Day 16: 5/31/10 Greenville, OH to Athens, OH

Click below to review today's route and ride stats:
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/35265552

Hacking Hills

We have officially left behind the flats of Indiana and western Ohio and have moved into some remarkable hilly country in southeastern Ohio.  It probably goes without saying but, I am finding the better the scenery, the more difficult the riding.  The lower milage and easier pace rides over the past few days have paid dividends to the point that I feel ready to take on the eastern mountains over the next few days.  Today was not terribly difficult other than the latter half of the day when temps climbed as did the topography.

The morning was picture perfect.  We started a bit earlier than normal to stay out of the heat as much as possible early on.  From the start, it was incredibly humid and overcast as isolated showers were expected during the day.  The big orange sun rose low in the sky, illuminating a thick morning haze.  Even though the temps were in the mid to upper 60s, within a half hour my face, arms and legs were dripping with condenstate.  The roads were quiet and peaceful, all I could hear was the woosh of my tires spinning down the road.  We even had a breif tailwind, something that has been remarkably illusive from the start of this journey.  This made the pedaling effortless and quite comfortable.  Like clockwork, however, within a few hours the wind had shifted to the south again.  As we proceeded in a southeasterly direction for most of the day, we were once again fighing the wind for more than 8 hours today.

I have been having difficulty as of late finding a good positon on the bike as most points of contact are sore or numb.  My feet are constantly tingly (even off the bike), my palms, which take most of the road shock, are numb as well and my behind is still causing me grief every time I get on and off the bike.  For the past week or more I have been wearing two pairs of cycling shorts to increase the padding and reduce friction to the contact points with the saddle.  This was advice provided by PAC Tour veterans and has provided me great relief.

By mid-morning, overcast skies prevailed and broght what appeared to be some threatening weather.  This never did materialize however.  The roads were damp with rain which had moved through the area before we arrived.  Following lunch, the skies became sunny again and the humidity really began to soar by mid afternoon. 

As we completed our first post-lunch rest stop at about mile 130, we were entering the Hocking Hills region.  This was a fabulously beautiful stretch of rolling hills, quiet roads and state parks.  This section was by far the highlight of the day, which was more like an amusement park ride with all of the climbs, twists and fast descents.  Somewhere along this section, I must have breathed in some sort of tree fluff or something because I broke into a rather annoying coughing spell trying to free whatever became trapped, hence my earlier reference to the Hacking Hills.

So overall, things turned out quite well today.  We managed to yet again dodge storms which were skirting the area, and outside of some heat and humidity, it was another great day on the bike.

Since we were under threat of rain, I bagged my camera for the most scenic portion of the day.  Here are a few shots I took in the morning.  Check the PAC Tour web site out if you haven't yet.  They take a lot of cool pictures each day.

Just leaving Greenville

Peaceful morning

Thick humidity and haze

Pleasant Hill, OH

Rob leading out the Memorial Day Parade in Troy, OH

Day 15: 5/30/10 Crawfordsville, IN to Greenville, OH

Click below to review today's route and ride stats:
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/35126110

Slow Turnin

Today's Sunday ride was the last of potential "recovery" rides until some of the real work begins as we press on for the finish in Williamsburg on Thursday.  I took this opportunity today to ride at an easy pace and enjoyed the day immensely.  From the start this morning, I found myself in a pace line of about 10 whcih was rocketing down the road like it was the Indy 500 or something.  I came to the front for one turn of pace setting and then dropped to the back and watched the group dissapear into the distance.

Given today's milage was only 140 from Crawfordsville, IN to Greenville, OH, we had the opportunity to ride at a very slow pace and have no problem making it to the finish before evening.  Since I have been having trouble finding my legs these past few days, a nice and easy pace was hopefully just what I needed.  Lynn and later on, John dropped back having the same idea. 

Since we were traveling just north of Indiannapolis, we were on some lightly traveled local roads whcih had very good riding surfaces.  We saw a number of other cyclists out for thier Sunday rides as well.  A couple of them stopped at our second SAG stop after seeing all of the bicycles and trailers and were curious as to what we were doing.  We put a good plug in for PAC Tour and made sure they left with a post card so perhaps we may see them on a tour on down the road.

Late in the day, we departed Indiana (thanks, you were great!) and entered Ohio where we will be spending two nights, the first, just over the boarder in Greenville, and tomorrow night in Athens, about 176 miles from Greenville.  I have not looked at the route profile for tomorrow, but the amount of climbing is advertised at 5,800 feet, which should be a good warm up for what appears to be two brutal days in West Virginia and Virginia.  I am imagining that we will begin tomorrow with much of the flat profile we saw in Indiana but start to see some climbs later in the day as we approach Athens.  Anyway, looking forward to tomorrow and having a good ride.  The forecast calls for rain, so it may be a bit of a nasty slog.  We shall see!

Also had a visit from my friend E who hangs out in Fenton MI.  A PAC Tour veteran many times over, E has traded his road bike in for a real machine, the BMW motorcycle pictured below.  I suppose he did need to do more speed work.  We had a great visit and he was able to catch up with other PAC Tour friends from rides past.  PBP in 2011 - will we see a return of the Taveirnimator?

Here are a few pics I snapped today:

Beautiful, quiet, winding country roads in Indiana.

What's cookin' Wayne?

Hello Ohio!

E left his Titan Flex at home and brought out the real muscle

- the Bavarian Mud Wagon

PAC Tour Vehicle 1

Pac Tour Vehicle 2

Day 14: 5/29/10 Effingham, IL to Crawfordsville, IN

Click below for today's route and ride stats:

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/34993743

Little Pink Houses

Great day of riding today.  Much improved over my rather worrysome trek yesterday, all better now!  We rode into Indiana about mid-ride today, Crossroads of America and home of Mr. Mellencamp, so naturally had some of his tunes running through my head throughout the day.

These last few days through Illinois and Indiana have been planned on less traveled roads and have taken us through much of small town America.  It is sad to see that many of these towns are clearly struggling, lots of vacant storefronts, dilapidated buildings and homes and such.  Yet, some of the people we have come into contact with couldn't be more friendly and interested in what we are doing.  It makes me think about how truly fortunate most of us are.

Headwinds again all day today to about 15 mph.  No no, not complaining.  Today I worked in several pace lines which help to minimize the amount of effort required to push into the wind.  As a result of these efforts, we completed our 159 mile day on the early side at just after 4 pm, 5pm local time as we switched into eastern time after crossing into Indiana.

Warm again today.  PAC Tour goes through a great deal of ice each day.  After 10:00 or so each morning, most riders start by filling thier water bottles with ice and then add water or Gatorade to them to provide cooling relief until the next rest stop.  Rest stops are generally spaced between 25 and 30 miles apart, which translates into short breaks about every hour and a half to two hours or so.  I forgot to get insulated bottles, so my ice typically is melted about 20 minutes or so after leaving a rest stop.  By the time I get to the next stop, any leftover water or Gatorade is typically hot, and very unappetizing, especially if it is mixed with some of the protien powder I usually add to provide additional calories.  Mixed with purple Gatorade, it usually has the consistency and look of dirty bath water.  Yuck!

Now here's something I am embarrassed to confess.  In the afternoons, I usually slack back a bit on calories during the hotter portion of the day and go with one bottle of Gatorade and one bottle of straight ice water.  I will sip on the ice water and occasionally squirt some on my back and legs to provide some evaporative cooling.  Well, wouldnt you know it, I got my bottles mixed up and wound up dowsing myself with Gatorade.  Got real sticky of course, so I essentially became human flypaper.  Didnt catch any flys but plenty of gnats.  Especially good to get back to a nice shower this afternoon.

Hoping for another "easier" day tomorrow, again lower milage and predominatly flat as we pull into the western edge of Ohio in Greenville where I hope to meet up with a friend.  Hard to believe there are only five riding days ahead until we reach our destination in Williamsburg.  After tomorrow, we have some really tough days ahead.  Hopefully the legs can make the final push!

Here are a few pics I snapped today.

Ice Ice Baby.  The happening spot at everey rest stop.

Ducking the wind in a pace line.

A good place to be on a day like today.

Hey kids, they even have a Medieval Times out here.

Actually, it's Eastern Illinois University.

Susan out for a spin this afternoon.

Crossing the Vermillion River

Day 13: 5/28/10 St. Louis, MO to Effingham, IL

Click below to review today's route and ride stats:
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/34876183

PAC Tour - When Even Your Easy Days Can be Tough

Today was a day we were all eagerly awaiting, entering much flatter Illinois, and a relatively low milage day at 145, a true recovery opportunity.  We started out from St. Louis a half an hour earlier than normal, presumably to avoid traffic in downtown St. Louis.  We stayed somewhere on the outskirts south of town and moved to the northeast toward downtown past the Gateway Arch and north along the river to cross on a pedestrian/bike only bridge. 

Things were humming along just wonderfully, we all rode in a group at an easy pace, down to the Arch, took a group photo, and proceeded north along a bike trail along the levies.  Along the trail I flatted along some railroad tracks, having two spare tubes, I waved everyone on and proceeded to fix the flat.  The first replacement tube I loaded and just as I started to inflate it, the valve stem popped out and ruined the tube.  Bugger!  As I loaded my second and last tube I pumped it up just shy of normal pressure and as I released the pump, pssssssssst, the second valve stem blew out.  Now I am stuck.

I called Lon who we just saw about a mile ago and he explained that he was having troubles of his own, the support minivan he was driving also had a flat.  That, and he could'nt get to me on the bike path anyway with a vehicle.  I told him I would ride the flat back to him and pick up some new tubes.  As I backtracked along the bike trail, Lon rode his bike to meet me, gave me three spare tubes and went back on his way.  I quickly fixed up, and got back on my way.  With all of that messing around, the group was already a half an hour ahead of me and I hadn't even gotten to the first SAG stop.

Gratefully, Susan was waiting for me at the SAG, so I could quickly fill bottles grab a bite for my pockets and we both needed to quickly get on our way.  Susan has to support other riders up the road and get lunch rolling, so there is not a lot of spare time to be waiting on lagging riders, like me.  She was great.  Without food and fluids, I would not have made it to the next stop, another 25 miles up the road.  Thanks Susan!

I proceeded toward the Chain of Rocks Bridge, which I believe is the old Route 66 bridge, which is closed to vehicular traffic.  On the bridge, I found Lynn who had heard of my misfortune and waited up for me.  What a fantastic gesture!  I was happy to have her company on what I thought otherwise might have been a solo day on the bike as I certainly would not have caught up to anyone else in our group.  Thanks Lynn!

Shortly after crossing the bridge into Illinois, we made another tactical error, that is, we got lost.  We missed a turn which was not labeled at the intersection and my milage on my bike computer no longer matched the route cards due to my earlier backtracking.  Even by adjusting the math, it didn't come out that we were due to turn yet.  In any event, we went several miles out of our way before we realized something was not right and had to back track along the route.  More lost time!

We rode a nicely paved bike trail to the second stop in Edwardsville, where we met up with Mike, who also found himself off course.  The three of us set out from the SAG together, and wouldn't you know it, we missed another turn and went yet another several miles out of our way before realizing things were not right.

Lost another half hour.  Lynn and I were getting a bit panicky to say the least, as neither of us wanted to be forced to be driven (sagged) up the road to keep pace with the rest of the group.  We both were fearful that we would miss the lunch trailer which was the fourth stop on the day at just over 100 miles.  With a low milage day, getting this far off track was not a hugh problem, as there was still plenty of daylight available to finish the ride before dark.  Nonetheless, it is no fun to be playing catch-up all day on what was supposed to be a slow recovery day.

Lynn and I rode with great purpose in trying to get to lunch before it closed.  Not to sound whiny, but I will be, we were also heading into, you guessed it, a steady headwind.  We made it to the lunch stop just after 2 pm.  Whew.  John N. also hung back at the lunch stop to help us get to the finish.  John is a veteran PAC Tour rider and his kind gesture and assistance to us was greatly appreciated.

With all of the misfortunes we encountered today, we wound up rolling into Effingham as the last group off the road, only about 10 minutes after the previous group to arrive.  As with the completion of every day on PAC Tour, you quickly erase the bumps and mishaps along the way and are thankful to be off the bike to get ready for another day tomorrow.

Here are a few pics I took along the way today:

This cleat, which is attached to bottom of shoe, was spanking new 10 days ago.

Now is useless having come 2,000 miles already.

Rolling out to St. Louis in early morning.

Entering downtown St. Louis.

Some local art along the levy.

Gateway Arch, "Gateway to the East"

Partial Arch.

Smaller arches

Crossing Mississippi on Chain of Rocks Bridge (old Route 66)

On the bridge with St. Louis in backgroud.  Do gnomes live in that house?

Bicycle gate in small Illinois town.  New meaning to "chain" link fence!

Super bedspread at the Motel 6.

Honey, I ordered the queen size, it ships tomorrow!

Day 12: 5/27/10 Osage Beach, MO to St. Louis, MO

Click below to review today's route and ride stats:

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/34795054

More roller coasters today.

Today's ride was another tough day, the last of three sucessive high milage days with a good amount of climbing to boot.  Felt much stronger today than yesterday, probably because I am aclimating better to the high humidity and heat. 

We have now reached the Mississippi River (just about, we roll over it tomorrow morning) which represents about the 2/3rds point of our journey.  We headed out again this morning on Route 54 (I think we have been on this since Kansas) and had some early morning climbing along the highway, although it was at very gentle grades, much welcome relief from the steep rollers we experienced on the second half of yesterday.  We rode though Jefferson City, directly past the Capitol building before getting off the highway to a much calmer route 94 which headed east along the Missouri River valley.  As you might expect, this section was relatively flat, however, just before lunch at the 93 mile mark, Route 94 kicked us up into the hills for four steep climbs at grades of 10 percent or more.  The KATY trail, which is 225 miles long, followed most of route 94 for our trip today.  We rode portions of this trail today to avoid some heavy traffic areas.  This ran right along the banks of the Missori much of the way.

As we moved closer to St. Louis, there was a great deal of traffic congestion in the mid afternoon hours.  We saw some roller coasters other than the hills we were climbing as we passed by Six Flags.  Just as we were thinking our last 20 miles would be relatively uneventful, Lon routed us on a six mile section into the hills with some grades as high as 15%.  Ouch!  Not what we were hoping for after 160 miles in the saddle.  We trudged up these hills at about 4 mph, basically a nice steady walking pace.  Very scenic in the hills, lots of woods and meandering turns.  Each time we turned a corner thinking a descent was on the way, the road kicked up again.  Difficult, but lots of fun.

The next several days should be shorter and flatter as we head into Illinois and Indiana.  We start riding a half hour earlier than usual, so hopefully we will have more time to unwind at the end of the day.

Here are a few pics I took today:

Leaving Osage Beach in the cool morning.

Capitol Building in Jefferson, MO

Crossing the Missouri

One of many rollers today (picture does not do it justice)

On the Katy Trail

PAC Tour is Six Flags Fun!

Day 11: 5/26/10 Yates Center, KS to Osage Beach, MO

Click below to review today's route and ride stats:

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/34688338

Holy Rollers!  I Don't Think we're in Kansas Anymore

Today was a brutally difficult day.  185 miles in 90+ degree heat and humidity of Missouri.  We rode from Yates Center about 60 miles to the Missouri boarder.  It was a good feeling to finally get windy Kansas behind us.  With the exception of a few turns along the way, I don't believe we got any favorable winds out of Kansas.  Missouri was not much different thus far.  Winds still blowing out of the northeast during most of the morning.

We rode the first 60 miles to the Missouri border, and just at about that time, the terrain began to make a significant change.  Kansas from west to east is pretty much dead flat, with some rolling terrain beginning in the eastern section of the state.  Missouri, on the other hand is incredibly hilly most the way across thus far.  We spent most of the afternoon yo-yo-ing up and down this hill and that.  These "rollers" are a bit different than the ones I have riden frequently in south-central Wisconsin.  Missouri rollers are much longer in their duration, making the rider slog up one side at 8 mph, and down the back side at 25 mph.  Repeat about 100 times, and well, you've made a day of it.  Add to that humidity and temps in the mid 90's and you've got a very long day.

Me and Lynn somewhere between points A and B

Today I rode with Lynn from start to finish.  Lynn is an incredibly strong rider who kept me in the game throughout the day.  The legs did not seem to have the get-up-and-go which I have had thoughout most of the tour thus far, so Lynn and I decided to take it "easy" today.  We didnt smash any records, but we got in at about 6:45 this evening, just over 12 hours of riding for the day.  The countryside was very pretty to look at but apparently very hazzardous for wildlife. 

Our roadkill survey this day puts turtles at the top of the mortality list, followed by armadillos, snakes and frogs.  I was amazed at the number of turtles Missouri has.  Lynn and I did do our part to save as many as we could as we rode.  We took one young lad who was traveling with traffic to the side, gave him a good talking to, and released him to his watering hole.

Sorry I do have to run.  I am really beat and need to get to sleep!  Tomorrow's journey to St. Louis will be very scenic, but as difficult, if not moreso than today.  After St. Louis, we will get some "shorter" and "flatter" days as we enter Illinois and Indiana.

Here are a few pics I took today:

Camera shy - Perhaps because we scolded him for walking on the roadway.

So long Kansas, welcome Missura

Susan cooking up a favorite, grilled cheese and tomato.

Lunch is a favorite time of the day!

You can find Nemo about 5 miles to the south.

Y?  Sometimes I ask myself the same question.  ... because it's PAC Tour!

Me and Lynn, happy to have made it through a very tough day.

Day 10: 5/25/10 Pratt, KS to Yates Center, KS

Click below to review today's route and ride stats:
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/34590344

We awoke today in Pratt under the threat of rain.  Got up and poked my head out of the room, and all was dry.  Got dressed and went out 15 minutes later and there was a pretty steady rain.  Went back in and got my rain gear.  And by the time we left the rain had essentially stopped.

Ready for rain - just before setting out from Pratt.

When you sign up for this sort of thing, you realize that you will be riding in a variety of weather conditions.  You dont have to like it, but you do need to accept it.  We were geared up for a pretty miserable day slogging away in the rain.  As it turned out, today was quite pleasant the whole day.

The morning part of the ride was wet with lots of road splash but as afternoon arrived, the sun came out and it was a beautiful day.  We did have one rider crash on some wet railroad tracks, but she appears to be OK which is a relief.  The rides are hard enough already without having to nurse injuries.

John (right) was popular to follow today.  He went with the fenders today.

There is not much more I can say about Kansas except for that it is a very long state and the terrain is pretty much the same ... flat.  As we are moving toward the eastern edge of the state, we are starting to encounter more rolling terrain which leads us into a pretty tough day tomorrow as we enter Missouri.

Perhaps the biggest reason today was such a long day was a preponderance of mechanical issues with bicycles, mostly flat tires.  Of the roughly 18 riders on the road today, there were more than 30 flats.  I was fortunate to have only one.  The record goes to the one tandem on the trip, which I believe had more than 5.  The tandem also broke a bottom bracket (the thingy the crank arms go into).  Lon and the crew worked flawlessly to keep everyone rolling down the road. 

My only flat today.

Things warmed/dried up nicely toward the end of the day.

But ... the next set of thuderstorms brewing in the distance.

Tomorrow we move into Missouri which I am told gets to be very hilly, and at 185 miles will be another long hard day.  Looking forward to leaving Kansas and into a new state.

Eureka!  We are half way there.

Finally, today we crossed the half way point on our journey with only nine days to go untill we arrive at the Atlantic Ocean.  In many respects, this trip is long and difficult, but in others, you are already starting to realize it wont be that much longer until this adventure will come to an end.  Thus far, it has been a wonderful experience.  I have met many wonderful new people and have seen some amazing countryside and I am truly coming to grips with just how large this country is.

Old-Time Motel Tonight - The Townsman

We are staying at the Townsman Motel tonight.  Wow, what a throwback to the olden days!  Complete with dark brown shag carpeting, dark wood paneling, and linoleum tile and lamenate countertops in the bathroom, this is the most rustic of our accomodations thus far.  Has Wi-Fi ... go figure!

Any way, its getting late, big day tomorrow.

I had the camera bagged up most of the day, I will try to post a few pics tomorrow.

Day 9: 5/24/10 Ulysses, KS to Pratt, KS

Click below to review today's route and ride stats:
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/34461650

Still Windy

Boy oh boy, does Kansas have wind!  Another 151 miles today pushing into very strong and continuous head and cross winds, between 25 and 30 mph from start to finish.  For those of you from Chicago who think the winds are always blowing out of the west in the spring and summer, think again.  This was a very tough day.

Wind going the wrong way!

The Stars and Stripes say it all!

My ears are still ringing from the constant pounding of wind.  Along the route, you could see birds flying into it and basically standing still.  Not a whole lot in terms of scenery on the ride today.  Endless fields of green wheat crops looked like rough rolling seas which was pretty cool.

Waves of grain

And here's something exciting ... lots of cattle yards to go by.  Peee youuu!   And with them, come lots of cattle trucks, whith thier leaking loads.  So, one redeeming factor related to our strong SSE winds today was the fact that the contents of the trucks blew to the left, and not on us. Not pretty.

Our beautiful weather streak ended today with predominantly cloudy skies and a half dozen or so light rain showers throughout the day.  Temps were warm, into the mid 80s, so the rain kept us cool.  By the end of the day, everything was caked with road grime, bikes and riders alike.  All got a good washdown once we rolled into Pratt.

Politial lawn ornaments outside of Mullinville, KS

Nowhere to duck the wind.

Good spot for these puppies.

Rain coats back on after lunch.

Great day to share the work with friends.

The forecast for tomorrow calls for continued headwinds, however at greatly reduced speeds so things should be much more manageable than they were today.

I took no pictures today because of the rain ... so I stole a bunch Susan and the crew took!