Almost ready.....

Finally see my bike in Oregon on the UPS tracking website. Whew! It left Portland early this morning, and is scheduled to make it to the hotel today. Was starting to worry a little bit since the last update only showed that it had left Chicago a few days ago. Bags are almost completely packed and ready to go....

Now that it's getting so close I have to ask myself....."What in the world was I thinking?"

.....just kidding. I can't wait to get my bike back together and start riding. 

2 more days!!!  

Getting close....fast!

Only 10 days left until I leave for Oregon. The bike’s been dropped off for shipping, so any more riding will be at the gym on the spinning bikes or on the old comfort bike. Right now I’m feeling severely under trained, but I was able to get some really nice rides in the last few weeks, and meet up with some great local cycling groups.




Went with the Ozark Roadies group on a ride out from Fayetteville down to Mountainburg and back (that 9 mile climb back out of Mountainburg really had me thinking about the mountains ahead). I also met up with the Bella Vista cycling group on Memorial Day for a short ride. Had hoped to get a few extra in after the planned ride, but broke my very first spoke 14 miles in. Had to limp the last 10 miles in on a very wobbly back wheel. For my last good ride out, I rode in to Bentonville to meet up with the “Big Ride” at the square. Went out to Hiwasse and back, and then decided to try to get in a few more miles before the free cookout downtown, so went out Vaughn Road and back. Nice day to ride and lots of other cyclists out and about. After the cookout, I headed home through Bella Vista to finish off the day. Took one more quick 35 miler in the park on Sunday to finish off the weekend.

I'd like to thank all the riders I've talked with on these rides for the encouragement and camaraderie out there on the road. I've had a great time meeting so many other cyclists around here.

Wow!…….only 10 days left……….

....think it's all connected now.

For those of you who mentioned you'd rather follow the ride on Facebook, my blog posts should now automatically appear on the group page for my ride. So, if you're reading this on Facebook....it works!

Thanks to fellow cross country rider, Mark Koltz ( http://markstrek.com/ ) for the info on how to get all this set up.

........only 31 days until we start pedaling.

Still fighting the weather.......

Why does it rain so much on the weekends? Oh well, have to try out the new rain jacket sometime. Worked great on Saturday....every time I put it on, the rain stopped. Was able to get in around 68 miles. Went back out today for another 40 once all the storms moved out. It never fails though.......as soon as the weekend's pretty much done, here comes the sun. Does make for a nice view from the front door though.......

Tour de Tulsa

Attempted a century ride in Tulsa this weekend. With the weather looking pretty bad, and a low turnout, I started considering one of the shorter distances. Then the sun popped out through the clouds before the start, making it seem as though the 100 was meant to be (check out the pic). Wow, did I get psyched out! The clouds closed back up, and a cold rain started coming down.   

After a few miles we turned out onto the shoulder of a four lane divided highway for a long stretch. It appeared that there were cyclists standing almost every hundred yards fixing flat tires. I made it 17 miles before my first one......a wire from a steel belted radial. Once fixed with the only tube from my bag, I rode on to the next rest stop about 1/2 mile down the road. After a quick drink, I was ready to continue on my century ride. As I was leaving the rest stop I walked through a big puddle and just happened to look down at my wheels. There were five different streams of bubbles coming from my other tire.

So, after fixing flat number 2 with one of the tubes I bought from the SAG driver, I headed on my way to see if I could get to the decision point for the 100 before the cutoff time. About 50 yards past the turnoff for the metric century (62 miles route), I got flat number 3.

Used my last tube again, and decided the 62 might be the way to go now, so I headed off to at least complete that one.....at least that was what I was thinking at the time. At around the 35 mile mark, I was now back at the rest stop where I had changed flat number 2.....Of course now I was having flat number 4. The cases of tubes that the SAG drivers had been buying up from all the local bike shops were long gone, and I was wet, tired, and getting a bit hungry, so that's where my riding day ended.

As I was sagging in with the radio truck, I learned that they had had over 200 flats reported, and that close to half of the riders had sagged in. These guys said that they had been working the ride for 6-7 years and didn't think they'd had this many flats in all those years combined.

Of course it was still a lot of fun. It never fails.....when that much stuff goes wrong it always seems like I meet the coolest people. There was the guy from Buffalo, working on doing a century in all 50 states, the couple from Springdale on their new tandem, the ladies driving the other SAG truck that was already full but still made sure I had a ride, the couple from Salisaw who I'm betting might get a couple of ihome2go's for their bikes after we discussed everything from rain gear to seats, and of course the two really overworked guys in the radio truck that gave me a lift back to the start. Those were just a few of the people I met that make rides like this so much fun to do......no matter how many miles you get in.

Can't wait for June.......

Vacation!

43 degrees out when I got up this morning. Started drizzling just after I left the house. Got out on the highway and ran into a brutal headwind. Made it over the hills in Bella Vista and into Bentonville, where I ran back into that headwind........wow! This sure beats working. I love vacation time! Came back home with... the wind at my back and the sun coming out. Doesn't get much better.

77 days out. Not a lot of mileage this weekend, but some fun rides. Was in Dallas visiting family for Easter and got to try out the Tour Dallas ride. Longest distance they had was 30 miles, but they do a great job and were expecting 3000 + riders. Sure looked like they made it. Here's a shot I took with my phone waiting for the start......and I was near the front.

Shortly after the start we headed out across a long bridge, made a U-turn and headed back across. Might be difficult to see in the camera phone picture, but that bridge if full of people who were actually behind me.

After going through some pretty nice neighborhoods, the ride headed out around White Rock Lake (as long as you were doing the LONG 30 mile ride). Anyway, it was a very nice ride. The organizers and the Dallas PD did a great job.

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I've added a couple of things this week, the most important of these being a link to my Tour de Cure fund raising page. I hope if you read this you'll consider donating to this great cause. I also added a countdown to the start of my ride, so that I don't have to keep mentioning how long it is until I go.

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Have a great day and thanks for reading.