Kansas is not flat!

It has come to my attention that Kansas is a hilly state. Flat like glass it is not. So we are obviously out of Oklahoma and soon to be out of Kansas, into Colorado.

Yesterday was so windy, we were going 4 mph in a very strong head wind at times. We also camped the other day. Fun but much more work and less amenities. Also heard tornado sirens the next morning. No sightings though, bummer.

Saw a tarantula on the road, didn't get close enough pictures though as he was moving pretty quickly. Played the alphabet game and grocery store game a bunch today. Helps pass the time when the scenery is all the same.  Also stopped again for ice cream. We all seem to be making it a necessary stop after every ride. I should start an ice cream/shake fund. 

Talent show tonight, at least I think that's the plan. I've got a great act. Video eventually. Nothing else really really exciting. Here are some pictures for you. Sorry for the not very detailed post. Got our next century tomorrow.

.

This is not flat! Lisa and Suz climbing up the hill

Clouds the other day

Patrick staring off into the distance thinking he can't go on...not  really...well sometimes

The long road in life

Crash into me!

So today was my first crash. I'm fine but more importantly my bike is good and my camera still works.

Enjoy these pictures:

We are now in Ponca city, OK. Today was 74 miles. A bunch of head wind that most people didn't like. I didn't mind. Yesterday a couple of us rode to the bike shop and then to downtown Bartlesville. Checked out the only Frank Lloyd Wright skyscraper. Pretty cool. Didn't get pictures though. So here are some random ones.

Green plant objects

bike clinic

Bike clinic held for local kids

We have 8 days straight of riding with possible internet connection shortage. It's going to be awesome!

I Love Tail Wind!

Yesterday I felt really great! I was way ahead of everyone the whole day. 74 miles by myself. I didn't push it that hard or really aim to be first. It just happened. It was really windy and had side wind, head wind and tail wind.

When I hit some tail wind I got to 31mph on the flats for a mile or so. I was flying! But then I had to turn back into the side wind. Lame!

The day before was another 74 miles. Rode through some pretty good rain for about 20 minutes. Also took pictures at 3 corners, where Missouri, Arkansas and Oklahoma meet. Missouri was a bonus state that we rode in for 8 miles. Also right at the end I had a tire blowout. It was a pretty loud bang. I put 2,300 miles on the tire so I'm not really bummed. I will be making a belt out of it when I get back home though.

On the 21st we rode 91 miles through the Ozarks. Wasn't bad at all. A bunch of climbing but used to it now. Hit a new high speed record, 41.4 mph!

A couple of us that got to the host site first decided to do 9 more miles to get back to back centuries. We were in Fayetteville and it's on a hill. Everywhere we turned were hills, so we had to go down one but we had ice cream at the bottom to make it all better. Those last miles took forever!

Today is our second day off and we are in Bartlesville, OK. Got a list of things I need to do after breakfast, which is at 9:30. About the time that we have first lunch if it's a long riding day.

Cole Train!

3 corners

Me not talking on a phone, really!

105 miles!

19.3 miles an hour and hit the hundred mile mark!

So we are in Clarksville and our first century was awesome! At least for me. It felt so good. Nice scenery, cool people to ride with(everyone's cool though) and a pretty quick and easy day. A couple hills here and there but pretty flat most of the way.

We were on the news(click to watch segment) last night and someone at a gas station said they saw us. If you look closely, you can see me in a couple shots, one with me leaning on something working hard!

I don't know the mileage tomorrow but I hear it will be hilly. Bring it on!

We have wireless here so I decided to give today its own post. Here are some pictures from today.

Tip of the day: Remember to bring your towel to the showers

Later,

Dave

A nice dam bridge and Travis, part of Cole Train, the best chore group since time began

Also part of the dam bridge, a multi use path that we rode across

Found outside a gas station

Police, Cars, Trains, Oh My!

Claire's Hand

The other day Renee and I were sweep. 10 miles in, we got to train tracks and got split up. She made it to the other side before the gate started closing. The train stopped and an hour and a half later we were on our way.

- A truck got hit and a lady got thrown from it

- Renee was the first on scene on the other side and called 911

- I got video of the truck and train with audio of the collision

- Police asked for my memory card, I had a spare so it's OK

- Took down our info and the train people want to call to get our story

- Have the best sweep story so far

We also crossed our second state line, Arkansas. That was 87 miles, crossed the Mississippi and right after that was flat, hot, boring land. At that point Arkansas was boring but now it's a little better.

We are here in Little Rock and finished up two more build days. Worked on deconstructing a house to re-sell at the ReStore and also helped in the ReStore organizing and building dividers.

Last night we scored some tickets to a Travelers game, a minor league baseball team. They lost but it was a lot of fun with everyone there and they put us up on the big screen a couple times.

Tomorrow we have our first century into Clarksville. It's going to be great!

Until next time,

Dave

Organ at the church we are staying at

From the pulpit

Deconstruction Day

Baseball Game

Trolly ride to the game

91, 37, 55

A shot from a whole group ride with some locals during our 91 mile day.

That was the miles ridden over the last 3 days. Today is our first day off. We are here in Germantown which is about 14 miles from Memphis. Rode to the store to pick up some stuff, went to a car show, read a bike magazine. Relaxing day. After this post I'll be cleaning my bike.

Had soda for the first time in 3 years or something like that(figured I'm eating horribly anyway so why not?). Everyone but 3 of us went into town for the night here in Germantown. We stayed in and cooked pasta, garlic bread, corn on the cob, cold root beer from a bottle and tofu ice cream sandwiches. Also watched breaking away, an old cheesy bike movie made in the late 70's.

This morning I made pancakes, not for everyone though as they were all sleeping when I started. Nothing else really exciting to talk about.

Not too many pictures as the scenery isn't all that striking.

One of the roads we were on. Well not actually the road but the speed limit of the road.

Car Show!

Leaving Adamsville

Later!

Dave

First Time Zone Change!

Forgot to mention that the other day we passed our first time zone. Gained an hour! OK, now I'm done.

First Flat!

So today was a long 84 mile day. Rolling hills though, so nothing major to climb. I got to the host site, we had one hill to ride up to get to the dorms and the ride felt funny. I knew I had a flat. Lame! My first flat of the trip. It would have been cool to go the whole trip flat free. Anyway, patched it up and should be good to go for tomorrow, another 80 mile day.

We're in Palaski, TN. Had dinner at the Mayor's house. Great food! Thank you everyone who helped!

We had some 80 mile days and sub 50 days over the last week. Yesterday though we had a 12% grade that went for a couple miles right in the beginning. It wasn't too bad, the day was only 45 miles. I'm good with hills so I was in the lead for the beginning and two others caught up and we rode to the top and descended together.

We've stayed in two different national guard armory's, camped last night in Sewanee by a lake and another dorm tonight. All in the span of 4 days.

Played some mafia a couple nights. Fun game. I think we have our first day off coming up this week in Memphis. Should be pretty fun, though I don't know what anyone's doing.

I could share more but It's late, I have to sort laundry and I don't remember the names of the people who gave us dinner last night. Sorry!

From the ride two days ago?

Cross a river. Which one? No idea...

At the first armory. No we didn't climb up it and have our picture taken on it...

Just plain cool.

A bridge from two or so days ago.

A Ginormous Dragonfly. Oh, and building with Habitat

Dennis and the giant dragonfly. I tried to get it in the reflection of his glasses but it didn't work.

So the last two days we built with Habitat here in Maryville. The cinderblock foundation was already done so we worked on the floor. Got it all finished in two days on two houses side by side. Me and two others on the first day were cutting all the joyces(I think) for the houses. 

Today we had 3 teams going. 1 team stuccoing both houses and 2 teams working on the floors. It turned into a competition(nothing else on our trip has been competitive...). I would say our team won but both teams still had to go back and nail some stuff. The guys that actually know what they're doing all told us we did a great job and they didn't expect us to get so much done.

The ride into  Maryville was hot for most people. It was so easy and many took their time. Me and two others booked it to the bike shop we were having dinner at. We did stop at a yard sale/junk store place. All clothing, 5 cents. Nothing good though. We chilled for a couple hours waiting for everyone and more importantly, dinner.

Yesterday the locals had a throwdown ride that we could join in on. Only 7 of us went. I guess we're that cool. The day was 95 degrees and cloudless, until we went on the ride. Pouring rain, thunder, lightning, cold. We were going to do 28 but cut it short. Hung out under a churches awning until it got a little better to ride back. A 12 mile ride still isn't bad.

Tomorrow is another 40 mile ride. Easy. How quickly we all think 40 miles is easy when we have 80's and 100+ to look forward to.

Stay Cool,

Dave

Gatlinburg Reminds Me of Tahoe

Don't ask where this was taken. No idea. It was in the last couple days though.

So today we had an 83 mile day and ended up in a new state! Gatlinburg, TN. I guess it's a tourist town but the style and vibe is very much like Tahoe. Got a picture of the sign and me at the top of the second peak but it's not letting me upload. Will try again tomorrow.

The climbing was slow going for me, 5-6.5 mph. Many miles of climbing, hot again. The whole ride was really only two mountains. Climb up, go down, up, down. The descents were sweet! Got a new top speed of 38 going down the second one. The tunnels were a bit sketchy though. No headlight so it was really dark. At least the tunnels were short but so bumpy and wet. Someone lost a water bottle in one. Overall, being one of the supposedly toughest days, wasn't too bad.

The descents went on for 10-15 miles. Not even peddling the whole way down, just leaning into the road. Some nice tight turns. Lots of cars though. Oh, we got onto the busy main highway two lanes on each side, 60 mph, dividers, exits. Pretty exciting as we didn't know it was part of the route. They'll change that for next year. Kinda not safe. We only had to go down a couple exits.

Tomorrow is a cake day. 40ish miles. Wake-up is 9. Usually it's 5.

Here is a few of the bugs I killed riding two days ago.

Here are a bunch of pictures of the build site I was at:

Finally!

Man, it's been a long time. I finally have a connection, time and not dead tired. So here is the last 4-5 days.

On the 30th we had an 85 mile day. Up and down all day but wasn't bad. One of the riders church held us up for the night. His church was awesome as with all our hosts. Names escape me. Most of the days are all a blend. It's hard to remember the place we stayed at the night before.

The 31st was awesome! 68 miles, hot, rolling hills and I killed it! I just felt really good after lunch that day and got to the church we were staying at first. I don't think that will happen again. I got to chalk twice. I was riding with one group, they stopped for a rest and I "picked up" Dennis. He was pulling for awhile and I took over and pretty much ditched him. I was just flying up the hills. For the last 8 miles I was by myself.

The 1st of June was awesome as well. We rode 68 miles, mostly on the Blue Ridge Parkway which is in a bunch of different national parks or something. Our first real mountains at 10,000 feet of climbing. It was tough. Wasn't feeling it and the climbs were long.

51 miles were pretty much climbing. After lunch we had 17 miles to go and it was pretty much all down hill. It was so fun flying down the hills. Twists and turns, 30mph, viaducts, bridges, views and the first day where everyone felt great and pumped.

This is a pic at our first stop

This is a group of us at the Eastern Continental Divide on the 1st

The 2nd was good and tough. 78 miles, almost 7 hours in the saddle for me, 11.4 avg mph and 36.2 max speed. 12,000 feet of climbing goodness.

Today we had our 3rd build day. That was really cool. Some went with Habitat to stucco a house and stuff. Me and 10 others went with another organization to build a wheelchair ramp. I took a bunch of pictures which I'll post in the next day or two.

Tomorrow is going to be one of the toughest days on this trip. Asheville to Gatlinburg. 85 miles and 17,000 feet of climbing. So with that, it's time for me to sleep.

Dave