But it's a Dry Wind (June 22, 2015)

 

The rain, or rather the threat of rain, finally went away several days ago, which allowed for joyful days of riding from Chanute to Eureka, then the following day on into Newton (all in Kansas).  Those days were particularly enjoyable as I had met up with three west-bound riders ... but alas, due to a miscommunication on my part I am again traveling solo.

Upon leaving Newton, a new weather pattern set in ... high-velocity wind ... east-bound wind ... 15-to-20 mph headwind wind.  Oh my!  This weather pattern has remained for three days now.  To this "in your face" weather element, throw in temperatures in the high 80s to mid 90s, then mix in a heaping dose of humidity ... I am kinda thinking Tucson's 105 may not be so bad.

Yesterday's ride was kind of hard.  Prior to leaving Hutchenson, I looked at the road map and saw that there were several towns spaced approximately 7 to 10 miles apart on the way to Pratt.  Even though I knew it would be very windy, I figured there would be many opportunities to refill the water bottles and get some food along the way ... not so!  The towns shown on the map are little more than a grain tower with a few homes and some boarded up former (1910ish) commercial structures.

53 miles into a strong headwind to get to Pratt ... sipping at my limited water ... falling into a bit of a dazed mental zone.  About three miles outside of Pratt I had quite a scare.  The pavement to the right of the white line was about 4' wide, and in my dazed mental state I was pretty much in the center of that area.  As I trudged along, I was visually focusing on a spot about 5' out in front of me, and since I was wearing my visor I had no awareness of what was going on farther up the road.  All of a sudden, there was an eighteen wheeler about 3' to my left ... going the opposite direction at about 70 mph!  He was in the process of passing another truck.  After cursing the driver and his mother, I stopped, changed into a clean pair of riding shorts, and continued on into Pratt. 

Thinking the worst had passed (pun intended), I headed to a convenience store with the intent of purchasing the product that had been my primary motivation during the last 15 miles ... a few cold beers.  Alas, Pratt County does not allow sales of alcohol on Sundays ... I'm thinking Tucson's 105 may not be so bad.  Also I was wondering in what century this county is living.

This brings me to today's ride.  Left Pratt at 6:30 this morning with the intent of getting as many miles in as I could prior to the wind picking up.  Ha!, it had already picked up!  Five hours later I reached the town of Greensburg, which is 32 miles from Pratt.  My intent was to try and reach Dodge City (77 miles from Pratt), and after stopping for drinks and some food in Greensburg, I decided to head on to Dodge City.  About 3 miles beyond Greensburg I called B.S. on that idea, made a u-turn ... and enjoyed a wonderful tailwind back into town.  Will head to Dodge City tomorrow.

As Roseanne Roseannadanna used to say on Saturday Night Live, "It's always something!"  And so it seems on this particular ride.  But because I enjoy the experience of touring, even though it wears me down from time-to-time, I continue on.

All in all, it wasn't the dry wind that got me down yesterday ... it was the "dry" county!!

'Tis Wet Out Here (June 17, 2015)

Lots of rain the past three or four days ... lots.

As summarized in the previous post, I had gone "off route" in search of less climbing.  Mostly I succeeded ... not so much four days ago riding from Rolla to Lebanon (Missouri).  I mistakenly put my trust in Google Map which turned out to be a huge mistake.  After typing in the start/finish points, I selected the route that indicated I would be following the Old Highway 66 route.  I guess what they really meant was the "REALLY,  REALLY OLD Highway 66 ... route included about five miles of extremely remote and steep single lane paved road and about ten miles of even more remote unpaved  steep single lane road.  Most unenjoyable and very discouraging.  Add in getting soaked by rain twice (second time the last ten miles into Lebanon), and it made for a most difficult day.  After a so-so Mexican food dinner, I returned to my motel room around 8:30 and sat down to do some crossword puzzles ... awoke in the chair around 1:30 A.M.  Long and tiring day.

During my (dry) approach to Lebanon, I talked with a State Trooper to see if bicycles are allowed on Missouri Interstates (in Tennessee they are not).  Indeed bikes are allowed, although he clarified that I should stay in the safety lane.  I told him with just a touch of sarcasm that I had thought about riding in the fast lane ... fortunately he had a sense of humor.

The advantage of riding the Interstate is that there is almost a total lack of steepness, and the pavement surfaces are mostly quite good.  Plus the safety lane is approximately 12' wide, so you can ride far removed from the traffic.  I think riding the Interstates is actually safer than riding roads that have no shoulder/safety lanes.

So I rode I-44 from Lebanon to Springfield, then Springfield to Carthage (again, all in Missouri), and got soaked two times each day.   It is fairly warm, so it is not too uncomfortable.  I am in Pittsburg, KS this morning, looking out at a downpour ... looks like another wet day.  Back on the TransAm route and looking at about two weeks of riding flat Kansas rural roads prior to reaching Colorado.

Quick summary ... today is the start of week thirteen, and I have logged just over 4,000 miles since leaving Globe, AZ.  On a side note, I realized yesterday upon entering Kansas that over the past seven summers of touring, I have been in 41 of the 50 U.S. states (have not been in Connecticut, Rhode Island, South Carolina, North Carolina, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Alaska, Hawaii and Colorado).  It was not, and is not a goal of mine to ride in all 50 ... just an observation.

Time to head out into the rain ... oh, joy!

Adaptability ... (June 13, 2015)

... or avoidance??

Once again I have gone "off-route" in order to avoid what I perceive to be unnecessary brutal climbing.  The TransAm route in Missouri takes one through the Ozarks in what looks to be nothing but back-road climbs ... climbs that often get into the 8% to 10% grade.  I have been searching out highways that run roughly parallel to the TransAm.   The grades on these highways, while longer, rarely exceed 6%.

I have been following the journal of a guy I met back on my first day in Virgina.  Joel Kampf is an excellent writer, and if you read his posts regarding the Ozarks I think you will see why I am searching out alternative routes.

Yesterday, riding into Rolla, Missouri in a downpour (and with a missing rear brake pad ... damned rumble strips!!), I came upon the Historic U.S. 66 route.  Adventure Cycling has recently been promoting this route as a new path for touring cyclist.  I plan on following this route to Joplin, Missouri, then rejoin the TransAm in the flatness of Kansas.  Sounds like a plan to me ... unless it gets to be too much in the climbing category.

So, time to load up the bike and continue westward.  Rain storms predicted for the next several afternoons, which sounds bad.  Actually, getting soaked feels good after being out in the high heat and humidity.

On a completely different note, I was wondering the other day how the word "noon" became synonymous with 12:00 A.M.  Things I think about while pedaling down the road. I suppose I could Google it and find out,  but that would take the mystery out of it.

Life ain't so great these days, but it does continue ...

Inner Peace (June 6, 2015)

When out touring on a pannier-loaded bike, there is a sometimes discomforting feeling when one feels the affect of a quickly deflating tire ... "Damn, another flat!!"

While I have experienced that emotion four times over the past week, I (more importantly) have experienced a different emotion due to another type of "flat".

Having chosen to leave the ACA TransAm route and ride across Tennessee, I have greatly enjoyed the relative flatness of the terrain.  Has there been a total lack of climbing?  No, but the climbing has not been the leg-killing type that is offered up in western Virginia/eastern Kentucky.  As a matter-of-fact, the past two days have been as depicted in the adjacent photo.

The riding between Knoxville and Nashville, while containing numerous long climbs, was most affected by weather.  The storms that flooded Texas and Oklahoma passed overhead, but dropped plenty of water along the way.  Four separate times I was drenched ... but much like the dry heat of the Arizona desert, the warm Tennessee air allowed the drenching to be bearable (please note, I am not saying "enjoyable").

I am currently in southern Kentucky, heading northwest from Nashville, and will be rejoining the TransAm route today in Marion, KY.

Was the decision to abandon the TransAm route and drop down into Tennessee the right decision?  As I do not plan to ever ride the "abandoned" section, that is a question I can not answer.  Was it a good decision?  Yes.

Since leaving Arizona ten-and-a-half weeks ago, I have logged just under 3500 miles ... and should I finish up the ride in Astoria, OR in mid-to-late August I will be putting in another 3200 miles.  When I was faced with the "route dilemma" ten days ago, I was physically tired and mentally the joy of touring had disappeared.  This morning I am feeling joyfully rested.

The flat tire situation has not reared its' ugly head over the past few days, as I replaced the tire I bought back in Ashland, VA with the spare booted-tire I carry for such situations ... and I have ordered a new set of Schwalbe Marathon Plus tires from a bike shop  in Farmington, MO (which I plan on reaching mid-week next week).  Ah ... inner (tube) peace.

Heading back to the route today I am feeling good, both physically and mentally.  Dare I say it, life is good ... inner peace allows it to be so. 

Inner Turmoil (May 30, 2015)

Four days ago, I found myself sitting in a library with several maps and road atlases spread out on a table.  What to do ... which route to follow?  The previous eight or nine days had been filled (nay, overloaded) with short steep climbing.  While staying reasonably on track with the Adventure Cycling TransAm route, I had started to ride busier roads rather than head off onto the roads suggested on the maps ... roads with names such as "Stagecoach Road" or "Old (insert name of small town) Road".   Even the busier roads had endless climbing, but the steepness of the climbs was less and lengths longer ... even so, this was taking a toll on my legs and on my morale as well.

So there I was, surrounded by maps, trying to determine how I would be traveling over the coming three weeks.  Was I to stay on the ACA route or was I to head down to Tennessee and follow "god knows what" routes.  Looking at the ACA route, I did not see any of the "near-by busier roads" that would alleviate some of the climbing.   Looking at the Tennessee highway maps ... well, there was too much inner turmoil to select a route, and I was really not too sure if Tennessee would be any different than western Virginia and Kentucky (TransAm route) ... stomach-roiling indecision at its' finest.

I had to make a decision that would be implemented immediately upon walking out of the library.

Here is what really freaked me out (click on the picture below for an enlarged view):

These three "profile" panels represent the coming 1,000 miles (three weeks) I would be riding were I to stay on the TransAm route.  I am fully aware that the horizontal is greatly fore-shortened, which results in much steeper verticals, but that does not reduce the number of climbs. 

At this point, a thinking person may ask, "Is this the first time you looked at the maps/profiles?"  Unfortunately, my answer would be, "Yep'"

In John Steinbeck's Travels with Charlie, he takes people who "over-plan a trip and adhere unwaveringly to that plan" to task.  I wonder what he would have had to say about people such as I, who seemingly are oblivious to the concept of "planning".  Truthfully, my plan for this bike ride was simply to ride to Florida on the Southern Tier route, up the coast, then west on TransAm.  That was/is the depth of the plan I developed ... did I bother to look at the maps prior to leaving Tucson?  Nope.  Sitting in that library was the first time I looked at the maps with the profiles.

I just read a journal entry of a guy I met earlier this month.  He is riding the TransAm, and just entered Kentucky the other day ... does not sound like he is having a good time.  (Note to Linda Matson and Mark Doumas (Linda and Mark rode that route recently):  feel free to share your thoughts on the TransAm route in eastern Kentucky and western Virginia).

I am currently in Knoxville, Tennessee.  The riding has been, for me, much easier.  The roads I have selected are much busier, but the legs are much happier ... and for this moment, there is less inner turmoil tugging at my soul. 

My, Oh My ... (May 26, 2015)

My, oh my, oh my ... this part of the country sure is wrinkled!  In all of my various bike rides over the past seven summers I have never experienced the amount of short, painful, repetitive climbing that is required to move forward, as I have experienced in the last week or so ... and it looks to continue for the coming weeks.

My, oh my.  The routes suggested on the Adventure Cycling maps take cyclist off into some very extreme back roads loaded with short ups-and-downs.  Having had my fill of such climbs, I have opted to ride the main highways (not Interstates) so as to  minimize the number and the steepness of climbs required.  Even so, the climbing is relentless, tiring ... and quite often demoralizing.

There are bright spots, tho.  The other night I was most fortunate to spend the evening with Wendy and Steve Richards at their farm outside of Lexington, VA.  Tucson friends Claire and Bob Rogers are also visiting.  Wendy and Steve (couple on the left in the above picture) have been living on the farm for thirty years and have built a beautiful calming oasis.  It was so good to spend time talking, laughing and relaxing with friends.

Time to start loading up the bike and heading out on the road for another day of climbing.  Even though the days are difficult, the scenery is beyond beautiful ... my, oh my.

Contrasting Days (May 22, 2015)

After reaching Charlottesville on Tuesday after a long and tedious day, on Wednesday I decided to do the short ride out to Monticello and just take it easy.

What a beautiful day it turned out to be ... both from the stand point of weather and personal enjoyment.  After reaching Monticello, I took the tour of Thomas Jefferson's residence, then spent a couple of hours just roaming around and soaking in the history and the beauty of the estate.  Wonderful break from the daily biking experience.

After leaving Monticello, I did another short ride into Charlottesville and got a motel room, with the intention of heading on to Afton on Thursday.  The fabled "Cookie Lady" was based in Afton;  She offered lodging and cookies to over 15,000 touring cyclist prior to her death in 2010 ... kind of a landmark for those riding the TransAm.  This area is extremely hilly, and makes for (me) very tiring days, so the reasonably short distance of 35 miles was not looked upon (by me) as an easy day.

Upon waking Thursday (yesterday), rain was falling and the high temperature for the day was projected to be in the mid 50s.  Not being overly motivated, and having no schedule deadlines to meet, I opted to take the day off.  Felt a relief not heading out into the wet and cold.

This morning the weather again is beautiful ... but the hills remain.  Next few days promise to be hard on the legs.  Motivation was added yesterday when I received a message from Claire Rogers ... she and Bob are visiting friends in Lexington, VA, which I will be reaching in the next few days. 

Good weather and the promise of seeing good friends.  That is a real contrast to the grayness of yesterday.