Flying Solo

Chickasha to McAlester OK. 5100' climbing. Temp at the start 40f. Winds light out of the SE. Mike said today was our signature day and by that I think he meant longest, 145 miles. About three miles after the start I just got into my aero bars and put the hammer down. So as I'm rolling along I start passing riders that have started out before me. There is good shoulder to ride on so it makes the ride more pleasant. It is really a beautiful day and it is starting to warm up. When I get to the first SAG there are a few riders there. I go through the routine of sanitizing my hands and signing in. While I'm there some of the riders I passed come in. I continue with striping off my arm and knee warmers. Everybody seems content to stand around and yak it up. I refill my bottles then grab a handful apple slices and a banana stuff them in my jersey pocket and off I go. Three riders took the SAG to the first stop and are some where up the road ahead of me. So now I have some thing to chase. I'm just motoring along having a good old time enjoying the small farms some with cattle others with horses. At one point I'm on a fairly long climb and there they are three of them waiting on the side of the road. Now they have some thing to chase. They let me pass and here they come yapping all the way. So in my best command voice I give them a firm no, one stops and the other two are after me still. Though one is tiring. The littlest one about a twenty pounder just full of itself keeps comming. So I finally reach down and get the water bottle out and give a squirt in it's direction and the chase is over. Next there is a couple sitting in beach chairs in the shade on the side of the road clapping. Now it feels like I'm more important, I've got spectators. I learn when I meet them later at the lunch SAG that he has done the ride before. So I roll along and I finally catch Perry who is moving right along, not bad for a 70 year old. Perry is like me and lives in a flat part of Florida and doesn't venture into the hills that much. A little while later I meet up with Eric. He and his daughter Kirsten are from Hawaii. She is the youngest rider at 20 and the only one I haven't seen today. About a half mile from the lunch break I see her ahead of me and she is making a right turn and going into the parking lot for a small casino where the lunch SAG is going to be. Barbara tells me I can't go into the casino unless I check my guns at the door. Well I guess they just won't be getting my business. Lunch and off again in almost a flash as Barbara tells me there is a route change. I get the changes and when and she says go 2.7 miles down and unpaved road and I think oh #@*$ that's all I need. It turns out to be an unmarked road not an unpaved one. Later James will turn too soon and will turn the day into a 155 miler, you go James. I know that I will out run the SAG so I stop about 6 miles short at a little store??? They don't have any gatorade ??store??? Are they kidding? A bottle of water, thanks. A guy in the "store" said he passed me a few minutes ago and he liked my light. Thirty miles later another store a real one this time. Got my gatorade and all is well with the world. When I get to the motel it is not where it is supposed to be and is on the other side of a major road. Mike claims 2 years ago it was on the side of the road we were routed onto, ok somebody moved it during the night. I sign in putting down the time by my name and circling it. Yes, I know that it's obnoxious. I don't care I'm chocolate milk and snickers deprived. Tomorrow will come soon enough.

In Memorium

Chickahsa to McAlester OK. We had rap for tomorrow this evening. At that time we were told about the untimely passing of one of our own. Darrell Keefer did not come to breakfast. He was found in his room by our ride leader Mike after our departure today. His son, daughter in law and grandson had been to the motel to visit with him last night. He was so proud of them. We are saddened.

Half Way And Nowhere

Elk City to Chickasha OK. 5000' climbing 128 .miles and a temp of 40f at the start. We had cross winds right out of the start. With a group of 7 we were a rather unruly bunch. We did have a shoulder at first so it wasn't as obvious how bad we were. The navigation today was going to be really complicated. Our cue sheet was 2 columns on the first page and finished on the back of a second page. In order to show the whole route it took breaking the map into three segments. The course profile was on the last page and looked like a down hill roller coaster ride. So we are out on the road with the idea that we would keep the group together. The pace was steady though we had to keep reminding some of the to watch their speed when they came to the front of the echelon. An echelon is when each rider is to the side of but just slightly behind the rider closer to the wind. Since there were 7 we had to have two rows in the echelon to stay on the shoulder. Now comes the part where we pushed the envelop on what is prudent. We turned off the road with the shoulder to a two lane with no shoulder. We were riding 3 abreast, this is against the law in every state but we do it all the time when we can get away with it. We get to the first SAG and all is fine it has warmed up and every one is putting extra items in the "lost and found" bin. So much that at the end of the day we had a large garbage bag plus the bin. Sorting it all out at the motel on a day like today can be quite a challenge. We leave the SAG and now we are 9. We form up into three rows of three on a diagonal. Now it gets a little sticky. In order for this mass to move down the road we are doing a 9 person zig zag echelon. This is like a 9 person volleyball rotation. Except the front right person doesn't drop straight back. They go from the from front right to the rear left. Everybody else advances one position towards the front. Like a segmented snake. We are doing this switch every mile. So this happens about every 2 minutes and 30 seconds. There are ONE or two in the group that are having a little trouble with the concept and on each rotation have to be told where to move to next. Even after 2 complete cycles. Just past 50 miles we turn off the two lane on to a single lane road. We are moving along nicely. We are so far over the line on what is prudent behavior it isn't funny. Yet we roll right along. Lucky for us no cars are on this road. Then we are busted by Mike. We come over a narrow bridge followed by a right hand turn and there he is in the van. Well you know there is going to be hell to pay for this. We single it out and very soon after we come to the spot painted in the road to mark the half way of our trip. Yipee. The lecture we get for our bad behavior isn't to bad. So photos are taken with every camera available by Mike who is standing on the bike rack on top of the van. Great shot. We continue on to our lunch SAG single file. We have lunch at a turn in the road. We are really in a rural spot. It is just beautiful. All day everything around us is green. A far cry from the dried out scrub of the high desert. After lunch we had a manageable group of 5. The winds have dropped and we are rolling along at a comfortable pace. We made a 2 mile detour because a sign we were looking for was missing. No big deal. At 82 miles we ride over Ft Cobb Lake Dam. Very inviting but we don't stop. A few miles later we pass a storage tank on the side of the road that says NOWHERE, OKLA. Now Mike claims it says Now Here but I don't think so. We make it to the motel. At rap Mike asks that the peleton stay after all the rest have been dismissed. This is to show us pictures of what we looked like on the road today and a friendly reminder of how dangerous it can be. Dinner then get ready for tomorrow. Our signature day according to Mike. By signature I think he means the longest.

Four States Down

Pampa to Elk City OK. Elevation 1919' todays climbing 2100'. Temp at start 35f. Wind NNW at 20 gusting higher. Eric, Frank, James and I settled into a small group fighting the cross winds. We were passing the riders that had started in front of us at a fairly steady rate. Though in the end it took a long time to reel in Conrad and Tom, the front runners at that point. The terrain in this area is what we in Miami would call rolling but if there were any cyclists in this area they would call it fairly flat. We were supposed to be descending all day but it just didn't seam that way with the cross winds. There isn't much to see. There were some wind generators. Then there were oil pumps scattered around with none of them pumping. Cattle feed lots which I might have mentioned stink to high heaven. There were some range cattle that started a minor stampede as we passed. Or they were running in boredom. You decide. The usual assortment of road kill and dead bungee cords. At the first SAG the only place out of the wind is in the lee of the van. Conrad and Tom leave before the group of four and I think that they have a big enough lead that we won't see them till the OK state line. Soon though we are gaining on them and Chris is just behind us. Jim passes us in the other van and stops to take pictures as we pass him. At the state line James and Chris sprint for the oh so dubious new state/old state honors. I don't see who wins this great event. All I know is as we cross the line we lose the nice smooth shoulder we had. Jim drives up at just the right moment to take some group shots under the Oklahoma sign. At lunch by the time we are ready to leave there is a large group eating lunch on the slab of some store that used to be there. Chris has snuck off by himself and we won't see him until we have checked in at the motel with our chocolate milk and snickers. I go to my room and call Amy to get the run down on the rescheduled Springsteen concert. Sounds like a great time was had. The dinner choices are fast food or Western Slizzler, a slightly better fast food. I may be becoming pasta deprived. One of the things about working so hard at a repetative task is losing track of the details so quickly. I think we may cross the half way point tomorrow. Totally amazing.

Riding The Pampa

Dalhart to Pampa TX. The bar b que place provided breakfast this morning. Quite good. After eating we had route rap and Mike made the announcement about Andrew leaving the tour. There were some really shocked people. I think some didn't know how much he had been struggling the last few days. America by Bicycle has an attrition rate of about 10%. Mike says that since we have reached that the rest of us have to make Savannah. Todays route is ever so slightly downhill till just before lunch then up and down to the finish. It is in the 30's when we leave and I didn't realize it would be so cold. I have finger less gloves, light sox on and nothing on under my helmet. My hands, feet and head are like blocks of ice. I am afraid to even try to take my water bottle out of the cage because I'm sure I would just drop it. Mike is driving the mechanics van talking pictures. At the SAG he tells me today was the first day he was able to get in front of me to get some photos of me riding. I am so glad to be at the SAG so I can eat and drink something. James and I ride out together. We are finally on some roads that I can get into my aero bars and really hammer. I push James to his limit but he will return the favor after lunch when we are in the uphill downhill phase. At lunch there was a veggie platter and I got tunnel vision. My whole lunch centered on that platter. Probably not the best thing to ride on but I felt fresh veggie deprived. Mike was out taking pictures and says he got some great shots of James and I together. We had route rap at 5 instead of at breakfast. I did some preventive maintenance on the bike. Had dinner next door with James, one of the two Scotts and one of the three Bills. We also have two Erics, how can this be in such a small group? We have a short cold ride for tomorrow. Yes, I will dress properly.

Three States Down

Tucumcari to Dalhart NM 96 miles. Wind SW 20 to 30 mph gusting higher. The navigation today is very simple Rt 54E 95 miles later a few turns and into the motel. As we start to ride it's James, Daryll, Frank, Andrew and I are going to ride as a group today. At the first hill Andrew is in trouble and drops from the group. We arrive at the first SAG and others come in. Andrew comes in signs the check in sheet and leaves. When our little group sets out again we are passing those who have started out before us. As we are getting close to the Texas state line we are comming up behind Will and Sandra they are pushing very hard. We finally catch them and I thought they dropped off behind us. James is at the front and from the back Sandra winds up a monster sprint to the line. James reacts to this but there is no chance for him. When Sandra turns around to go back to the Texas marker but with the headwind her bike is hardly moving. Just as we are ready to take our photos Jim drives up in the mechanic's van and we all give him our cameras and each gets a great group shot. Now we are only 11 miles from lunch. Lunch is difficult because the wind is trying to blow everything away. After lunch Tom and Greg are out first with Sandra and Will close behind then me. T and G are off like a shot not to be seen till Dairy Queen. I ride with S and W for a while. Just before we get to a huge cattle feed lot I ride off and the stench is just awful. At what looks like the end of the lot there is a huge plume of dust blowing across the road. I try to get by without getting sand in my eyes. There is a gathering of riders at DQ. Though in not sure which was the most interesting group there. The motor cyclists from Denver going to Austin, the first graders or the people in the funny looking spandex outfits. Dalhart has one real grocery store which I hiked to. A near by bar b que place seemed to be the cyclist's place to be. Pat and Andrew both went to the ER after their arrival. Pat for gastric distress and came back after getting some IV fluids. Andrew was diagnosed as having had a heart attack. Since Dalhart has no cardiologist he was transferred to Amarillo. Everybody will miss him and his very dry good humor.

Ruined the Post

Sorry about todays post. I wrote it then deleted it by mistake. I will try to do two today.