Pactour Elite Southern Transcontinental: Day 9

Day 9:	Sayre OK to Ada OK
Mileage/Ride Time:	206 miles 11:39	Time Lv/Arr:	6:15am/7:15pm
Climbing:	3500ft	Avg Speed/Work:	17.6mph/5665 kJ

I'm cooked after this day. With the hardest climbs to come tomorrow (Lon mentioned the last 50 miles could take 5 hours), I'm not sure whether I have what it takes to make it.

Facts:

1. Today was the longest day of the Elite Southern Transcontinental.
   206 miles with the omnipresent roar of the wind in my ears.
2. The wind was blowing hard all day (from the south/south east). They even think it;s a good idea to install windmill farms out here (you might be able to make out the propeller blades in the hills in the distance):
   
3. There were also numerous rollers to climb. See the jaggies in the profile:
   
   

This combo made for a really hard day for many riders.

I spent the first hour in the big pack. Fast and bumpy at times, my big water bottle got ejected at mile 23. I suspect perhaps my water bottle took it upon itself to throw itself out of the cage, throw in the towel as it were, because its owner was not smart enough to disengage from the leaders. Anyway, I lost all water/drink mix and rode fairly slowly to the first water stop at mile 37.

I rode the rest of the ride with Rieks Koning and Jeff Weible. Into the sometimes fierce headwind, these two very experienced PacTour guys knew how to get the job done. I tried to do my little bit, but according to my SRM powermeter, I was probably slowing them down. I started becoming quite tired near the lunch stop (mile 113) but there was more than 90 miles to go.

After lunch, I could only follow the wheels of Rieks and Jeff. I estimate they were 2mph faster than what I could do. They did an excellent job of keeping things going to the penultimate water stop (mile 188). From there, the tandem team of Tom and Terri Schwartz (a really great couple from San Diego who are working the Elite Tour) blasted its way over the remaining rollers to the finish (mile 206) at the Quality Inn in Ada.

Notes:

• Day 9: Mileage-wise, we are over the halfway point to Savannah GA.
• The roads in Oklahoma today were smooth and in excellent shape generally.
• There was a bad crash early on. I didn't see it. But I was told Brad Haslam of New Mexico broke his kneecap. Another rider got painful road rash.
• Fred Matheny went home. Another rider, Alan Stokes, had an asthma problem and also dropped out.
• Early in the morning (after mile 23), the group I was riding in was stopped briefly by Susan Notorangelo and lectured for not noticing cars from the back (and moving over to make room) soon enough.
• There is so much dense air here. Every time I took a deep breath, I noticed the difference from Arizona.
• The humidity felt very high. Although it was only 82F, I felt quite sticky.
• Nearer the end, someone parked on the side of the road shouted my name. I thought either I heard wrong or perhaps I was hallucinating. I don't know anyone in Oklahoma. Turns out it was a friend of a cyclist. His name is Reid McNeely:
  
  [Picture taken at the finish.]

I'm very tired indeed. I wonder if it's possible to recover properly from the 13 hours spent out there today.

Course (MapSource and Google Earth):