Day 19 – Conway AR to Brinkley AR

Today was an easy ride, 100 miles and less than 2000 feet of climbing. This may seem like a long ride, but as the trip has progressed I have become stronger and provided I have 6 hours to spare and the winds are not in my face all day, it not a big deal. Today there was only one 10 mile stretch were he had real head winds so the winds were not that bad. One of the less attractive parts of today’s ride wais the flat terrain. This means that your butt should be glued to your seat. On roads where the surface is rough, this can be a big problem. Road surfaces vary among different roads with highly traveled roads and more recently paved roads generally having smoother surfaces. In Arkansas another factor is which county you are in. You can ride on a state highway that crosses several county lines, and the surest way to tell that you are in a new county is to notice the change in the surface of the pavement. Each county seems to have different specifications for their roads, some are very good and some from the prospective of cyclists are very bad, se la vie. In Oklahoma road surfaces varied from county to county, but there must be an election for local officials fairly soon, because each county would have two people running for county sheriff, and at each county line the names of the individuals on the lawn signs would change.

Our route took us around Little Rock through some nice country and on a few very pleasant rural roads. It also involved some urban riding that was not all that pleasant. The last 30 miles were dead flat and a long part was on a levee with water on both sides. It was strange to look out on both sides and see water for mile after mile after mile. We are now in the land of cotton. The fields are just now being planted. There are some very large farms with nice homes but there are also very poor people.

Today’s ride ended in Brinkley AK. Brinkley is a small rural town with a lot of motels and fast food places because it is also on I40. Today my first stop was at a McDonalds, where I ordered a big chocolate milk shake. Then since the roads were wet from rains early in the morning my next stop was the bike washing stand to clean the road grime from my bike. Then I got my room key and found my room. My bags were in the room because Norman, my roommate, had bought them to the room. We have an arrangement were the first person to see the bags, brings them to the room. Norm is usually the first rider to finish, however as he always beats the sag vehicle with the luggage, he may be in the room when I and the luggage arrive. So far he has brought my bags to the room more often than I his, but it is not all that one sided. Once in the room I took a shower and called Karen to let her know that I was safe. Then I set clothes out for tomorrow, have dinner, write my blog and go to sleep by 9 PM. 5 AM comes very early each morning. With the exception of cleaning my bike, occasionally having the mechanic fix something and the order of showering and calling Karen, this is my post ride evening routine.

Day 17 and 18 - Fort Smith to Conway

Day 17 was a rest day in Fort Smith AK. I got a haircut and a massage. The rest of the day I rested. Of the 30 who started, we are now down to 25 coast to coast riders. We have lost two riders who only planned to do part of the ride, but we gained two new riders for the last third of our ride.

On day 18 we rode to Conway. It was a 125 mile ride with very few hills and a pretty good tailwind for most of the day. As a result I got to Conway in 7 hours. Yesterday night it rained and we started out with wet roads, but no rain. As the day progressed the skies became bluer. It also got into the high 70’s. So it was a nice day for a ride.

Our rout followed the Arkansas River and therefore had few long climbs. Spring has come to Arkansas trees are in leaf and there are lots of flowers in the gardens of the houses we pass. However tornados and severe hail of last month have put most natives I talk to on edge. In fact two men today expressed the concern that today’s nice weather was simply the calm before the next storm. I hope not, for their sake and for mine, as I would like not to see any tornados and any more thunderstorms this year.

As I ride the highways of America, I encounter a great amount of formerly wildlife. In Arkansas the most common animal on the road side is the armadillo. Their shell-like body must protect them from most other animals but it is no match for a car. I also see opossums, a few raccoons and the occasional skunk. In general skunks are the only animal I can smell. The skunk is another animal, like the armadillo, that is well protected from other animals, but whose defensive measures are also no match for a car. In Oklahoma and Texas there were lots of rabbits and I saw a few coyotes in New Mexico. In addition, there have been a great number of birds who probably were killed while eating a last meal or roadway carrion. There have been a few dead snakes. In fact I ran over one a few days ago. I don’t know if I killed it, but I suspect that I did put a large dent in it.

Rides like these become like families and all families are different. On this ride a lot of riders are counting the days to the end with a sense that they will be glad to see the ride end. Last year there was more a sense of sadness that our group would be splitting up, never to be together again. The feeling may develop on this ride, but I am not sure. First there are far more people who came with friends or relatives on this ride and therefore have interacted less with the rest of the group. But the biggest factor is that on this ride 1 in 6 riders is no longer on the road and one is dead. I do believe that there is a sense of fear/recognition of negative consequences of cycling. And a real fear that it might happen to any of us. Maybe we just want to be out of the danger zone.

Day 16 McAlester OK to Fort Smith AK – and the rains came

Today was a little strange. Everyone was upset about Darrell’s death, and we all seemed to be dealing with it in different ways. One way we all shared was the addition of a black ribbon to our bikes. They are small and a nice symbol to remind us of Darrell as we ride. I think that I will take mine off the bike at the wheel dipping in the Atlantic. Everyone had questions and no one had any real answers. Those who speculated as to why were most certainly wrong. Well at best one might be right, but I doubt anyone will ever know the entire story.

We had a late, 8 AM, start because it was a short day and because many of us did not get to bed until later than usual. Some also mentioned having trouble sleeping, even after 145 miles. Starting at 8 was a mixed blessing because by then it had started to rain. So we should have been prepared. For me rain gear includes addition items rain jacket, booties, a rear light and a plastic shower cap over my helmet. Sadly a few riders started riding with none of these things. A few had black or dark wind/rain jackets and no rear light. They were hardly visible, when the black clouds of the thunderstorm approached. I thought to check my tires more often due the increased likelihood of flats when riding on wet pavement. Unfortunately I got one about 2 miles into the ride when something cut my rear tire. Since I needed a new tire, I was stuck until a van could get to me. There were a few mix ups and one van had to go to the hospital to check on Greg so it took about 20 mins. before a van got to me. By this time I had walked 400 yards to be under an overpass. This got me out of the rain and reduced my chances of being hit by the lightning that was now all around me. When my tire was replaced, I decided that getting into the van for a bit was better than waiting out the thunderstorm under the overpass. This decision eventually led to my riding to the first sag stop at 30 miles. When the thunderstorm passed I continued the ride from there. In the end I did 86 miles.

(Greg Light had ridden a lot with Darrell and when Mike told us of Darrell’s death, Greg ran from the room. I thought that he might have had an anxiety attack, apparently it was worse. He spent the night in the hospital and after tested today it was concluded that he should not continue with the ride. So of the 30 riders who intended to do the entire ride only 25 are still riding. I will miss Greg, but his prognosis is far better than Darrell’s. While on this terrible topic we hear that Andrew is doing well at home in San Francisco. Jack who crashed on day 3 is still having short term memory problems due to his concussion. Karen still has her hip problems and far worse now has to deal with the loss of Darrell her husband of some 25 years.)

The rest of roads today, while wet but who was I to complain, were pleasant with good shoulders and not much traffic on the highways. I played tag for much of the day with Bill and Christine’s tandem. Yesterday, they were forced to sag in because of a strange noise that seemed to be coming from their disk brakes. When they opened up the brakes, the noise persisted, ruling out the brakes as the cause. Today’s theory is that it is a bottom bracket problem. As this is less likely to lead to a life threatening failure, they chose to ride today. Hopefully, when they take the bike to a shop in Fort Smith they can get the problem resolved.

Routing today seemed a bit odd, in one place in order to avoid a mile of OK but not great highway riding, we were routed through a circuitous route in a residential area. I eventually got lost, ended up on the road I was supposed to avoid and was unable to find anyone who knew where the street I was supposed to take was. I found the highway I needed to be on at a different exit and started to ride. Later we had to get off the highway and take two rural roads that added a mile to our route. People who missed that turn didn’t see anything wrong with the section of the highway we were routed around. When we got to Fort Smith, we again had some odd routing in order to avoid some roads that we should not have been on, but it seemed to everyone that there must have been a better way. Maybe it was just that everyone who rode yesterday came in late and tired and wet. Any additional distance seemed under those circumstances would seem to be an even greater bother.

Day 15 – Chickasha to McAlester – The death ride

This was going to be the hard day of the ride. It was a long day, 145 miles, and there were lots of hills, 6200 ft of climbing. We all started out early, I was on the road at 6:30. After a brief stop to add leg warmers and a wind vest, I began the ride in earnest. I learned my lesion from a few days ago, even if it seems warm at the start take a little extra clothing. As I told many of my fellows in the lab, this gives me class 2 intelligence. (Class 1 intelligence is learning from the mistakes of others. Class 2 intelligence is learning from your own mistakes. Class 3 intelligence is recognizing that you have made this mistake before.)

The route today was mostly through lesser traveled state highways and county roads. These roads had smaller shoulders and in general but less traffic. However, traffic on the state highways often seemed to be in a hurry to get somewhere and greater vigilance was needed to ride safely today than on most other days. Today’s roads also traveled in straight lines, east-west or north-south. This is likely in part due to the fact that Oklahoma was surveyed before settlers were officially allowed in for the land rush of 1889. However like yesterday’s ride, the roads tend to go straight up and over any hill they encounter. And since the landscape is of Oklahoma is rumpled, resembling a rather large bed that was very poorly made, there are a lot of hills. The fist 65 miles today could be called rollers, but they were either to big or poorly spaced to get any sort of rhythm going. In the end I just had to be content to speed down the backside and grind it out going up the front side. Once we got onto county roads the coarseness of the road surface increased, the traffic decreased and the grades of the hills increased.

We went through several Indian reservations today each with a casino. Unlike Indian casinos in much of the country these were no mega operations. In general they were no bigger than a large service station and probably had less external lighting. From all I could see the natives in Oklahoma are not making a killing from gaming.

At our last sag stop there was a pizza/hamburger/chicken joint that also sold ice cream. Another rider’s milk shake looked so good, that I ordered one too. The woman who made it for me was working overtime with several tables to wait on, most with customers she knew by name. She appeared to be no more than 18, but she also had three kids in a booth, the oldest of which was at least 6. They were eating a pizza for dinner (it was 3 PM) and making a real fuss. I found a place to payback some of my Karma debt of a few days ago .I gave her a 100% tip for my $2.50 coffee milkshake, and much to her amazement, I proceeded to drink in one long sip.

Fortified with my milkshake, I was able to make good time over the next 30 miles of the ride. However, the last 5 miles through McAlester were another story. First I was beat, second it was rush hour and the traffic was heavy with drivers who wanted to get home, and lastly the route through McAlester was on some of the worst roads of the tip. The last mile was on an access road along a major highway. The road surface was terrible. The traffic coming and going to the Wal-Mart, Home Depot, and similar big box stores was horrendous. Lastly, the motel was not where the route sheet said it should be. In desperation I called the van to get help. They said that yes the route sheet was wrong and that I should go back along the frontage road, under the highway and along the frontage road on the other side to get to the motel. Apparently, the Holiday Inn express had crossed the road in the two years since America by Bicycle last did this ride. I don’t know why the chicken crossed the road, but I am sure the Holiday Inn crossed the road to exasperate Bill Reenstra at the end of a very long day.

As much as I wish that I could say that my day then ended with a shower, dinner and a nights rest, I can’t. We had a rap meeting to discuss tomorrows route, these are either in the evening or at breakfast before we start so even though the rap session had originally been for the next morning having it in the evening was not unusual. What happened after the session was. Mike told all the riders that one of the riders Darrell Keefer had died in his sleep the night before. To say that we were shocked was an understatement. I knew that I hadn’t seen Darrell during the day but, that often happens because people ride at different speeds and tend to get spread out over the day. In fact before Mike made the announcement none of the riders knew. It was shocking to say the least as Darrell was one of the strongest riders in the group, he was relatively young at 51, and he was a large presence in the group. He started the ride with his wife, who fractured her hip on day 3 and when she left the ride he would have left with her, except for her urging him to continue. The day before he died he rushed to get to Chickasha early so that he could spend time with his son, daughter-in-law and two year old grandson. He must have introduced his family to every other rider that evening; he was so proud of them. It is really hard to put this into perspective. While all riders know that bad things, even death, can happen when we ride, no one thinks that they will die in their sleep. We are all too fit and no matter what our age, far healthier than most of the people we see along the ride. Why would we be at risk? It is a wake up call, and as Darrell’s wife posted on Mike’s ride site her favorite quote is "Live for today, tomorrow could be too late."

Day 14 - Elk City to Chickasha: Half Way There

Today was another cold start with temperatures in the low 40’s at 7:30 AM. We left a little later in the morning in order to let it warm up a little. Today’s wind was from the south southwest, so we started today’s ride with 15 miles to the south. While most of the ride was on roads that ran due east, the wind never seemed to be of any help today. Most of today’s ride was on rural county roads and we had more turns than usual because many of the roads are unpaved in sections. We came upon several intersections where a perfectly paved road suddenly became gravel or dirt. This required the route to zig and zag. It also meant that if you got off route you were likely to discover yourself on a gravel road – as sure sign that you had missed a turn. While several riders found themselves in this predicament, I was not one. I rode with three other riders this morning, but I left them at the lunch stop and finished the ride on my own. This required a little more effort and some more mental work to stay on route, but it also let me ride at a pace that best suited to me.

There were lots of farms with crops of hay ready to harvest. There were lots of cows in the pasture. At one intersection a fellow rider commented that this was a long way from everywhere and that he would hate to run out of milk. Within a few yards we realized that there were dairy cows on this farm and that milk was probably closer than we had thought. It being Sunday the roads were fairly free of traffic but we did see a lot of cars around the many churches we passed.

We passed the half way point on the ride from coast to coast today and Mike took pictures of each of us as we approached that point. A few riders decided to ham it up for the camera. I simply rode to the sign on the road, had my picture taken, and rode on. The goal is to get to Georgia, not to get to Nowheresville OK. Well in point of fact we did pass a water tower that proclaimed that it was in Nowhere OK. I didn’t see a sign for the city line, but I may have missed it.

It was a long day, 125 miles, and I didn’t finish until 5 PM. Even the usually fast riders did not get in until after 4 PM. Tomorrow is the longest day on our ride , 145 miles, to McAlester OK. When the last of my laundry is done I will be going to bed as early as possible and hoping for favorable winds tomorrow.

Day 12 – Dalhart to Pampa TX

Burrrr. This morning was cold, and what’s more, I didn’t determine how cold until after my luggage was loaded onto the van. Since I didn’t have my long fingered gloves, I rode the first 12 miles one handed. The other hand was held behind my back in an attempt to keep it warm. Every half mile I would switch hands. After 12 miles I stopped at the first store on the road. I hoped to find some hot chocolate but settled for what passes as coffee in the non Peets drinking parts of the world. As I was about to pay for the coffee I saw some while liner gloves. When I went to pay the cashier asked what I was doing, everyone else in the place was preparing to tend to their farm land or to work in the oil fields. So I guess a shivering person in bike clothes looked a little out of place. I told her that I was from California and I was cycling across America. She said the coffee and gloves were on the house. I simply could not give her money. At this point another woman said that while she was married with five kids, ‘Honey’, the cashier, was looking. When I said that I was married, Honey’s friend replied that Texas was a long way from California. I suspect that Honey’s friend was going to be reprimanded at some later time. I left to store with a smile, but also in Karma debt. Twenty miles down the road two other riders told me how they had made good investments in gloves at that store. Both paid retail, or more, for their gloves.

Eventually the day warmed up. Our route turned so that the winds were more to our backs and we started to speed across the Texas Panhandle. By no means the fastest rider, more likely in the slowest third of the group, I did today’s ride of 110 at 20 mph.

There was very little to see along the route. I saw a few cows in pastures, many more cows in several feed lots, a lot of ‘cricket’ well pumps, and a large number of trucks from oil service companies. The trucks were not a major problem because Texas has WIDE shoulders, at least a lane wide on most two lane highways. We had our lane and the traffic had theirs. The highways are one good thing about Texas, even though I am sure they were not designed for the benefit of cyclists.

The motel, from what I could see the only one in Pampa, was near a Wal-Mart. This allowed me to restock items for my long ride fuel of choice: a mixture of apricots, gum drops, prunes, and walnuts. This plus the lunch food and some fruit at the sag stops gets me down the road. When I talk to the other riders, many have problems with the offered food options and seem to run on power bars, gels, and powders. I have used my mixture for years and see no reason to change.

The one sad note of the day was that we learned that Andrew, a 47 year old Brit who lives in San Francisco and who started off as one of the strongest riders, spent the night in hospital. He had been feeling ill for a few days in the higher elevations and when the doctors in the Dalhart ER checked him out, they concluded that he had had a minor heart attack. Needless to say all of us were shocked by the news. Our hopes and prayers are with Andrew.

Day 11 – Tucumcari to Dalhart TX

If yesterday’s story was a tail wind today’s was about even more wind. Today’s ride was 96 miles on US Route 54E. Our road was strait as an arrow and went to the northeast. Today’s wind was from the west-southwest at 25 mph. This resulted in a very fast ride. We started at 8 AM, fully 90 min later than our usual starting time, and we lost an hour when we crossed the NM-TX boarder. However, the lead riders still got to Dalhart shortly after 1 PM and I arrived at 1:30. My average speed while on the bike was nearly 24 mph for 96 miles. Even with 30 min off the bike at two rest stops; I rode 96 miles in four and half hours. I suspect that if the ride had been in the other direction I would have been lucky to maintain 10 mph.

There was very little to see on the ride today. We passed through only one town of any size and had a rest stop at an out of business gas station. I averted my eyes from the Welcome to Texas, Home of George W. Bush sign at the Texas boarder. I also held my breath when I rode past the Texas sized feed lots just west of Dalhart. To the south there was a vast open space that was sparsely filled by Texas brush. I wonder if this is what W is so fond of cutting on his ranch? If there were any animals out there they were not seen by me.

On the north side of the road there was a rail line that paralleled our route but there must have been a problem with the tracks because I saw only one train all day. I also saw several vehicles that I would call rail-trucks. Rail-trucks appear to be standard pickup trucks; they even have tires, that have been modified to run along the tracks. I guess they have train wheels. They carry workers to and from places were repairs need to be made. It appeared that repair work was being done today. I wonder how much disruption this caused to the system and if they can route trains onto other lines. The work must be complete, because as I write this in the evening I can hear train whistles. However, I don’t think they will keep me awake tonight. My daily rides have been very good for inducing sleep by 9 PM.

From what I can see Dalhart exists because of the railroad and to a lesser extent the feed lots. If you lived here, Dalhart would seem like a great place to be from and a rather poor place to be. Tomorrow we are off the Pampa. This the first part of the ride that I didn’t do last year, so for the first time I can’t visualize the next day’s ride as I drift off to sleep.