I'm starting this blog entry in the a.m. to cover a few things, save it as "draft" and then finish in the evening. I'm not sure that I'll do that every day.
I've fallen into a daily routine. Set my cell phone alarm for 4am (that was an early ring this morning with the time change), get up, make coffee with either the microwave (if there is one) or the coffee maker. To get some early morning carbs I then have a cup of soup (you know, those "instant lunch" soups in a styrofoam cup) -- most of the convenience stores carry them and some of my bran cereal, dry. This morning I tried something different -- I put some bran buds in the styrofoam cup after having the soup and added hot water (impossible to always find milk or yogurt) -- it tastes surprisingly good -- almost identical to having oatmeal.
I get on the computer and check email, then weather, then catch up on the news on cnn, cbc, bbc online. I check the weather again at points along the route -- just to get a mental feel for the hour by hour, so that I can figure out what to wear.
I then start packing up and laying out my clothes for the day. Today I had more clothes out since I got stuff wet yesterday. I was praying for a motel room with a window air conditioner/heater rather than a central unit with a ceiling vent -- and was lucky this time. It's hard to dry your cycling shoes on the ceiling ! Everything is dry -- shoes, gloves, jacket, pants, shorts, shirt, shoe covers, seat back-pack, socks ... a wet day adds much more to the routine.
Oh -- I forgot to mention that upon arrival at the motel yesterday, of course, cleaning the bike is a first priority. You accumulate a lot of sand and muck riding in the rain and have to take care of that right away. Upon my arrival at the motel, even before check-in, I found a hose and hosed myself down -- remember that I was covered with muddy water by that semi at the end of the ride ... and then my bike.
So ... I'm sitting here at this point, clothes mostly packed (I may still change my mind on what to wear), I've had my coffee, soup and cereal ... I have to finish readying my bike (repacking the seat pack) and of course the computer is still out since I'm typing this. It's 5:30 at this point and I'll dawdle for a few more minutes and then start getting dressed.
Getting dressed has its own routine -- lotion to combat saddle sores, then put on shorts, then suntan lotion everywhere that might be exposed. I put suntan lotion on yesterday as well, even though nothing ended up being exposed besides my face. The last time that I rode off without suntan lotion was in Florida, going to Bev & Bruce's -- the weather forecast would have me in the shade all day but the sun came out 1/2 hour into the ride and I baked. Luckily I had enough of a tan that I didn't burn but that much UV is not good for you. ... back to the routine -- I'll then put all clothing on other than outer gear (eg. jacket/vest/helmet/glasses) and carry my luggage down to the van. Today of course is a day where we load and then have breakfast, so this is the routine. If it's a day where we eat close to the hotel I generally go to breakfast in my street shorts and then get my biking stuff on after breakfast. After the luggage is in the van and I'm signed in, I return to the room, put on outer gear, helmet, glasses, stuff my pockets with whatever I'm carrying that day and then wheel my bike out and "hit the road".
It's time to get going .... I'll finish this tonight.
.........
I'm back. Today was definitely the easiest day that we've had. Reasonable weather, albeit a bit cool; no hills to speak of; moderate mileage; moderate winds -- and good company -- what more can you ask for !
We had breakfast at Hodies -- most people had the usual big breakfast, but since I already had something in my room, I just had oatmeal. This time I checked - and yes, it was real oatmeal. To get to Hodies we had to walk with our "street shoes" and carry our bike shoes. ABB will not let us ride in the dark. That's probably a good thing.
After breakfast a few of us set out together -- I got to the first light and realized that I had forgotten my sunglasses on the table -- not a great start -- anyway, I went back, got them, and headed out again. A couple of miles later I caught up to Bill and several of us then gradually formed a pace line of 6-7 people. We made good time riding along at 18-20 mph. Another pace line overtook us that was running 20-22 mph and we picked up speed and we had a peloton !
By the time we got to the first SAG stop at 33 miles, a number of us wanted out of that fast a pace. Three set out after eating -- Geoff, Jerry and Guenter -- they tend to go at a speed that I like so I headed out, but they had a head start and it took me 5 miles to catch up. They were only 1/2 mile ahead, but I was not going to go all out to catch them because then they would end up dropping me later. The four of us kept a good 18-20 mph pace, sometimes faster depending on the wind, all the way to the lunch SAG stop -- past the Oklahoma border (picture below).
At the lunch SAG stop (picture below of bicycles lined up) Logan joined us -- he has missed several days due to a swollen Achilles tendon, but today it was doing better so he was riding. Yesterday he rode to the first SAG and had to stop. Today he made it to the end -- Logan is with me in the picture below of our entry into Kansas.
Along the way we picked up another rider -- Jeff -- and the six of us kept up a pretty good pace, 21-23 mph to the hotel. Just prior to getting to the hotel it started to sprinkle, but only enough to leave dots on your glasses, not enough to notice or wet the road. We were the first ones into the hotel and Barb and the luggage arrived soon after.
A few of our number have gone off to visit the OZ museum -- yes, this is where Dorothy and Toto started their famous trip. It's on, you guessed it, Yellow Brick Road. Sorry - I won't have any pictures of the Oz museum for you -- I'm not going.
Bill came in not too long after the luggage and he also had a good riding day. He stuck with the paceline for a while but dropped back after it became a peloton -- in fact with that many riders with that little experience, such a group is not all that safe. The group was also pushing much too hard. Even with our small group of six we had a couple of hairy moments when someone (me) rode over something on the road that no one had noticed in time to provide a warning. There was no damage, but it causes people to react in unpredictable ways.
Today's stats -- 6:30 elapsed time; 113 miles; 5:53 rolling time.
We will be in Kansas for a number of nights. After today we head to Dodge City, then Great Bend, then Abilene, then Topeka -- and Topeka is our rest day so we'll be there two nights. All in all we spend more time in Kansas than anywhere else -- hear that Linda Wilder ?? The next two days have mileage under 90 -- 83 and 85 respectively. If we run pace lines again they could be short days ! Let's hope for good weather. We don't want tornadoes -- perhaps that is a good reason for finishing early those days ...
Oh -- I also caught up with Don Mines of Boeing a few minutes ago -- he is recovering from a lung operation and sounds like he is making great progress. Don is also reading these blogs so some of today's entry will be "old news" for him.
Dinner may be Chinese -- there are a couple of places close by -- an all-you-can-eat buffet right out front. We'll see. I think that I'm going to rotate my tires -- the rears wear faster than the fronts and it's time ... If anything else noteworthy transpires I'll put it in tomorrow's entry.
Sandy is up north and Abby has already gone swimming, so she says. She (Abby) appears to be looking for me -- oh well, that is at least 3 weeks away, but time is flying indeed.
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