat!

Once back to the ride start I unpacked my picnic lunch of cold chicken pasta, cantaloupe and grape soda. I started drinking the grape sodas last weekend in Texas, don't know why they give me energy, but boy a cold grape soda tastes great. The whole lunch was fabulous! The rest of the ride was uneventful. I knew with my sluggishness at the beginning of the ride that I could not get my 160 miles but I stayed on the bike until 7:30 for a full 12 hour day. I was really pleased that I did not go mental, figured out my nausea and overcame it and picked up speed over the last 50 miles. However, when I got home I just knew my legs were shot and I did not know how I would ride on Monday. I just needed 40 miles for my 400.

So, Monday, I had planned on meeting Diane back out at Jim's for the Memorial Day ride. I was really excited about riding with her. We hadn't ridden together since the Friday before 3 State and I was looking forward to riding with her again. Right off the bat I rode off and realized I did not have my helmet on. Dianne and Bard waited for me since we were the only ones doing the longer ride around the rez. I rushed back for my helmet and then we were off. I immediately noticed that I felt great. My legs were rested and only on some of the hills were they sore. I would have still be slower than Friday, but most likely faster than Sunday on the ride had I been going all out. Fortunately, I just planned on riding until noon for my 40 miles and to ride with Dianne. She is really getting back into her pre-broken leg form. It won't be long before she will be spanking me up the hills again! We ended up on the new bike trail that now makes a nice 11 mile loop on the Rankin county side of the Spillway. Very nice! As I only had 36 miles at the end of the loop, Dianne graciously stayed out and rode the loop with me to get my 48 miles. What a great day!

So, 408 miles for the weekend, 1196 miles for the month and 3135 for the year. Sad thing is that I have 3135 miles for the year and the Transcon will do 3410 miles in 30 days! So in 5 months I still have not ridden the miles I will do in one month!!! Yikes!!!

Fleas and Trees 200k

2010-05-26T15:07:00.002-05:00

So, after finishing my Uncertain Times 200k, I head to Canton TX to meet Sharon and Jeri for the Fleas and Trees 200k. We were all sharing a motel room - think girls slumber party and instead of talking about guys all we talked about was cycling and cycling related stuff like food and supplements and good neat stuff like that!

We left 20 min or so before the ride start and met about a dozen others in the parking lot. Dan and Gary were doing the 300 and the rest of us were doing the 300. There were 4 recumbents - all CA2s! Peggy and Steve Petty, Daniel Schaff and mine. It was neat to see how everyone's bike was set up. I want to change my light mount and get a one armed bandit and also consider adding another water bottle mount and a head rest. The other riders were Sharon and Jeri, Richard, Mark M. Well, that is only 10 people, my apologies if I am forgetting anyone.

We hit a hill right off the bat. I am not fond of routes that have hills on the get go. No time to warm up! However, I get caught up quickly as there was a navigational issue! After yesterday's navigational challenge, I am convinced that today's short cue sheet would be much easier to follow. I was lucky to recognize that we had a quick right turn before a 12 mile leg. Just about everyone missed this cue. So, as they checked it out, I turned and Jeri and I were now in the lead - HA! I did not stay in the lead for long!

The first part of the route had small rollers. My legs were a little tired from yesterday and I figured I would need my 15 miles to warm up. I did get to ride with a handful of others but as I slowed on some of the hills, the pack moved on without me. However I could still see Sharon, and I thought Daniel, ahead of me in the distance. I was able to get some power and a good downhill to catch up with them to find out it was Peggy and not Daniel with Sharon! Oh how fun! Peggy is one of the better bent riders that will one day do RAAM as a team. She has ridden in Sebring and the Hill Country 600k and is a really good cyclist. I sure wish I could ride with her strength as I know I could do the full Transcon with her speed and power.

The ride for the most part was very uneventful. I wish I had my camera as it was beautiful. Picture long relatively smooth roads (baby bottom smooth for Texas, light chip seal for Mississippi) lined with gorgeous black eyed Susans. There were several farms along the way with cows, horses and donkeys. At one intersection there were several horses kicking up their hills and running and playing. On another farm there were precious colts/fillies running alongside their mothers. Another farm we saw an albino Turkey! It was not a goose or a swan, so what else could it have been?

As we ride, we are talking. This is so foreign to me! I ride mainly with guys since Dianne broke her leg. It has been over a year since I have ridden with Slow Spokes, so I am in cycling heaven riding with two girls that could have left me for dead hours ago. Neither really wanted to push the envelope today and were content riding slower on my behalf. We talked about nutrition, and other rides and other friends and Pac Tour.

Eventually we hit the substantial rollers on the route. As my bike computer is still not working I don't know what grades we are climbing, but they felt like they were in the 6% area (after the ride, Steve checked his garmin and said that there were several in the 10% range). I did start falling behind on the longer rollers. It was getting hot and I was still having problems with both my front and rear derailleurs. I could not get my rear to stay in my 32 tooth and my front would shoot over the top and hang on the crank arm if I did not catch it properly. I know this was hurting my speed as just waiting for the chain to make it to the big ring the others would be a few bike lengths further ahead of me. Then having to stop to put my chain back on the ring caused me to loose more ground. I know it sounds minor, but doing that over and over had to have caused me to loose more ground than me just being slow! I did not get angry or anything, I just hope when my new shifters come in they will fix these problems. About that time I hear the dreaded gunshot. This time I know exactly what has happened even before all the air has leaked out of my tire. The rear tire has exploded and is shredded for about 2 inches. All I can do is smile, as earlier in the day I took my spare tire out of my bag to leave in the car and then I changed my mind! So I have a used, but not shattered wheel to put on my bike. For those of you that aren't cyclists, we always carry extra tubes, but only recently have I started carrying extra tires! I am lucky that someone passing me alerts Sharon and Peggy that I have a flat and they turn around and come get me. By the time they get to me, I am rolling the tire over the rim of the wheel. Peggy wants to practice putting the back wheel on so I let her. It probably took more like 15 minutes to change the entire tire, but I was still pleased that I can do it and had the spare tire to use.

About 5 miles from the turn around, Steve, Daniel, and Mark pass us. This puts them about 10 miles ahead of us. We finally make it to the turn around and are only a hour or so ahead of time. Sharon asks if I would like to share a burger even though I normally just do Hammer products. I emphatically say yes as my dinner did not stay with me and my Hammer is hot and gross! We cycle up a block and go into Swimmers, a local hamburger joint. Although the restaurant is very slow and it eats into are slim margin of a lead, the three of us are ecstatic to stop and eat on a brevet and we continue are conversations of RAAM, RAW and all things cycling. The burgers were great and hit the spot!

I head out a little before Sharon and Peggy knowing that I would be slower than they are. It takes them 5 miles to catch me which made me feel pretty good. But, we were heading into the substantial rollers and it is really really hot now. After a while I top a roller and Sharon and Peggy are waiting for me in the shade. As I roll by, I tell them it is too hot for them to wait for me and to keep going. We ride together for a roller or two and then they continue to put space between us. Several miles down the road I pass them waiting for me again. I tell them again not to wait, but at this point the worst of the rollers are over and I am able to keep up with them better. There are still times I get dropped, but I was able to keep up better. We continue our conversations and they genuinely seem happy to be riding slower and don't mind riding with me.

We stop in Mineola for an unscheduled break at a gas station. Fortunately for us there aren't many people in the gas station as we make it our personal rest stop. We each get something to eat and drink and take up residence on the floor of the first aisle. About the time we get comfortable, Peggy's husband Steve and Daniel drive up. They are finished with the ride and have back tracked looking for us. Now, we have a party! We all tell our stories of the days ride. Jeri apparently had a tough day and had turned around early. Richard had overheated and stopped to stand in someones sprinkler. We laughed at that as when we all went by the yard being watered we all wanted to get out and run through the sprinkler! We commented that we were surprised that Gary and Dan had not passed us yet since we stopped for an hour for lunch and low and behold, they pull up and join our rando party!

We all take off shortly for the 30 miles back to the ride start. It has cooled down some and the roads are not as hilly. We continue our conversations and realize that Sharon and Susan Reed have just started emailing each other about food allergies. It is truly amazing to me how small our "rando/ultra cycling" family is. We all know someone who knows someone we know!

Sharon comments that she sees my progress, but asks if I am truly ready for my Transcon. I have to answer that I know I am not fast enough. I know that it will be a struggle. My goal it to ride everyday and sag if I have to. I want to have a good attitude through the whole ride regardless of the challenges I have to face. I hope to get to see the neat things along the way and take pictures and experience the United States of America by bike. I hope that my endurance will help me through the days and days of riding and that the faster people won't be as fast every day. There are only 6 days of climbing over 5000 ft and I hope that I can ride strong on those days and keep up on the days with less climbing. Regardless, I have been blessed with the opportunity to take this trip. A 30 day pass to ride my bike! No, I am not going to be as fast as I wish I were, but it doesn't matter as long as I do my best and have fun doing it! PACTour Northern Transcon here I come!

Thank you Sharon and Peggy for a delightful day on the bike. I will always remember this day as a great cycling day!

Uncertain Times 200k

2010-05-26T12:38:00.000-05:00

Here is my ride report for my ride Friday in Longview, TX. I will post a report for Saturday later.

I left work at 4 pm Thursday afternoon to drive to Longview, TX. It is only 4.5 hours from the house. I figured I would do the ride alone as no one had come out with a firm commitment and as I suspected all the maybes turned to nos by the time I left work. That was okay and I was not upset about riding alone. I knew I would get to ride with Sharon on Saturday. I believed she would ride with me and keep me company on our ride, so mentally I was okay riding alone on Friday. Plus it had been a long time since I had ridden a new route alone and had to do all of the navigation. I was looking forward to it actually.

I got to the Motel after 10:00 and was in bed by 12:00 - later than I would have liked, but my ride was set up for 7 am, so I would get a decent amount of sleep. At the ride start, I notice that my bike computer had crapped out. The last two weekends the display started fading out. You could still see the display, but it was really light. I tried to trouble shoot it but once I got the computer inside, it worked properly and I could not figure out what was wrong. The battery was only 3 months old. So, here I am at the start of a solo 200k on a route I have never ridden (nor had anyone else) without a bike computer. Great! Fortunately, I had brought my Garmin. The only problem with it was it was supposed to be for back up only. I have not used it in 2 years since I have been doing routes that I know or routes that were marked and sagged. So, I kinda forgot how to use it properly as a bike computer and not a gps unit. I could not have made it without the gps portion of the unit.

Right off the bat, I make a mistake. The cue sheet said to cross HWY 259 and continue east on Bar K Ranch Rd. I assumed the road I needed was at the light. However, there was another road parallel to the road at the light that I did not see. So, fortunately, the next cue should have been at mile 1.4. As I did not have a working computer, I had no idea how fast or far I was going. I reached an intersection that did not match the next cue, so I stopped to check the Garmin. I was not on the right road. Although in total it was only 4 miles, it took me 36 minutes to get back on the right course. I ended up going with school traffic and that slowed me down drastically. So, I now try not to go mental with a 36 minute "penalty" and 126 miles and 7000 ft of climbing to go. Fortunately for me the route is beautiful and has a lot of turns so I am paying attention and not thinking too much! The first 27 miles have a good mix of rollers, shade, lightly traveled roads and great scenery. I get to the first control and I am up 1.5 hours. Wow! I did much better than I would have thought! Locals at the control were very nice and very curious - probably stayed at the control longer than I should have as I was having a good conversation with all the older gentlemen on the porch of the store. This control was in Uncertain, TX. A very pleasant community near Lake of the Pines. I would like to go back one day and stay in the cabins. Headed out as the temps started to climb.

The cue sheet became less detailed at this point. I really had not picked up on that fact, but truly the cue sheet started lacking details. It was completely missing a cue at one point. Fortunately with the gps and common sense I was able to figure out which way to go. I know I was on course as I could stop and remove my computer to see the elapsed miles. Made a non-control stop to make sure I had plenty of water. I was really getting hot now. Came to the first cue that was incorrect. It gave detailed directions to turn on old hwy 729 and that the road was unmarked. Well, the directions appeared to be for old Hwy 726, but was there an old 729 up the road further? Fortunately, a check of the gps revealed that there did not seem to be an old hwy 729. I continued for the several miles mapped and came to a corresponding cue and decided I was right to turn on old 726 instead of trying to find 729. Come to another missing cue and surmise after much deliberation which way to go. Rolled through very pretty country side with nice lakes and fishing opportunities. The traffic has been very light all day. Finally made it to the control just up an hour now. At the control, I am very hot and very hungry. Hotter than I have been in a long time. As I am debating on what I can eat/drink that won't make me nauseated, I see a grape Nehi! Oh, I have not had a grape Nehi in years! I can't wait to open it. I pour it over ice and take a big refreshing gulp. Oh, it was soooo good!

The first cue out of this control is wrong. It says to veer right when it should have been veer left. The road becomes awful. It would best be described as paved dirt or Shattered Clay Pot Chip Seal. There are truly large pieces of broke clay pots imbedded into the chip seal. The terrain is steep short rollers. The downhills are bone jarring and actually vibrate my headlight loose. I stop to fix the light when this pack of angry wolverines, erh, dauchsands rush me nipping at my hills. I can't get my light tightened while doing the doggie dance, so I jump back on the bike to try and drop the weenie dogs cursing all the way. It is at this point I get to another "missing cue" when I realize that I am on Nasturtium street instead of CR 1649! I am pretty certain that I know that the original cue sending me down this way was wrong. But, I don't want to have to face the Cujo/dachsands on my back to retracing my steps. I also try to find the best way back on course. The road I am currently on was not even on the GPS, so finding my way back would be a challenge. Fortunately, a lady drives up and I wave her down and she points me in the right direction. I don't think I am too far off of my original route nor have I added many if any bonus miles. I finally get back out to 1649 but have to now decide what direction to turn to stay on course. Fortunately, I choose correctly and continue to the next control without incidence, or so I thought. Apparently, on a long fast descent I loose my cue sheet. I still have 17 miles to get back to the control - yikes!

So at the control when I realize I have lost my cue sheet, I comb the store looking for where I may have misplaced it. It is no where to be found. I start trying to figure out how I am going to get back to the ride start. I think about calling Sharon or George but decide that is probably not going to help and then I realize I have my trusty GPS unit programmed! So, I start out for the last 17 miles of the ride.

It is on the next 13 miles or so that I decide that I am tired of being on the bike and only because of the absolutely awful road surface. Once again I am on "paved dirt". There are huge chunks of rock and "clay pot" dotting the road. It is impossible to hold a line and the large rock and pot holes are bouncing me everywhere. I pray to God that the road surface on the transcon is not like this. If so, I won't make it far. I was very worried that I would completely ruin my wheels and maybe even my frame the ride was so rough. I sure wish I had wider tires for this part of the route. On the pleasant side, the road is completely shaded and the scenery is nice. I finally get off of the paved dirt roads and hit just normally Texas boulder seal. What an appreciation I now have for the nice smooth boulder seal surface - never again will I complain!!! BTW, those of you that have ridden the north Natchez Trace chip seal or the chip seal surface of the spillway bike trail, if you hate those roads, do not even think about riding in Texas!

I finally pull up to the final control/ride start and I am very pleased. It has taken me 12 hours and 45 min. 1 hour and 45 min longer than I had hoped. However, I started 30 min late from my first navigational mistake and I am guessing I had an hour of navigation slowness trying to make sure I am on the right course. Additionally, the course had 7000+ feet of climbing. I really don't know where the climbing came from as I would have guessed that the route only had 4000-5000 ft of climbing.

Great ride, Great scenery, Great adventure, and only mild discomfort from the crappy paved dirt roads!

Better weekend - May 14-16

2010-05-26T12:37:00.000-05:00

Had a pretty good weekend - a few ups and downs, but as I sit here I feel good about it.

Thursday - I blew off my drills thinking I would be doing a 200 on Fri and 300 on Sat. Plus my inlaws were in town. The guest room was clean, but the "randonneur sleep over" room was not. So I cleaned it up in anticipation that I would have a friend spending the weekend riding with me. Thursday night she called and cancelled - bummer!

Friday - I rode my Roosevelt 200k completely alone and had my best 200 time ever - 9 hr 52 min. This is about 30 min faster than my best time on this route and almost 2 hours faster than my Jan time (I did have a flat in Jan). It was really hot the entire ride, but I just rode my bike and had a good time. I was very pleased to finally have a 200k come in under 10 hrs.

Saturday - everything was screwed up from the get go. I was pissed that I had to ride alone. Sometimes I just get tired of myself on these long rides. As I am loading my car to go out to a new route at 6 am, I notice my dog is acting very funny - well miserable. I believe she is sick so I stay home and wait for the vet clinic to open at 9 am. While at the vet (dog has infection and although still miserable is on meds and will be okay), my daughter calls and needs help. I am still in the bike clothes I dressed in at 6am, but I go help her. 2:30 I finally head out to the ride start just hoping to ride until dark. I get there to realize I don't have my cap. I have to wear a cap for the visor under my helmet. It helps to keep the sun (and rain) out of my eyes on the bent. Oh well, I ride without it. 3 miles into the ride it starts raining cats and dogs (come to find out I am in a yellow band of rain on weather channel). It is raining so hard that I can't see through my glasses and I can't keep my eyes open in the rain without the glasses. I only make it two more miles before I decide to hell with it and head to the car. That was the hardest rain I have ever ridden in and was very glad to get out of it after only 8 miles. Thought about riding from the house after the rain died down, but by the time I got home I was done. I did put my two Dallas routes for next weekend into my Garmin. That should help save time next week. I am disappointed that I only rode 10 miles, but it just wasn't happening.

Sunday - met Nancy my triathlete friend on the south trace for a ride. It is supposed to start to rain at any minute, so I am prepared with my cap, rain jacket, arm and leg warmers. She only needed to do 50 miles and a 1 hour run so we parked the cars and did a 25 mile out and back. We did that leg in 16.4 mph. She then started her run and I went back out for another 50. About 10 miles into my ride it starts raining - yes! I wanted to make up for yesterday and get a good couple hours rain riding in. However, the rain is light and only lasts 2 or 3 miles tops. I keep my jacket on knowing it will start back and downpour soon. I get to my turn around still with no more rain. I take my jacket off knowing that as soon as I do, it will start raining again. Dang it, I rode the entire 100 miles with only a slight 3 mile rain. Darn, I was ready for it too. I did the second 50 in 15.7 mph. I don't know what time we started for sure, but I think I did the whole 102 miles in 7 hours or less. While riding with my friend, we did not pace each other, but did "intervals" up the hills where I would try to stay with her. We would also play "rabbit" where one of us would go out in front a ways and the other had to chase. I pushed pretty hard with her on the hills. My legs were heavy at the start like always, but then they would warm up pretty good. I tried to push myself while I was riding alone, and although I was pleased with my average, it still wasn't as fast as with her. I would have ridden longer but David wanted to go to the movies later in the afternoon

Surprising, I feel great right now. My legs are slightly tired, but don't hurt. I have a lot of energy without having anything out of the ordinary to give me a spark.

Next weekend I will be doing 2 back to back 200s. The first will have over 7000 ft of climbing - all rollers - not sure how long or steep or anything, but all rollers. The second 200 will also be a lot of rollers, but not as intense as the first days. Not sure what the feet climbing will be. I will want to ride Sunday afternoon, but I don't know how much time I will have.

Mental Weekend May 7th and 8th

2010-05-26T12:31:00.001-05:00

Well this weekend is coming to a close. I am tired and hope to be in bed by 9.

I have been really short on sleep so Thursday night I decided to sleep in an extra hour before getting up Friday morning and driving to Vicksburg. This meant I would only have time for 3 loops in the park. None of the laps were stellar. I was tired on the first lap, had the best results on the second lap and felt the best on the third lap, but by then there was more traffic in the park and I did not get the benefit of any of the fast downhills. This is good training though as it is harder to start the climbs with a dead start to a rolling start. My legs felt good, but I am just generally tired - not getting enough sleep. The temps hit 91 on the third lap and I remembered how tough it is to climb in heat. Since the weather is so whack right now, it will be interesting to see if it is hot on the Transcon or not. I should be heat acclimated better than most.

I drove down to NOLA at 3 pm. I was really excited as I haven't ridden with my NOLA bent buds, Pat, Steve and Dennis since February. I was really excited about showing them how strong and fast I had gotten. The route was Franklinton our 4500 ft 200k that I have done several times. It is one of my favorites, but also one of my most challenging. Why it gives me problems, I don't know. We rode the route in reverse for the first time and I liked it, but with all my training I expected to kick butt. My expectations were to ride with Pat, and push the pace. All 4 of us wanted to do the route in less than 10 hours and I really thought if the conditions were right, we could possibly pull off a sub 9 hour ride. I really thought I would be so fast and so strong.

Well, I fell off the pace in the first 5 miles. I just did not have a lot of energy. I think it was more from lack of sleep (4-6 hr) a night for the last week than from my ride on Friday. I really rode bad. I stayed mental for the first 70 miles. I would try to snap out of it, but it would not last for very long. I doubt that I am truly fast enough for this tour! I am afraid Susan will want to sag me every day! It was awful. I would go over all my positive sayings that normally motivate me - but nothing was working. Plus, the temperatures were climbing into the 90s. It takes a bit to get used to how your body feels in the heat. I really don't know what is worse, the cold or the heat. Probably the cold as I will still ride no matter how hot it gets. We finally stopped for lunch at mile 70 and I decided to eat (I normally stick with Hammer all day). I had jambalaya (we were in LA and I can't pass it up) probably only 1/2 a cup but it was delicious! That was the kick in the pants I needed. I rode very well for the rest of the day. I hung on in the paceline on the 8 mile flat but windy section and stayed in decent range on some of the longer rollers. At the last control,at mile 106, I bought a payday and ate it instead of sipping on the SE and it gave me another spark. The guys weren't ready to leave when I was, so I got to play rabbit which is my favorite thing to do on a ride. I held them off for only 5 or 6 miles, but it felt good. I even charged a hill so they would not pass me until the top. I paid for the sprint, but my mind was back where it needed to be. I was having fun again! We did the route in 10 hr 28 min. This was the first time we did it in reverse, so we have no true comparison, but we did it 20 minutes faster than our best time on the original route.

I know I will have bad days on tour. I know I will have to sag - hopefully not too much. I just want to go out and have fun. Yesterday was a good day as it was the first of two rides with climbing of 4300 and 4900 ft back to back in a while (I don't think our climbing was that bad back to back at camp). I did deal with mental for the first time in a while. I rode two days in temps that reached 90+ and remembered all the things you have to adjust and deal with in the heat. I got in 126 miles and ended up with a positive memory of the day!

I guess I will have a lot of mental days between now and the Transcon. I guess I will just have to deal with it when it comes up. It is too late now to back out as I have paid for it in full and my travel insurance won't cover cold feet!

One of the things I keep in the back of my mind is an interview of one of the contestants on Biggest Loser. She was a 300 lb 20ish year old talking to her mother before she started the show. She turned to her mother and asked, "What if I can't do it?" Her mother paused and then answered, "What if you can?" That has really stuck with me.

We don't know what we are capable of if we don't reach for our dream.

3 Geographical Regions 3 Substantial Inclines (3 States 3 Mountains)

2010-05-02T17:36:00.001-05:00

I had an absolute blast on this ride! Just like last weekend, watching the weather forecast was a no-no! They had it completely wrong! Supposedly there was a 70% chance of all day thunderstorms. I needed the rain riding/descending experience so I decided to go ahead and do the ride anyway. Well, it did not rain one drop and it never threatened. It was very humid and I was as wet with sweat as I would have been had it rained, but it never rained. I am not looking at any more weather reports before rides!

I was impressed that there were several recumbents on this ride. Not sure how many did the whole 100, but there were at least 6 bents all of which would have had to go up and over Suck Creek Mtn which is a 6 mile climb. One of the bents was Shannon from South Louisiana. He and I met on the bacchetta web site. Additionally Chattanooga goes all out for the cyclist on this ride. They have police at all lights and major intersections the entire ride. They even covered a section of diagonal railroad with a thick rubber mat to keep the cyclist from wrecking on the tracks!

I was very pleased that I was able to get up and over Suck Creek without stopping. I was worried about making the time cut-off for the 100 miles so I did not stop at the rest stops except to fill my water bottles. There are a lot of easy rollers between Suck Creek and the cut off, so I made it to the split without a problem. I was definitely in the back of the pack, but comfortably at the front of the back!

Sand Mtn was a bit more challenging than Suck Creek. It is only 2.8 miles but it is nothing but switch backs. A couple of the switchbacks were really difficult to maneuver as you had to make a really sharp turn at a much steeper incline. The first sharp left hand turn, I just could not muscle up and ended up almost falling over. The next really sharp right hand turn I would have made it up except that a car decided to pass me ON THE TURN WHILE I WAS TURNING! I realized that if I kept going I was going to get hit as there was not 3 inches much less 3 ft between us. As the car began to pass and I came off the bike I hollered in frustration apparently loud enough for the driver to hear me as it was only then he stopped to make sure he had not hit me! Jerk! After that incident I was able to finish the mtn without a problem.

The next 20 miles are my favorite. Nice rollers, nice pavement. And then you get to the foot of Burkhalter Gap. There is no roll into this mountain. There is no roll into any of the mountains, but you have to come to a complete stop at a stop sign before heading up this bad boy. I was able to climb part of it and I walked part of it. I am pleased that I have gotten pretty good at starting back on a steep incline. I don't know if I will ever be able to ride over the top of the darned thing, but I will definitely try again next year! The final 15 or so miles is also just rollers ending with a scary fast downhill with lots of traffic. I have gotten better and more comfortable at descending - thank goodness for x-eyed brakes too!

So which ride is harder? Cheaha or 3 State? I am not really sure, they are both really challenging. Cheaha has steeper climbs more along the likes of Burkhalter, but you can roll into most of the climbs. The really long sustained climbs at 3 State were very tiring. Cheha's climbing is concentrated in the middle 50 or 60 miles whereas the worst climb of 3 state is at mile 80. So, I think I need to try them both again next year before I make my decision!

It is best not to watch weather reports.../Vicksburg

2010-04-24T13:01:00.003-05:00

So I am sitting in my pajamas waiting out a stupid tornado warning. It has rained lightly on and off and is very windy. The weather forecasters have been making it out to be just a horrible, we are all going to be blown away kind of day. Even on the national news they talked about how rare the system is that is blowing through today. Well, here at my house, it doesn't look like it is doing anything. The only good thing about it is that I got to sleep in and spend some quality time with David.

Yesterday I went to Vicksburg with Doug and did 4 loops of the Military Park. Not sure how good this is or if it is actually a little depressing, but I did 4 laps in the military park today before the rain/lightening/threat of tornadoes drove us home. Easily could have done 1 and probably 2 more laps. I did 3 laps in July of last year. My best lap in July was at an average of 11.9 mph. My best lap today was at 13.1 mph. With the 4 laps I did today, I had just over 60 miles and 5600 ft of climbing. Each loop is just under 16 miles and has 1400 ft of climbing. My average HR on my best lap today was 139 where as my HR on my best loop in July was 155. I am disappointed as we were hoping to do at least 5 laps but decided to quit when it started raining/lightening/tornadoing so I did not have a bust it open lap. The second lap, my best, I got stuck behind a bus and Doug didn't so I spent the loop trying to catch up with him.

But, even though it is just a 1 mph improvement, I feel good - especially since I did 6500 ft of climbing on Sunday. I really wish I had a power meter because, I really think I was riding with more power on each lap. Maybe that isn't true, as I know I slowed down on the 3rd and 4th laps, but I think it was more because I was planning on riding 5 or 6 loops or until the tornadoes came, so I was some what just riding to ride and not pushing it.

Cheaha Challenge!!!

2010-04-24T12:54:00.002-05:00

So, after a really crappy week the weekend turned out being a lot of fun. David could not leave for B'ham until Saturday morning and Brooke had a test she was still getting ready for Friday night, so we did not leave until Saturday at 6 am.

I wasn't able to start my ride until 12:00. I found a park in Birmingham that ended up being a 17 mile loop with 1053 ft climbing on each loop. I only had time to do 2 loops. It had several short 4-7% climbs. Nothing hard, but a good safe loop until I can find some people to ride with in B'ham.

Sunday was spectacular! Part of me is disappointed in the fact that I was too slow to complete the whole course. They closed the last 12 miles at noon and I got there at 12:06. It was probably good as it would have taken at least 1.5 hours to do the 12 miles and we did not get home until midnight as it was. My speed is a huge issue on climbs. Over 88 miles I averaged 11.8 mph my total time was 8 hours. BUT there was 6500+ ft of climbing over the 88 miles. For the first 44 miles there was 4000 ft of climbing! This is 2500 ft more than any day in Arizona. Many and I mean MANY of the climbs were 1-2 miles at 10-14%. This is what my bike computer said. The roadies insisted that it was much higher than 14% in spots.

So, I really am stoked overall! I climbed 12-14% grades on a recumbent! Okay, I did have to walk on several occasions. It was just too steep. But I did climb 12-14% grades - not the entire climb, but a significant portion of it. I am going to see if I can download the info to see just how much I was able to climb at those grades. Additionally I am still having FD issues and it caused me to have to walk when it shifted on its own at a 12% grade. There were a ton of 9-10% grades and I did not walk them unless they were at the top of a 12%+ grade I was already walking. I could not re-mount the bike at 9% but could at 7%.

Once again, I got a lot of funny looks and wise cracks about riding a recumbent. I just answered that I wanted a challenge and this ride was the best I could come up with! By the end of the ride, I had impressed several roadies, especially when I would pass them on a climb. There were some significant rollers that I would try and bomb and would be able to scream past some of them. A couple times I was able to out climb a roadie pedal stroke for pedal stroke! BTW, I did reach 50 mph on one hill and tried not to feather my breaks too much. On the 3 mile downhill with the 14% grade, I was pretty nervous and feathered the breaks often.

The funniest thing was on the hardest climb. You were climbing at 9-10% and could not see the top as the road curved. Once you made the curve all you could see was road straight up. Lining this road was at least a dozen uprights walking. Funniest sight I had ever seen! Of course, I could not make it up either, but it sure was a sight to see all the uprights. I am guessing that stretch was 12-14% or more. It was very difficult to push the bike up the hill.

Anyway, my climbing yesterday was more than all but 4 days of the PAC Tour. The first has 5690 ft (Stevens Pass), the 10th and 11th day have 6,200 and 7,300 ft (big horns), the 26, 27, 28 have 6,600, 9500, 9000 respectively (Appalachians). Now, just to work on the speed in which I climb and being able to make it up the 12% without walking.

I do want to mention that I was walking 6% grades on the Natchez Trace trip this past October. 6% are easy, slow, but easy.

So, I will really want to go over there again and do hill repeats. If I can get better/faster at the 12% then PAC tour should be a slam dunk! Okay, realistically, it will still be really hard, but I can do it!

Ridgeland Century Ride and New Century PR

2010-04-24T12:47:00.002-05:00

Copied email to my coach:

"OMG!!! Have no idea what my best century time was but it wasn't 6:22!! Ride time was 5:59! LOL!!! 23 min off bike!!! 16.75 ave! Ave cad 81 max 108! Ave HR 150 Max 180!! Spent 13 min 48 sec above 165!

WHOO HOO!! I drafted probably 50-60 miles and rode alone 40-50. Tried to stay in a paceline, but I only wanted to stop at the 25 mile rest stop, 50 mile and 75 mile rest stops. So I would lose my pace line at times. Worked really hard and my legs got more tired than normal after 75 miles. I am very pleased though!"

It was a really good ride and I was very pleased. I rode with a couple ladies from Oxford - Carol Livingston is an avid rider and I hope to meet up with her again. I had seen Carols picture on bike journal and recognized her since she was wearing an Oxford jersey.

Interestingly, I was more tired for several days after this ride. I would compare it to the fatigue I suffer on a longer over night ride like a night time 200 or a 400.

I hope to see faster century times in the future!

March 27 - Ride South Signiture Ride

2010-04-24T12:24:00.005-05:00

Well, I haven't blogged in a while - it is hard to find time to sit down and put my thoughts on paper. I typically email my coach pretty quickly after a ride and should just edit the email and post it.

So, what have been doing since my last post?

March 27th Ride South Signature Ride - My bike came in on Friday in time for it to be put back together for the Recumbent Rally. We had some 40ish recumbents show for one launching or another of this ride. I knew I could not start with the guys doing the 115 mile route as I would be red lining all day long. I decided to do the 80 mile ride (a 40 mile out and back on the rail trail), convincing myself that I could keep my HR below 130. I made arrangements to ride with Beth, a Corsa rider that really has a competitive spirit. So, I failed miserably keeping my HR below 130 :( There were 3 of us doing the 80 mile start that dropped the others in the matter of 1 mile. The two in front of me were in my sight for the first 3 rolling hill miles and I just could not stop myself from catching up with them. I know my HR was too high, but I felt really good. My legs were a little tired to start, but I was glad to be back on the bike. One of the guys and I ended up being very well matched and we rode the whole 40 miles together talking and only drafting off each other when others were coming towards us and we needed to drop to single file. We averaged 16 mph while I was trying to keep my HR below 150. Although my HR seemed high, my PE was lower.

At the turn around the entire group met for lunch and I met up with Beth. She has potential and a lot of fire to keep up and not be dropped. She reminds me of myself several years back, well maybe even just a year back! She wanted to start before the mass start after lunch as she did not want to be the last one in. Since this was the one place everyone would gather, they wanted everyone to stay for pictures and start together. Of course, all of the fast guys had made it, including one of the owners of the company that makes my bike, John Schlitter (first to finish solo RAAM on a bent). So, I went out with the fast guys for 3 or 4 miles at 20+ (26 at a point)mph red lining most of the time! Boy it was fun! I knew I could not keep it up so I turned around and met Beth and her husband Johnny and rode in with her. I had a great time. I did get my HR lower for most of the ride, we had a headwind (if you could call it that) that made us work harder (ha).

John Schlitter, Greg Hammer, and me in Prentiss

Beth and I somewhere on the Longleaf Trace

Reflections of the week

2010-03-28T15:02:00.002-05:00

Wow! I can't believe I did it! It really amazes me how much fun this past week was. With just over 100 days left before my cross country, I am feeling like I can truely do it!

So, what do I need to improve upon?

1. Speed, I am still too slow. I think with proper time management at the rest stops, I can keep up with the end of the main pack. However, if I can improve by 2 mph I would have more time to take pictures and stop at the rest stops as necessary.

2. Climbing - probably goes hand and hand with the speed. If I can climb faster I can keep from falling way behind.

3. Balance - I am sure I will be blown all over the road at one time or another. Developing better balance will allow me to keep from having to start over after being blown around.

4. Decending - if I was more comfortable coming down a mountain, I can gain much more time on my upright counterparts. I was passed by way too many uprights on the downhills. This is an area where a bent should excel. Of course, I don't want to throw caution to the wind either, but just being more confident about decending would be helpful.

What are my strengths:

1. Mentally I am on - no doubts! I can and will do this cross country tour. I am amazed that I went through the entire week without going mental. I was able to stay in the moment every day. Only the day we did Mule Pass did I let my nerves get to me; however, I never equated not doing the pass with not doing the tour - okay, that probably is a lie. I did do the pass and it was easier than I thought it would be. I was slow, but shortened my lunch time and finished before most everyone that day.

2. I know what I need to fuel my body on the ride. Hammer Rocks! Enough said!

3. I am a Randonneur and proud of it. I know I can do distance and I know how my body reacts to the distance and I thrive on it.

4. I truly want to do this ride. Each day will be different with its own highlights and challenges. This is an opportunity of a life time and I want to live it. I know there will be so really difficult days, but each day will be different.

5. I know the routine. Wake up, get to the trailer, air up, ride, stop for lunch, ride, drink recovery drink, clean the bike,shower, eat supper, get stuff ready for tomorrow, sleep.

Words of wisdom from others:

Many people told me to permit myself to SAG if I really needed to. I don't have to ride Every Fantastic Inch. It would be nice, but it is not realistic.

Other observations:

1. I recovered remarkedly well every day. My legs felt great every morning. I did better on the days that did not start climbing right out of the gate, but my legs were fully recovered each morning. Once again I attribute that to Hammer. I took the enduralytes, Anti-fatigue caps, Endurance amino,and race caps during the ride. I took the AF, EA RC and tissue rejuvinator and premium ins caps after the ride with 4 scoops of Recoverite. I took a combination of Heed and Whey before bed each night. I also rubbed my legs out with the stick each evening.

2. I need to make my gear bag as light as possible. 31 lbs is too heavy to lug every day.

3. I need to come up with someway to keep my bike from falling. It won't fit on Lon's bike racks, so I need to come up with something to keep it from falling over at the rest stops.