Day 25, May 15, 2014

Made it to Vidalia a little wet (100 miles).   We woke up to wet roads and overcast skis, but it wasn't raining, as originally forecast.  About 4 miles after our first rest stop (40 miles) we hit the first rain of the trip.  Fortunately, we encountered only rain and no thunderstorms.  As we passed through the town of Eastman, Ga. we encountered downed trees and power lines from the previous night's storms.  The going was a little disconcerting, between the rain and poor visibility, storm damage littering the road and the moderately traveled two lane highway.  Ultimately we rode in rain more than an hour, but less than 2 hours, so 3 1/2 - 4 1/2 hours were rain free; much better than forecasted.  Only two hours of rain in 26 days of spring riding is darn lucky (I'm counting tomorrow's ride as rain free, as the forecast is mid 70s with a nice wind at our back blowing us to the Atlantic).  Although the "late loaders" made it to the hotel, without incident, one of the slower riders was asked by a policeman in a town to get off the road.  The rider admits he was riding in a downpour.  Another slower rider rode through a puddle only to discover the puddle was a pothole, causing him to crash and get skinned up. Ultimately, everybody arrived at the hotel in one piece.  One more 104 mile ride.  The Kiwis are antagonizing Jere into a final sprint to the ocean, no doubt Jere will take the bait.  With the flat terrain, tail wind and the horses smelling the barn, I'm afraid the pace will be faster than I'll want to go, but I'll hang on for as long as I can; there is no need to leave anything in the tank, because I won't have to ride Sat., or anytime soon.
  I won't be writing a blog after Fri's ride, but will write an epilog to the trip sometime next week, stay tuned.
   Thanks for following us on our journey.

Day 24, May 14, 2014

Today's ride left Columbus, Ga. on a beautiful warm morning, riding a winding, paved river trail along the Chattahoochee River and curving eastward onto the Ft. Benning Army Base.  We rode through the base and eastward toward I-75.  Our lunch stop was in Montezuma, Ga.  Fortunately, Jere was on to the Aztec's tricks and avoided getting sick.  The closer we got to I-75 the terrain started leveling out and we left the pine forests and lumber industry for flat fields.  We passed a lot of pecan groves heading into Perry, Ga.  Tomorrow we head to Vidalia, Ga., known for their sweet onions (due to the low sulphur content in the soil).  Today was a quick 95 miles; we kept moving in order to get to the hotel before the forecasted afternoon thunderstorms, which we easily avoided.  Tomorrow our luck runs out with rain.  The forecast is rain and thunderstorms all day, the only good news is we may have a tailwind.  Mike, the tour leader told us at our nightly briefing that once we're out on the road, essentially "every man for himself".   They can't be everywhere to rescue riders from thunderstorms and he's not crawling on top of the van to load bikes in thunderstorms.  He instructed us not to be shy and don't be afraid to knock on doors and ask to sit under a porch or carport.  Jere spent some time working on our bikes this evening, putting our fenders back on the bikes.  It appears, he and I will be the only two riders with fenders, which will only keep our backsides dry a little longer than the rest.  Depending on Thursday's morning forecast, Mike may have us on standby and not leave at our normal 7-8 departure.  Ultimately, we'll have to leave so we can ride the 102 miles before sundown.  For the "fast loaders", it'll take us at least 6-7 hours, depending on the wind direction.  Dave, Jere, and I continue to spend time riding and dining with the Kiwis.  Its interesting to hear their perspective  of America, especially our lack of cusine.  From their perspective, Americans eat nothing but fried, fast food.  The other day we got a burger and milk shake at Sonic.  As we're sitting there eating, Nick looked at the line of cars pulled up to the menu boards and came to the realization that Sonic is nothing more than a "feed lot" for people.  Unfortunately, he's right.
  Depending on how tomorrow goes, I may or may not be in the mood to blog when I get into Vidalia.      Jere and I are anticipating the worse (like the ride into Dalhart, Tx), but hoping for the best.

Day 23, May 13, 2014

The good news about today's ride was there were far fewer dogs.  The bad news was the eastern counties of Alabama clearly had fewer highway dollars to spend on roads; the road surfaces were horrible.  Jere stopped several times to let air out of his tires to try and soften the ride.  The weather heated up to the mid nineties, clear skies, slight headwind breeze.  We left the hotel without the Kiwis today and the Pa. Posse rode together and alone at the forefront all day.  As we get closer to the end of the trip, we all hope the rides will get easier, but there is no let up.  We hit some brutal uphill grades with 5 miles left in the day.  After 100 miles, all you want is a downhill into the hotel.  When we finally arrived at the bridge to carry us into Georgia and Columbus, with one mile to the hotel, there was a detour sign at the bridge.  It didn't take long before we decided; "screw that, we're going through".  We crossed the bridge without incident and pulled up to the first outdoor dining area we saw.  After ordering and getting our beer, we realized we were actually at our hotel, we were done; another 114 miles in the log book.

Day 22, May 12, 2014

Today's ride was pretty uneventuful;  rural Alabama.  The "late loaders" (named after the faster riders, therefore, made to load their baggage and start later to give the slower riders a head start in order not to spread out the support too much) rode as a pack for the first 40 miles, to the first SAG stop.  Unfortunately for me, some of the stronger riders (all under 6' and 160 lbs) decided to play.  The pace got quick fast and you could smell an odor of testosterone mixing with the scent of honeysuckle.  Knowing that we have 114 miles, the 3rd hilliest section of the trip and forecast temperatures rising to the humid mid 90s, I was doing my best to hang on and vocally reign in the ring leader, JERE.  To compound matters, I had a slow leak in my back tire.  When we left the hotel, the psi was 100, but by the first SAG stop at 40 miles, the psi barely registered at 25.  I pumped up the tire at lunch (80 miles) and that worked until about 5 miles out.  After running over a particularly bad set of railroad tracks, the tire really went low.  Dave has a mini  hand pump, and twice Dave pumped my tire (I'm not sure why he did the work rather than making me pump my own tire) so I could limp the final miles to the hotel.  At the hotel, Jere changed out the tube and replaced the entire back tire for good measure.  He was asked by the tour leaders if he was my tire bitch, to which he replied; "Yes".  Seems like a fair trade to me since my work is to blog and slander him in prose.
  No rain today, not even wet roads.  Some pretty bad isolated thunderstorms rolled through the Montgomery/Prattville area after we arrived at the hotel, so we dodged another bullet.  Tuesday's forecast is slight breezes out of the south-east (our direction of travel), and warm.  Thunderstorms forecast for late afternoon, hopefully, after we are secure at the hotel.  Today's destination is Columbus, Ga, home of Fort Bragg.  We'll cross into Georgia and the Eastern Time Zone at the very end of the day, another 113 mile today, but 1/3 of yesterday's climbing.

Day 19 & 20, May 9 & 10, 2014.

  On Friday, May 9th we rode 114 miles, leaving Arkansas and spending the night in Senatobia, MS.  The ride was forecasted to be our first opportunity to be really miserable by getting wet.  We woke up to rain puddles and overcast skies, a storm front having passed through the area over night.  Jere and I had our fenders on our bikes and our rain jackets in our back pocket for the inevitable percipitation.  But, our preparation did its job and other than some early morning misting on the eyeglass lenses, the rain held off; I even had a sunburn by the time I got to the hotel.  

  I have now crossed the Mississippi River twice by bicycle, there will not be a third time.  All traffic is funneled  to the few bridges crossing the river.  The roadway is two lane, with virtually no shoulder, and what shoulder there is, is covered in all manner of road debris.  I took a few quick peeks at the river, but mostly concentrated on the roadway, as there was no margin of error to dodge left or right for a pothole or road debris.  After we crossed the river into Mississippi, the roadway for the next 8 miles was cement with expansion joints giving a bumpy ride and no shoulder.  Traffic was heavy and nerve wracking, but the drivers were considerate and either slowed until they could safely pass or gave us a wide berth.  The wind was blowing out of the south-east, our direction of travel, which made the ride through the low country harder than it should have been.  The closer we got to Senatobia the terrain started to undulate and we found ourselves in some small hills.  Outside the town of Crenshaw, Ms http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crenshaw,_Mississippi Jere was amused to see a sign by a roadside produce stand advertising "Cold Ice".  If you wanted "warm" ice, all you all would be out of luck.

  Senatobia is an exit off of I-55 with Memphis about an hour north and Jackson, Ms, about 3 hours south.  There is no reason to ever, ever go there.  The Days Inn was our worst accommodations to date, but I saw no cockroaches and to my knowledge haven't encountered budbugs.  

    Sat, May 10th was an epic day for Jere, Dave and I.  We rode 139 miles, our furtherest distance ever, and we rode about 137 of it with the Kiwis.  The course took us on the mostly rural roads and to all our surprises, the backcountry of northern Mississippi is hilly and beautiful.  The weather today was gorgeous; bright blue sunny skies and a light breeze, although often in our face, a head breeze is child's play after the head winds we endured. About 25 miles into the ride we passed a local church setting up bake goods at a corner lot at an intersection.  One of the Kiwis bought brownies for all of us.  Two of the three ladies working the stand were from Pennsylvania, one was from Hellam; small world.

  Sunday has us leaving Mississippi already and spending the night in Tuscaloosa, Al, home of the University of Alabama.  Tomorrow's milage is scheduled to be 117 miles with more rolling hills.  Forecast weather is similar today.  Can we make another 6 days without getting wet?

Slow Internet

Once again, the internet was too slow for Sam to Blog. He will try to catch up tonight. Today's ride is 138 mils to Aberdeen, Ms.

Day 18, May 8, 2014

On paper today was to be an easy day, relatively flat and low mileage (102).  The Kiwis had the bright idea of diverting to Starbucks for a coffee before heading out, and allowing the slower riders a head start.  That was all well and good, but I got shanghaied by a curious patron who bent my ear with his whole life story (in case your interested, his one son works for Homeland Security and the other is on the SWAT team in Minneapolis, blah, blah, blah).  The day was overcast and I felt either a few drops of rain or the sweat from Jere's brow blowing back on me.  About noon, with 50 miles to go, the winds out of the south began to really start blowing and gusting hard.  We were heading east and leaning into the wind.  Farmers were out in the fields plowing and the wind created huge dust storms which enveloped us in the dirt.  With 10 miles to the lunch stop, the course turned due South, right into the teeth of the wind. The effort to slog through the wind, along with the roar in the ears was really demoralizing.  It took us almost an hour to cover the 10 miles.  The last 30 miles were heading easterly again with a side wind.  For whatever reason we kept a quick pace, probably subconsciously trying to get done with the day to avoid the forecasted afternoon thunderstorms.  Ultimately, it never did rain.  We finished with 102 miles (my GPS download shows 99 because I had trouble starting it out of Starbucks)  and my legs are feeling the effects of today's hard effort.  After getting to the hotel and looking at the weather radar, the area we rode through a day ago was getting hammered with rain.  Just a few miles west of Conway, Ak we saw some of the hurricane damage that devastated the area on April 27th.  Tonight Jere put fenders on our bikes because it looks like our luck will run out tomorrow, the forecast is 70% chance of rain showers.  Tomorrow's agenda is to ride 113 miles to Senatobia, MS; we cross the Mississippi River at about the metric century (100 km) mark (62 miles).  We saw a few unleashed dogs today, and tried out a trick we learned to keep them away.  All you need to do is yell in your most stern voice; "get in the truck".  If that doesn't work, you yell again; "get in the Fuc*ing truck!".

Day 17, May 7, 2014

Today we left Ft. Smith, Ar for Conway, Ar, 122 miles.  We are on our final 10 day push to the end, with no more rest stops.  Although we have endured our share of wind, cold and heat, we have yet to get rained upon.  Our fortunes may be changing though, as the forecast for the remainder of the week is calling for scattered thunderstorms.  I'll take the chance of scattered rain as opposed to a hovering low front.  Tomorrow (Thur. May 8th) takes us from Conway to Brinkley, Ar (about halfway between Little Rock and Memphis, Tn.)  Tomorrow's ride is scheduled for an easy 102 miles with very little elevation change.  Today's weather was beautiful, high in the mid 80s with a breeze out of the south-southeast, giving us some headwind, but nothing too unberarable.  Most of the ride was on good, wide shoulders, with very courteous drivers.  We had a few, unleashed dogs make a go at us, but so far were unsuccessful (They can't figure out how to intercept, they run at where you were, rather than where you're going).  We were told by our tour leader, Mike, that the dogs further east (Deep South) are all unleashed and are much smarter, they wait in the middle of the road and attack head on.
  Jere got a laugh at my expense today (actually, he gets a lot of laughs at my expense).  My granddaughter gave me a Guardian Angel pin, which I affix to my cycling jersey everyday (along with wearing my St. Christopher's medal) to keep me safe.  At hotel check-in, in front of Jere and a couple of other riders, the clerk asked me if my pin was Tinker Bell.  I explained to him; "no, its a Guardian Angel" and now I have to ride 900 more miles with the guys calling me, "Tink".
  For some reason or another, I find it intriguing to take pictures of court houses I pass on my bike travels.  My fellow riders are trained to stop for the photo op when passing by a court house.  Today, we passed by 3.  Someday, I may publish a coffee table book of court houses across the USA.
  Jere was feeling much better today, the shot in the ass he got at the clinic in Ft. Smith did its job.  Unfortunately, Frieder (part of the Pa. posse) had to surrender to the van for a few miles before the 1st rest stop.  He made the mistake of putting sunscreen on his forehead and it got into his eyes and he couldn't see.  After he was able to flush out his eyes and recover, he joined us at the rest stop and rode the rest of the day without issues.  We affectionately call Frieder our "Panzer Division", because he can just go and go, but today he created a chink in his own armor.
  At today's hotel I found the first scale since leaving home.  I left home weighing between 195-197lbs, I weighed in at 191.  I haven't seen that weight since the last X-Country in 2009.  Jere left weighing 140 lbs and he put on weight, even after Montezuma's revenge and his other issues.  We are all eating everything we can find, the more sugar the better.

Day 15 & 16, May 4 & 5, 2014

I'm writing this entry the morning of May 6th, our rest day.  May 4th I had no internet access and last night, I enjoyed the opportunity to indulge in adult beverages knowing there would be no riding today; hence no blogging.
  The projected 143 mile today was unexpectedly shortened by about 20 miles.  When we arrived at the first rest stop, bikes were being loaded on the van.  Just outside of town, the bridge we needed to cross was under repair and there was no ability to cross.  So the vans transported us around the detour and deposited us about 20 miles further down the road.  The day was still a long, hot day; we logged about 120 miles.  (Ignore most of the states on the GPS download for the day, because the GPS was still running and logged the mileage and speed of the van too.)
  Due to Jere getting sick in Albuquerque, his immune system was down and his allergies have been causing him some severe problems.   Jere was afraid he was developing bronchitis or walking pneumonia, in which case he might have to abandon the ride.  As soon as we arrived in Ft. Smith yesterday, Jere took a shower and walked to a medical clinic right across the street from the hotel.  Fortunately, his lungs were clear.  They gave him a shot of something in the ass, prescribed him some codeine and nasal steroids and sent him on his way.  Hopefully, he can hold out another 10 days.
  Yesterday's ride was probably one of the flattest rides, but one of the most beautiful.  Eastern Oklahoma is beautiful!  Ft. Smith, Arkansas sits right on the boarder, so we arrived in another state at about the 100 mile point and rode another 5 miles through town to the hotel.  Today will be spent cleaning up the bikes, doing maintenance, rotating our tires, and generally relaxing.  I will upload some pictures today, so check out the photo section of the blog tomorrow.
  Wed. we start the final 10 day push, with no more rest days, to the coast.  We'll ride about 122 miles to Conway, Arkansas (northwest of Little Rock).  So, far we've been rain free.  Forecast for later in the week is isolated thunderstorms, but no threat of major systems.

Day 15 - May 4, 2014

No internet at the Hotel they are staying at. Sam will try to blog tonight after an easy 107 mile day to Ft. Smith, Arkansas.

Day 14, May 3, 2014

  Today's ride started on a somber note, one of our riders passed away in his sleep.  The preliminary cause of death is likely sleep apneia.  The rider was Ray, from Carson City, NV.  Ray was one of the weaker riders and often would catch a ride in the van if things got a little too tough.  He wasn't embarrassed about it and had expressed at our orientation and introductions in Costa Mesa that he wouldn't be afraid to ride the van if  things got uncomfortable on the road.  But yesterday he rode the whole 102 miles, plus some because he got off the route a few times.  He was one of the last riders in last night.  Everybody that had talked with Ray after the ride said, that Ray had expressed he had his best day of cycling ever.  He departed this world loving what he does.  The rest of the ride is being dedicated to Ray's memory and we'll tie black ribbons on our bikes and release them to the ocean in Savanna.
  I just spoke to the three women in my life that I love and they all want me to come home now, which of course I won't.  I'm sure this is my last bike trip of any consequence.  They didn't want me to do this trip, and now after a bike crash that resulted in a broken leg, a bike crash that resulted in severe road rash to the face and now a death, this trip will surely be my last if my wife and daughters have their way.  The Pennsylvania boys are being hyper vigilant and are not taking any mile for granted.
  Today we rode a 122 miles through the very beautiful Oklahoma countryside, mostly on roads no wider than the shoulders on the Texas roads.  Tomorrow is the 143 mile grind to MacAlester, OK.  Depending on what time we get in, eat and how I feel, I may forgo the blog tomorrow.
 

Day 13, May 2, 2014

Today was another good day.  Only a couple miles over a hundred, mid 18 mph range; still saving the legs and stamina for Sunday's 140+ mile ride.  Sunny skies and cool temperatures to start.  Left the hotel with cold weather gear, but by the lunch stop at 65 miles, stripped down to short sleeve jersey and bare legs.  East Texas was more hospitable than west Texas, we saw deciduous trees and green fields.  We also saw a lot of recent oil and gas drilling and fracking operations, a sign that the domestic energy exploration is on the upswing.  Interestingly, as we approached the Texas-Oklahoma border, the landscape in Texas was all oil & gas, but in the Oklahoma distance, the skyline was dotted with giant wind turbines.  We crossed into Oklahoma at about the half-way point.  They say, everything in Texas is big.  That holds true for the road shoulders.  We could easily ride 4 abreast along the two lane highway.  As soon as we crossed into Oklahoma, the shoulder became non-existent.   For virtually 50 miles from the boarder to Elk City, the wind turbines were everywhere.  We were told by a bar tender tonight that the government pays a landowner $8,000.00/month for each turbine on his property.  (I'll leave it to some fact checker to verify the veracity of that statement, I for one call; "Bull Shit").

  No flats in our foursome group, no accidents, no close calls, no angry motorists, no headwind, no precipitation, just a good day to be on a bike exploring new lands.  Jere did get into an argument with a jackass.  We must of scared it and it started braying at us, so Jere had to bray back.

  Tomorrow's run is a 109 mile eastward jaunt to Chickasha, Ok.  At about the 50 mile point, we'll stop for a picture at our 1/2 way point across the U.S.   Weather forecast continues to look good.

Day 12, May 1, 2014

  What a difference a day makes!  If you can't change the wind direction, then change your course.  (Actually, we didn't change the course, it just worked out that way).  The wind blew from our backsides all day, and blew us down the road for about 112 "easy" miles.  Today, we "soft peddled" and cruised, often over 20 mph.  We used today to recover and plan to recover some more tomorrow (winds still forecast out of the west, although lighter, and we're heading due east), because Saturday's ride is the longest of the trip at 143 miles.  Tomorrow we leave Texas and head to Elk City, OK.  I'm a little disappointed with Texas.  Tonight we ate dinner at the Texas Rose Steakhouse.  They didn't have Lone Star beer!  And after one round of Corona (served without a lime), they ran out!  The waitress told us to stock up on beer before entering Oklahoma, because the alcohol content statewide is only 3% (never heard of that; is that Coors Light mixed with half a glass of water?).  Riding a bike makes it hard to stock up on beer, besides, if the Texas Rose can't get any beer, what hope do we have of finding any?
  I didn't take any pictures today, nothing notable.  Soon after we left Dalhart, we began seeing oil well pumps dotting the landscape.  We passed a huge refinery somewhere between Dumass and Borger, TX (Google it).  The air smelled of petroleum for miles (which rivals the offensive smells from yesterday's cattle feed lots outside Dalhart).
  The Pennsylvania boys picked-up the Sheila (Monique) sometime after the 1st SAG/Rest stop and she rode with us for about 75 miles.  She was able to sit at the back and draft off our broad shoulders (not Jere's).  We were rewarded for our gentlemanly behavior by having to stop twice to assist her with fixing two flat tires (the Pennsylvanians were flat free).  So while we speeded up her ride, she slowed our ride, but Pampa, TX was still there when we got to the end of the cue sheet. (That may not hold true once we enter tornado alley).
   The New Zealander, Simon (the one that face planted a few days ago) got on the bike today and rode the last 30 miles.  I think he'll be good to go for the full 102 mile distance tomorrow.
    Off to bed to rest for Day 12.
 

Day 11, April 30, 2014

  At the lunch stop today, somebody asked Rich (The Brit), whether his step-daughter, Rose was having fun on this trip.  He said; "Well, I'm not really sure she's having fun, but rather feeling a sense of accomplishment".  For those of us who finished the day on the bike and not the van, today was the ultimate test of mind over matter and a real accomplishment.  It was the antithesis of "fun".  Our track   was an unwavering northeasterly slant to Dalhart, TX.  The wind was blowing 20-30 knots, with gusts, at  45 degrees to our port (from the North), so there was a headwind between our left ear and nose.  Our average speed was 12.9 mph.  To put that in perspective, I averaged faster than that when I pulled my two grandsons in a cart behind my mountain bike on the rail-to-trail.  I averaged faster than that when I rode over three Colorado Mt. passes, including the 12,000' + Continental Divide.  Jere and I both agree that this was likely the hardest day of riding we ever had.  Adding to the misery, the route was a two lane major trucking route.  Trucks would literally blow by.  If they were heading our direction, we would get blown to the right by their bow wave, only to sucked to the left by the vacuum created by their passing.  When trucks passed us in the opposite direction, we'd get slammed by a wall of air that would almost stop any forward monmentum.  Adding to the misery was the inability to communicate because you couldn't hear anything above the howl of the wind.  Consequently everybody rode in their own silence for the 8+ hours it took to finish.  You couldn't even enjoy the scenery because a) your head was down, into the wind, and b) there's nothing to see in East N.M. and West Texas.
  Jere became a little un-social today.  The Pennsylvania boys, as we're now referred to (including Frieder), had a rhythm going of rotating front-to-back in echelon formation (like geese flying) so no one person bore the brunt of the wind for too long.  We had some other strong riders mix in after a SAG/rest stop, which messed up the whole thing.  Jere got annoyed and expressed his dipleasure.  On a good note, he didn't use the "F" word when telling the interlopers to get out of our formation.  With 50+ miles of mind numbing riding to go after the event, I doubt anybody will remember the event. (Except I did an now memorialized in the blog forever).
  Tomorrow's ride heads in a south-easterly direction to Pampa, TX (northeast of Amarillo).  The wind may be our friend tomorrow.  At some point, I presume we will stop zig-zagging across the US, and will head east.
  I've been taking pictures, which I'll upload our next rest day.  I'll post on the blog when they're up.
   Till tomorrow ....

Day 10, April 29, 2014

Today was pretty uneventful.  Frieder set the record with only 2.5 miles logged from the hotel before he got a flat tire.  Once again, the Pa. boys were last to start out, and further delayed by the flat.  I logged my 2nd flat of the trip later in the ride.  The wind was sometimes our friend and sometimes our enemy, but nothing dangerous.  The scenery was beautiful and wide open, you could see for country miles.  There isn't much civilization between Las Vegas and Tucumcari, NM so the traffic was minimal; a nice change of pace from riding on the interstate.  We logged 110 miles and averaged 18 mph.  One of the other riders of the group, Gerry felt ill, but logged 30 miles before succumbing to the van for the duration.  We think there is an intestinal bug that only affects Jerre/Gerry.  Simon got back to the hotel last night and we saw him at breakfast all "cleaned-up", no real damage, a few stitches and a face and hands that look like he got his ass kicked in an MMA title fight.  He'll be back on the bike in a few days.
Tomorrow's ride is one of the shorter mileage days at 98 miles to Dalhart, TX.  Our route will take us on a north easterly track.  Unfortunately, the winds are forecast out of the north (supposedly a rare occurrence), so we'll have a tough headwind all day, making for a long, long day.  But on the bright side, we'll be able to notch another state and time zone down after we cross into Texas at about the halfway point.

Day 9, April 28, 2014

Why wife says that before criticizing, sandwich the criticisim with positives.  Ok, I didn't get hurt today, I wasn't at work today, I rode my bike 102 miles today, all positives.  Now for the bad things, let me count the ways;

(It's not a good omen when the day's words of inspiration posted to the daily briefing bulletin board, quotes George Armstrong Custer; didn't he get killed because he was stupid?)

1.  Unfortunately, for Jere the "Gathering of Nations" also included Montezuma's Aztec warriors.  They struck Jere (likely food poisoning) in the middle of the night leaving him with gastric issues from both ends.  By morning he could barely get out of bed.  Jere was relegated to riding the back seat of the van, with a stolen hotel pillow, and his bike on the roof rack (Jere would ride through hell and back before surrendering his bike to the roof rack, but Montezuma's revenge was stronger medicine than Jere's bull head)

2.  I had a flat 6 miles out of the hotel, which put our three person group of myself, Dave and Frieder playing catch-up all morning.

3.  We climbed most of the morning with the wind gusting in our face and side, the temperature  dropped from the balmy mid 40s to the upper 30s (I had no idea what the wind chill was, but with 23-35 knot winds, it was freezing).  We experienced a little hail and snow, nothing of significance, but just enough to remind us it was cold!

4.  We had lunch at a fire station outside of Santa Fe.  The fire station was gracious enough to open their doors and allow us to eat inside out of the wind and cold.  One of our  two New Zealand riders, Simon is a Fire Chief back home.  He presented the two EMTs and one volunteer fireman on duty with a T-Shirt with his fire station insignia as a gift and the first responders chatted each other up.  We left the fire station a little after the two Kiwis, but caught up to them about 2 miles down the road and passed them.  About 10 miles down the road, we had to cross a cattle grate in the road before crossing under Interstate 25 and entering the interstate.  After we crossed over, our group stopped for a nature call before getting on the interstate.  By happenstance, Dave looked back and saw that one of the Kiwis had crashed when crossing the cattle grate.  We rode back and assisted, calling 911, the ABB staff etc.  Simon's wheel caught in a gap in the grate and he face planted.  As it turns out the EMTs he presented the T-Shirt to were his first responders.  He was taken to the Santa Fe hospital for evaluation.  He seemed to be responding at the scene and we are all hopeful he'll be back on the bike after a day's recovery and finding a new helmet and sunglasses.

5.  After entering the Interstate the hi-way turned southeast and downhill, so the 35 knot wind and grade had us cruising at 30+ mph and making up some time and easy miles.  With about 10 miles to our final SAG/rest stop, Freider got a flat.  Just he when he had it fixed and ready to pump, the support van pulled over.  We thought what perfect timing, we can use a floor pump rather than a mini pump to pump up his tire.  Unfortunately, the signal was given for a second time in as many ride days that staff is pulling riders from the road because the wind gusts were increasing and too dangerous to ride.   We had 102 miles and lost the last 32 miles of the ride into Las Vegas, NM.

Now for something positive; we've ridden the last of the interstates for the duration of the trip.

Tomorrow we turn right out of our hotel onto Rt. 104 and the next turn we make is into our hotel, 102 miles later in Tucumcari, NM.  The direction of travel is SE and the wind is forecast out of the NW, the road is flat, so we may have a much needed easy, fast day.  I hope tomorrow nights blog entry will be unremarkable.  Till then ...

Day 7, April 27, 2014

Day 7 proved the axiom, "Adjust and Adapt".  Part of the planned 134 mile route to Albuquerque involved the shoulder of Interstate 40 in two sections.  About 8 miles out of Gallup, I-40 was under construction and reduced to one lane.  The shoulder along that stretch had been deteriorating, and the staff made the right decision that the shoulder was too broken up to safely ride along.  The decision was made to portage riders in 3 waves.  The slower riders were loaded into the vans, with bikes on the roof, and shuttled about 14 miles from the hotel and deposited down road from the bad shoulder.  The 2nd wave of riders left the hotel and rode 7 miles and waited to be picked up by the van and shuttled 7 miles around the bad shoulder.  Dave, Jere, me, Freider, and Kai were the rear guard and left the hotel in the 3rd wave 40 minutes after the first group.  We rode the 7 miles to the pick-up point.  After being picked-up the decision was made to transport us to the first SAG (support/rest stop), situated at the Continental Divide, to keep the 3 groups closer together for support purposes.  Not only did we miss the bad section of interstate, we also missed the climb, into the wind up to the Continental Divide. :(  We passed the 2nd group of riders in the van, they looked beat, fighting the wind, uphill.  After getting on the bikes again, we rode two lane highways until the 89 mile point before re-entering Interstate 40 for what was supposed to be the final 30 miles to Albuquerque.  The winds were blowing hard all day.  Initially, the winds were in our face, then moved to our side and then to our rear.  We were either crawling along or soaring along, at the wind's pleasure.  We easily caught up and passed the slower riders, only to find they had all been picked-up by the van and transported to the 2nd SAG/lunch stop because the head and side winds proved too difficult for them.  The staff was concerned with the forecasted afternoon winds, blowing at 35 knots, with gusts to 50 knots.  Ultimately, after the 3rd SAG stop and right before entering the interstate the decision was made to allow us to enter the interstate because it was believed the winds would be blowing from our right rear quarter.  Unfortunately, it didn't work out that way, the roaring winds were a direct cross wind, blowing us toward the highway.  Jere was riding with a 20 degree lean into the wind.  If the wind gusted or let up, we all had to fight to keep upright.  Again, I got broadsided by a tumble weed, which could have been disastrous.  Unlike the last broadside, which disintegrated on impact, this tumbleweed just stuck to the side of my bike.  I yelled to the guys that I was stopping to dislodge it.  As I was slowing, my front wheel suddenly locked up.  Had I not slowed before the wheel locked up, I likely would have been thrown over the handlebars.  It turned out, the tumble weed also consisted of nylon rope that got caught in and wrapped around my spokes and front brake.  One of the riders, who is also an American By Bicycle staffer on other tours, called the staff and advised its too unsafe to continue.  The vans drove ahead of everyone and parked at an underpass, and as riders got to the point they were loaded up and driven the last 30 miles to the hotel.  Unfortunately, for Jere, Dave, Frieder and another rider, there wasn't enough room in the vans, so they had to wait under the underpass until a van could make the round trip to rescue them.  As our van drove away, leaving the boys under the underpass, I said I feel like the women and children in the lifeboat, leaving the men on the sinking Titanic.  All told we logged 95 miles of the projected 134 mile day, still not a bad effort.  But, already we can't brag that we rode the whole way across the USA.  Mike, the head staffer said in his 18 years of doing these tours, this was only the 3rd time they had to pick-up riders due to weather conditions.  He made the right call, because it was dangerous!

  Sunday, April 27, Day 8 was a much needed rest day.  New pictures are loaded, as promised.  Tomorrow's ride to Las Vegas, NM takes us on a north east track turning to a northerly track toward the end of the day, with the 2nd most feet of climbing of the tour.  The forecast is projecting sustained winds of 20-30 knots out of the north-west, which puts the wind on our front left the last part of the ride; I'm sure some of our fellow riders will again throw in the towel and opt for the van ride to the hotel.  

Time to get out of Albuquerque while we can; the city is hosting the 30th annual "Gathering of Nations", a Native American festival; not a good place for a white man in Spandex.

Day 7, April 26, 2014

Just got a call from Jere. For safety sake, they were pulled off the rode due to high winds (50+mph). Everyone is fine, they will have to ride the last 30 miles in the Van. I'm sure Sam will have some "windy" comments later.

Tim

Day 6, April 25, 2014

134 MILES and another state and time zone in the books.  The forecast held true and we had prevailing SouthWesterly winds blowing us eastward.  The forecast for tomorrow is similar, should be able to make good time.  Sat. we cross the Continental Divide early, then all down hill to Albuquerque (5,280').
Today, Jere got his first flat of the day, about 25 miles from the finish line.  I developed a slow leak, but was able to pump up the tire at rest stops, and Jere replaced the tube at the hotel, in a more civilized environment.  Between the three of us, we've replaced 3 tubes in 5 days.  One of the riders replaced 4 flats just today!
For the first time in 46 years I peed along an interstate.  When nature calls (and it does a lot in 134 miles), you do what you have to do.  I still don't know what the female riders in the group do, there are too many miles between rest stops to be civilized, and the landscape doesn't offer much opportunity to hide what you're doing (no car doors to hide behind either).  The Sheila from Australia rode the support van today; I'm not sure why, but if I had to guess, I would guess saddle sore issues.   The day before, another person rode the van due to a sore ass.  The chief complaint among the group is the saddle sore issues.   While the 3 of us are having our issues, so far we've been able to avoid the "ride of shame" aka the support van.  Speaking of which, tomorrow brings a unique problem.  A section of the interstate is reduced to one lane for construction, and the berm is virtually, non-existent.    Some of the riders are being transported about 11 miles from the hotel to beyond the bad section and dropped off.  Some of the riders, including the Pennsylvania contingent, are to ride 7 miles from the hotel and wait to be picked up and transported the approximately 4 miles beyond the bad section of interstate.  I will leave my Garmin on so my milage will be accurate and I can follow the cue sheet and turns at designated milage.  As a result if you notice the speed on the live feed being high, its likely the result of van ride and not a 50 knot tailwind.
Riding Interstate 40 was as boring as I had predicted, but the terrain did vary and offered something to look at.  Often truckers, if they could, would move to the left lane and give us a courteous wide birth.  Drivers so far on the trip have been very nice.  The New Zealanders are amazed at how nice the American drivers are to cyclists. (They clearly haven't been to York County).  Yesterday, we did get yelled at by a fat, leather and bandanna clad, "biker" on a a Harley, leading a group of 3 others, something to the effect; "Get off the Fuc*ing road you faggots".  In a pole of the others in our group, the guy yelled the same phrase to everyone.  If you're going to be an asshole, you should at least not be a dumb asshole; have a different vile statement for everyone you pass.
Well past my bedtime, lost an hour, now Mt. time, gotta go.  Forgive the typos, spelling, etc., no time nor inclination to proof read before posting.

Day 5, April 24, 2014

Due to a late dinner at a historic restaurant in Winslow, and the effects of 5 days of riding, I'm going to forego writing today and will try to do a double entry tomorrow.
We had success downloading pictures from my camera (I'm the more prolific photographer) to Dave's  computer.  We're one step closer to getting pictures uploaded to the Blog, stay tuned.
Day 6 out of Winslow will be a long one, over 130 miles, mostly riding on the berm of Interstate 40, BORING!!  The only good news is winds are forecast to be blowing from the West/SW at 25 knots; if that holds true, we should be able to make good time.

Day 4, April 23, 2014

Since the three Amigos and the two Germans (henceforth, Freider (62) and Kai (52) arrived first yesterday, we left the parking lot dead last this morning.  (The staff wanted the faster riders to go out later, so that there support would not be as strung out along the road).  We started picking off the slower riders before Jere had to take his 2nd pee of the morning (today, Jere had a good day, we only had to stop for him to pee 10 times; in all fairness, at least 2 of the group of 5 also par took - the Arizona high country will bloom with flowers with the watering it got).  About two hours into the ride, we passed Monique, one of two women on the trip (she's the Sheila from Australia).  On a down hill, Jere and Dave decided to pee, but not far enough ahead of Monique rolling down the hill.  As she passed, I told her to her to look away (it was obvious what the boys were doing), her quick, witty response in an Aussie accent was; "there's nothing to see".  

By lunch we were back toward the front of the pack.  

Today had the most climbing of the trip.  The climbing, while long and challenging, offered frequent opportunities to get out of the saddle and give the behind a break.  The rewards for the slow grinds were long, twisting descents.   About halfway through the long decent into Cottonwood we stopped in a town built into the side of the mountain (reminded us of a Swiss town), called Jerome and ate in a cliff hanging establishment called The Haunted Hamburger.  Since the reminder of the ride was all down the mountain (reached my max speed of about 48 mph), and no peddling required, we all ate giant burgers which increased the mass for the rapid decent.  We rode the least amount today at about 106 and the slowest, but considering the amount of climbing, it was as challenging as any so far.

Tomorrow's ride is advertised at about 106 miles into Winslow, AZ.  We'll get pictures of "standing on the corner of Winslow Arizona" and we'll look for the girl in the flat bed Ford.

Till tomorrow ...

Blog Additions

I'll try to make this the last time I hijack Sam's Blog, but here are the latest additions:

1. Added "Where in the USA are Sam and the Boys": under Other Links. This is a cool real time tracker of where they are during the ride... technology is great. You can use the (+/-) in the upper left of the screen to Zoom in and out. I will try to update this link each day with the current day's ride.

2. Added "Pictures" under Other Links. I have so far only received these 3 pictures. Sam is having difficulty interfacing his Apple and non Apple (cameras) products with the Internet. When available, more Picture entries will be added.  

3. Added "Bama Cyclist Blog" under Other Links. This Blog is maintained by one of the Support members from the America By Bike organization. (By the way, when you see ABB abbreviation, this is what we are referring to). This will give you another (unbiased) angle of the trip. Note: Sam and Jere have already been mentioned in this Blog.

4. At the bottom of the Blog, I added  "GPS Maps and Ride Statistics". After the ride is complete, Sam can upload this interesting data. I will add these links each day as they are available.

Tim Rohrbaugh

(Remote Tech Support)

Day 3, April 22

I spent 45 minutes writing todays Blog, only to lose it all.  I can't stay awake and re-create, Dave & Jere are sleeping, I need to do the same.  I'll try again tomorrow and capture today and Day 4 in one Blog posting.

Never mine, I found it, see below (I'm getting punchy)

Day 3 - April 22, 2014

Today, the boys form Pa. joined up with two ex-patriot Germans (One has lived in Pa., near Allentown since 1981 and is an authentic Pennsylvania Dutchman, the other lives in Houston).  We rode as a group of 5 from hotel to hotel, arriving ahead of everyone by at least an hour.  I told the tour staff they should have a new rule that only allows one German per pace-line, and not because of a communication barrier, but because the two worked with the efficiency of a well oil machine and gave at least me everything I could handle (and the most stronger of the two is 62; the Pa. Dutchman).  Post Script, his college buddy and lifelong friend is the one that crashed.  He's flying home tonight from Phoenix.  He has a concussion and a hairline fracture of his femur.
The first 30 miles of today's ride was along interstate 10.  We crossed into Arizona and crossed the Colorado  River  5 miles out of the hotel.  After we got off the interstate we heading east by north east on Highway 60, very straight and very boring.  We had wind either out of the SW or S, so we had help making good time.  The temperature rose briefly to 103, before settling back into the 90s.  After our last rest stop, 25 miles from town, the wind really picked-up, directly from our left.  For a couple of miles we were dodging tumbleweeds; Jere was up front with one of the Germans, giddy with the challenge of dodging them.  It reminded him of the 80s video game Alien Invaders.  I was broadsided by a giant one, that disintegrated upon impact with my bike.
  Dave had the first flat tire, about 20 miles into the ride; he couldn't avoid interstate road junk.  He limped to an underpass to change the tire in the shade.  Fortunately, one of the staff support vans was on the off ramp and saw us changing the tire and offered Dave a pump and new tube (the "new" tube Dave tried to install, also had a hole in it, so technically, he had two flats).
  The Jere-ism of the day.  After three days of over 100 mile days, everybody is experiencing saddle / backside issues.  After Jere's shower, he self medicated by accidentally applying toothpaste to his nether region instead of Cortazone cream; his now minty fresh for tomorrow's ride.
   Tomorrow is the climbing day, with the most elevation to be gained in the trip.  We've been losing more and more people to the van for either a ride all the way in or a hop scotch further up the road; the climbing may spread out the field even more.  Jere, the 140lb waif, said he'll stay with me, the 197lb tubby;  Dave is the guy I have to reign in, he wants to go-go-go.  I have to be his self-control, so he doesn't wear himself and me out.
  I think we figured away to get the daily digital Garmin map/ride summary into the Blog.  I'll e-mail time the http: address and each morning after the ride, he'll add it as a link.

Hi all,

I have added a link to the America by Bike web site. Click on "Ride Details" under the "Other Links" at the right of the screen. Also, once you get to this web site, you can see a detailed Itinerary if you click near the bottom but just before the Map of America, where it says: Click Here for More Detailed Info.

Enjoy the Journey,

 Tim

PS: The easiest way to post Comments, choose the Anonymous option and enter you name in the text area.

Day 2, April 21

Epic Day.  135 miles through the desert.  We left Palm Springs at dawn and a temperature of 60 degrees.  The temperature climbed to a blistering 109 degrees.  If that wasn't bad enough, we traveled on the shoulder of Interstate 10 for at least 50 miles; having to dodge the rumble strips, and the shredded truck tire debris and all manor of road trash.  Unfortunately, we lost a rider to a fall today.  The rider was from Germany (63 years of age), he was riding with a group of other riders (we had been riding with him all morning, and had just passed him) and he overlapped his front wheel on the person in front of him (another German, living in Houston).  He went down hard.  Definitely has a concussion and perhaps a broken leg or pelvis.  That was a wake-up call, to always be vigilant.

Between hydrating, eating, showering, get bike packed for next day, etc., not much time to blog.   From hotel to hotel, we were on the road for over 9 hours (a little over 7 hours ride time).  I've solicited Tim Rohrbaugh (who rode with Jere and I in 2009, but couldn't make this trip) to be my IT guy and spruce up the blog with some pictures, and downloads.  I'll have to forward him stuff to add, bear with me.  In the meantime, check out the blog of the America By Bicycle; hopefully, Tim will be able to add the address to this blog posting.

Tomorrow, 5.5 miles to the Calif. / Arizona boarder, total milage 116 miles (30 + on interstate 10 again, then a lot of boring miles along highway 60), projected temperatures, only in the 90s.

Day 1, Easter Sunday, April 20, 2014

Jere, Dave and I spent Easter Sunday riding from the Pacific to Palm Springs, Calif.  When dipping the wheels in the Pacific (Jere and I didn't, since we're not neophytes), we saw the Easter Bunny on the Beach (The day before we saw a Unicorn in Long Beach ... only in California; I have pictures to prove it.  We rode 117 miles up hill into the desert.  We spent a lot of time riding on bike paths and rode on interstate 10 briefly.  Tomorrow's ride is advertised at 136 miles, all desert.  I doubt I'll be writing anything after tomorrow's ride.

Jere was sociable for the first 100 miles.  We had a headwind into Palm Springs and the three of us were taking turns drafting.  We passed two riders in the group and they jumped on the back.  When they didn't rotate to the front to take their turn in the wind, Jere didn't say anything, but his actions were louder than words.  He accelerated to shake them from our tails.  Dave later ran into the guys in the laundry room and had to them, Jere really is a nice guy.

Gotta go, time to go to bed for the day tomorrow.  I have a learning curve on the blog; as we go along, I'll try to add more stuff ie. links and pictures.