Detours

First, Peter Pillman called it right, I believe, the butterfly is the Gulf Fritillary.  Thanks Peter!

Today, a few of us detoured to Plains to see the 39th presidents home town.  We toured his farm, and according to the park service, just missed Jimmy.  He had been our riding his bike to the farm, to raid the garden just yesterday.  Apparently he has a blue helmet, and two 'fit' companions who ride along with him, in addition to the black SUV "with all the guns in it".  The former President stays in shape !

We then went into Plains to visit his current living compound.  We didn't see much, but a large fence and nice grounds.   Took some shots of Plains and bought some peanuts.   Peanut harvest was in full swing.

From there we went to Andersonville and  the National Prisoner of War Museum.  We were silenced by the sacrifice of our fellow country men and women, from the War of 1812 to the War in Iraq.  

From there, we rode to Perry.  Got to be a longer day, with over 126 miles covered, but we enjoyed the diversions.  

I am working on my summary of this trip.  So far it comes down to the difference between flying across the United States, and biking across the United States.  Immersing yourself in the environment, as opposed to overlooking it.  I will try to start this discussion tomorrow.

We ride to Metta tomorrow.  

Last of Alabama

Can anyone identify this beautiful butterfly that landed on my pedal during the first rest stop today?

I considered it a blessing to have it share my pedal for awhile.  So fragile and so colorful.

The Wisconsin crew leads the way in this peleton.  Steve and Jerry with John for Great Briton on the right.

Jerry Goode and the Connors on the tandem in this line.

The Connors working together on the tandem.

It was a hilly day, so they worked hard, but kept smiling.

Mark, assuming his favorite position with his favorite rice krispy.

Tomorrow we hope to go visit Jimmy Carter in Plains.

Who knows, I may get to shake the hand of one of my hero's.  Georgia here we come.

Arkansas River

Today, was a straight forward day.  Temps in the 80's humid, and sweaty.  We needed to make 126 miles as minimally painful as possible.  

Steve and I rode together the first part of the day, then Walt and I rode together the middle part, and then Paul and I the last third.  In both cases, we worked together to spare one another the pulling for the entire ride.  (Paul Wilcox is on the left, nearing the end of our ride.  Paul is a very good rider and a joy to talk with.)

Jerry hooked up with the "Hole in the tire gang"  to draft most of the day, very similar to what I did the day before.  They are a good group to ride with.  Steady pace, and they don't really push the pace.

Walt crossing the Alabama River just before lunch.  We call Walt the "energizer bunny"  because he is so steady and just keeps going and going, with no interruptions.  Walt and I pulled each other along.

One more day in Alabama, and on to Georgia.

126 miles, 18.2 mph for the day.

Arkansas today

116 miles and into the state of Alabama.

Yahoo, it was more of a rest day for me.  I hung back and kept the 5000 feet of climbing under control.  Not allowing my legs to burn or explode.  When you have 20 consecutive 100 mile days (uncharted territory for me) you really don't know what to expect from your legs.

From my bike, I expect alot.  And the S-works performed well today on the chip seal, while the aluminum bikes rattled the riders to death.

Lon is assisting our Australian buddy with his TREK.  

The red line is getting across the country, and starting to impress me, i.e. getting closer to the Atlantic, and making me smile.

The goal from here on out is to avoid complacency and accidents.  That is my prayer.

116 miles 15.5 mph, 5600 feet elevation.

Lost early and then 150 miles, oouch!

The "lost' gang, conferring about directions and reading their maps.    Steve Brown is in the center of the photo with the orange/red shirt on.

We ended up adding 5 miles to the route as a result of our faux paux.  That doesn't sound like much, but add that on to 145 mile day, and it gets your attention.  Especially when the hills began to appear at about the 105 mile mark.  They were not big, 4 to 11% grade, but after that many miles, and unexpected, they tend to wear you down.  I completely and totally fried my legs on a couple of them.  As Brian LaVoy would say, I 'burnt my last match" while leading the pace line, for my shift in the front.

I for one, was completely and totally wiped out.

  Bob Sweany from New Jersey, is a fun guy to bike with.  He is well read, and a great conversationalist.  He happens to be an EMT Doctor, also.

The Kudzu is starting to show up now along the roads.  This viney weed has basically taken over the humid/wet southeast US. It is pretty, but very smothering to other plant life.

I did see some cypress bayou's, but no alligators.  

The Swede's and the New Jersey crew, asked me to join them for a while today.  I rode with them to the 2nd rest stop, and then joined Jerry and Mark for the rest of the way.  Although they finished a few minuted ahead of me, because they were racing for the town sign.  I had no race in my legs.   We ended up covering 150 miles in less than 7 hours with an average speed of 19 mph.  

I am toast tonight.  I hope the weekend is easier.  I need some recovery rides.

We're down to 6 riding days.  We've got well over 2200 miles in already.

Crossing the Mighty Mississippi

Bobby crossing the Arkansas River.

We experienced  very smooth landscapes full of cotton and soybeans, along with a fair amount of rice and millet.

An early morning pace line formed and transported Jerry and I for the entire day.   137 miles in less than 7 hour, with a 19.2 mph average.

A short break at the Mississippi state line for pictures.  We had just crossed the mighty Mississippi River, and tangled with fast moving trucks on a narrow span bridge.  To close for our comfort, but we all made it just fine.

Steve Brown tackles one of the bridges we crossed today.

Mississippi here we come.  The Lebanese restaurant in Clarksburg has been the highlight of the trip for eating.  Fantastic food in a little cafe; kibbie's, tabouli, grape leaves, cabbabe leaves, humus, baclava, cream pie, and sweet ice tea.  Just excellent healthy food.

Tomorrow is another long ride of 144 miles.  Alabama is next.

Musing in the woods of Arkansas

Internet continues to be an interesting issue for me, in these small southern towns.   It's probably not the towns, as much as the motels we are staying in.  Lets just say, they are not the best motels in town.

This is a shot of the guys I have dubbed the "hole in the tire gang"  aka the New Jersey Swedish Connection.   Hans and Bengt are from Stockholm, and Bob and Lenny are from NJ.  Great guys, but they get lots of flat tires!!! :)

On day 5 of this ride, I was wondering if I was going to make it another day, say nothing of making it to the Atlantic Ocean.  I looked at myself in the mirror, and concluded that I was really running myself down fast, and that with 21 more days to go, I figured, I just couldn't keep doing this to myself.  So, I asked the old timers on the ride, how I was supposed to recover, while at the same time riding every day?  They kinda looked at me, and smiled and really didn't offer much advice.  (Little did I know, that every other rider was asking the same question, they were just not willing to express it, out loud)  So, I determined that if I did not feel some recovery of my strength and my legs, after day 10, I was going to take a day off.  I figured, I wanted to enjoy some parts of this ride, and that without recovery, it was going to be excruciatingly painful the whole way.

Well low and behold, after day 6, we had a day, the was long like all the days, but with less mountains, and less wind, and apparently, my legs and body, were able to recover some.  I jsut spun with little or no stress on the legs, relatively.  Then we got 2 days in a row like that, and my legs recovered more.  The wierd part is, my mind keeps telling me, you can't do this, but my legs keep doing it, especially after they get an easier day (relatively).  

So, here is my thought process now, as I approach a big hill, or a daunting wind.  My mind says, " you don't have much left, you can't have much left, can't you feel your legs, they hurt already".  I feel the pain, but the legs keep going, they go right through the pain, the ache the burn.  And they just keep going, even as the my mind say, you don't have much left in the tank.   The capacity for suffering, has increased significantly, and the reserves of power in my legs have increased alot also.  They adapted to the stress, and got lots stronger.

So, my conclusion is, my mind has not caught up with my legs.  Usually, its the other way around.  The mind says, "you can do this", and then the various muscles fail, or can't achieve the desired goal.  But now, after a full spring, summer and fall of riding, well over 5000 miles, with 16 straight days of over 100 miles/day, my mind is out of touch with my legs.  Lost control, I guess :)?

So, can you imagine, as I am going down the road, pedaling away.  My mind and my legs are going back and forth with this discussion.  

Well finally today, my mind, lightened up a bit, and started to think about making it to the Atlantic Ocean.  Putting alittle confidence in these legs and this body, that has risen to the challenge, adapted to the stress, and recovered when recovery seem impossible.

I thought some of you would like to see this dialog, because I am absolutely positive, that most anyone could do this, because God has designed absolutely incredible bodies for each one of us. 

What the next phase of this trip will be, I don't know.  But I don't plan to get over confident.  I will take each segment, one at a time.  Eat right, sleep, and try to recharge as much as possible.  Thanks so much for your support, your prayers, and your kind words.  

Today was another short day, about 93 miles with less than 1500 feet of climbing to Pine Bluff.  Tomorrow is a long day, 144 miles to Clarksdale, and a new state, Mississippi.  We'll say on the river, so that will be fun, because I do so much work on the Mississippi River in Wisconsin.

Arkansas back roads

Sue our Chef for lunch and Lon's wife.

OOpps, John and his puppy.  Couldn't resist this picture.

We have puppies to give away, see John and Susanna.

Paul Wilcox from New Jersey, and I rode together most of the day today.  This was a dam just outside of Arkadelphia.

Our legs were heavy, and not much good for anything, so its good we only had to go 87 miles and only 3500 feet of climbing.  I hurt the whole way.  Paul and I were the first ones to the motel today.  

Paul got a shot of me.  These Arkansas back roads were so scenic and clean.  We no longer had the road kill smell of Oklahoma.   If you didn't know you were in Arkansas, you would have thought you were in northern Wisconsin.  Except if you walk into the woods in Arkansas, you would find lizards and snakes and stuff.  Unlike the north woods.

Double pic, can't figure out how to delete it.

Paul & I hard at it.  Notice the same facial expression.  Something like, when is this going to end? :)

My bike looking up at me. As I go down the road.  I can still smile, but I do get alitte testy and moody.   So what I do is, I shorten my rest stops and lunch breaks, and ride on.  It helps me feel better, like I am going to get to the motel sooner, and get a break for my legs.   Right now, they feel like I can't flex them.  

We will walk to Cracker Barrel restaurant for dinner tonight, and walking is supposed to help them.  We walk every night to dinner, and so far, the walking effect is fair to poor.  I would just as soon have someone drive me.

Naaah really, its going just fine.  We're tired, and drawn, but hey, we are over 1800 miles into the trip, with a grand to go.

As my Dad always loved to say to me,  "When the go'in gets tough, the tough get go'in!"  So....I better keep moving on down the road.  One pedal stroke at a time.  

Other Tour Photos

This is what we look like every morning after breakfast, just prior to getting on our bikes.

We load our bags, and then hope on the bikes and ride for the rest of the day.   We get photographers and visitors who look on and watch also.

Bobby's birthday party. Bobbie is in the dark shirt in the front.  He turned 40.   This was a lunch stop a few days ago.

Serenaded by Meadowlarks/Climbing Talimena Parkway

  

As we left Weatherford, we were serenaded by western meadowlarks for over 30 miles.  I was so pleased to hear the translucent call of my favorite bird for much of your ride.

(Yes, I am behind in my blog)

Here we have Jerry trying to reset his computer.  He always seems to have trouble with it in the morning.

Steve and Jerry made the climb on the Talimena Parkway to the 72 mile mark and our lunch stop. They seem to think they are more efficient with these shaved heads.  I don't think so.  My hair is staying on.  :)  We climbed 8000 feet in the last 50 miles of this ride, and it seemed the mountains would never end.  Temperatures cooled off significantly at the top of the mountains.  The scenery was fantastic.  I can say that it was one of the toughest bike rides I have ever had.  We'll see if I can recover for a 90 mile short ride tomorrow (Tuesday).

Mike Birdsong and I couldn't help ourselves at one of the rest stops.  We both climbed into this WW2 tank.  It was really fun to actually be in the tank.  

Mike Birdsong.  Great guy from Boulder CO.  Fun to get to know.  Likes the white lip look like me.  

Oklahoma looked like WI

Today, the roads we traveled seemed as much like the back roads of Wisconsin as anywhere.

We traveled 112 miles with around 4500 feet of climbing at about 17 mph.  The roads ziged and zaged through Oklahoma farm and ranch country south of Oklahoma City.  For some reason the car on were less kind in Oklahoma than in previous states.  Maybe it was just a bad day for them.

This was a straight forward day of cycling.  We pulled into the rest stops every 25 or so miles and pulled right out.  No museums to view, today.  Temperatures hovered in the low 80's, and we had a slight head or cross wind.  Hard to tell sometimes.

Jerry and I enjoyed riding with Jim and Gerry.  Two of the older gentleman on the ride.  Very experienced cyclist, with years and years of wisdom.  Not to mention the legs and stamina to put us to shame on these long distance rides.   We hung with them though, and enjoyed the conversation about other transcontinental rides that they had done.

Steve picked up a flat tire, but we think it was a defect in the tube rather than a puncture through the tire itself.   So Steve has had two flats, I have had one, and Jerry none so far.

That is much better than many of the riders.  Some individuals have had greater than 15 flats already.

Tomorrow is a similar day, prior to Mondays grueling 10,000 foot day.  The most difficult 50 miles in the US, according to some PAC riders.

My pictures won't upload here because of the difficult Wi Fi.  Thanks for your prayer and support.  My legs are improving, and my bike is holding together, and we are over half way now!  

Texas/Oklahoma Pic

Free pie!

Jerry, Mike Birdsong, Steve Brown had their choice of free pie, for a donation to the Catholic Church in this little town.

Sister Mary's sign and the crew going in.

Bobbie from Texas birthday party, he turned 40.

Jerry on old Rt. 66, looks kinda tough, but it was fun.  We rode about 106 miles today to Wetherford, OK.  We visited Brian and Deb LaVoy's old house in town, and Jerry will put that pic in his blog.

Jerry and Steve on Rt. 66, the Roubaix's really handle the bumps well !

Dad's first jet!  Brought back lots of memories of my Father, and his distinguished Air Force career.

Hodge Podge and catching up

Last stop in New Mexico, Steve and Rick in front of stagecoach before lunch.

Big Texan on Wednesday night.  Big steaks!

Hereford, Texas around lunch.  108 mile ride, with a tail wind.  We arrived at the Big Texan around 3:30 PM CST.

Lots of cattle in feed lots. Not much rotation grazing here!

Pool party in Clovis.  Mark halls is making G & T's for the boys.  All you need is a glass from your hotel room.   Rick brought the ice.

Steve overlooking the caprock outside of Amarillo.

Jerry caught in the ritual he and Rick have.  A quart of chocolate milk as they finish the ride.

Jerry  wants to head to Lubbock.

Steve wants to head to Amarillo.

2nd 100 mile rest day!

Entering New Mexico, we crossed the Rio Grande River and then climbed up a mountain range to the Continental 

Divide.  I remember doing the same climb with my Dad in 1965 on our way to Lubbock, Texas and a new Air Force 

Base.

                                                                                                                                                                             

Boy, did I need these past 2 days.  I would have never ever thought that you could actually rest your legs and your body while performing a century ride, but its true, you can.  I feel 50 % better than 

I felt 2 days ago when we pushed our bikes through 30 mph winds for 11 hours.   I was completely shot, and wondering if I could get my strength back while at the same time continuing to ride such long distances.  Our bodies are 'fearfully and wonderfully made", they adapt to this stuff.

The past 3 days we have traveled through New Mexico.  The scenery has gone from desert sand on the west, mountain pines in the central, and vast grasslands on the east.   Thankfully, the past 2 days we have had winds at our back, and we have been allowed to refresh our legs for future challenges.