Pactour Elite Southern Transcontinental: Day 11

Day 11:	Mena AR to Pine Bluff AR
Mileage/Ride Time:	175 miles 10:25	Time Lv/Arr:	6:30am/6:00pm
Climbing:	4500ft	Avg Speed/Work:	16.8mph/4269 kJ

Today reminded me of Beethoven's 6 Symphony "The Pastoral" Part V.
I wish I had my iPod Nano playing.

In other words, after the grey malevolance and deluge of the storm (yesterday), it's good to see the nice side of Arkansas.

In my opinion, we went through some of the best cycling roads so far in the Elite Southern Transcontinental.
Simply a world away from the shoulders of interstates and harsh desert frontage roads.
I took these two pictures while riding today:

For the first 2.5 hours, I had dead legs from yesterday's big climbs.

Every rise, every honk out of the saddle to stay in the paceline brought out the tiredness and heaviness in my legs. Not only can I feel it, but I can also watch the heart rate increase lagging a bit more and staying high longer after I've sat down again.

After 2.5 hours, my legs loosened up some, though the heaviness would stay with me for the whole day.

At around mile 60, I got swallowed up by a small train of riders led by Australia's Andrew Puddy. The Puddy Train, let's call it that, ran steady and strong for the next 115 miles with Andrew sitting on the front nearly the whole way. Needless to say, I got on that train. It made for the easiest day so far. 175 miles. I needed that.

Course (Mapsource and Google Earth):

Profile:

Notes:

• Physically, my biggest worry is that both my palms are bruised and starting to blister from the pounding after 11 days. I put on extra bar tape after the ride. Hope this will help tomorrow.
• Tom Rosenbauer from Pennsylvania withdrew this morning. When I came up to him on a steep section of the Talimena Highway yesterday, he told me: he didn't have his climbing legs. He didn't take the start today.
• I heard tonight David Solomon of Australia is also withdrawing. Exhaustion?
• One of the crew told me they go through about 600-700lbs of ice a day.
  They do a wonderful job of keeping the riders going.
  In the hot and humid Arkansas countryside, ice in waterbottles is an essential.

Tomorrow is another 170 miles. Gotta get up by 5:30am.

Pactour Elite Southern Transcontinental: Day 10

Day 10:	Ada OK to Mena AR
Mileage/Ride Time:	173 miles 11:20	Time Lv/Arr:	7:00am/7:44pm
Climbing:	10,100ft	Avg Speed/Work:	15.26mph/5214 kJ

Less than 12 hours after the longest day (206 miles with the headwind) was completed, we do the 2nd big climb day.

This is a day with a big sting in its tail. 10,100ft of climbing total, but almost all of that comes at the end, after a 113 mile ride to lunch, on the gorgeous Talimena Scenic Drive from Talihena OK to Mena AK. I rode fairly easily to lunch, arriving at 2pm (before the cutoff time).
Profile

The ride really begins here. Picture of the entrance:

I waited for the cyclists in the picture to form a line. It's steep in quite a few places. Some walked. It was very hot and humid. My jersey was wide open but heavy from the sweat pouring off my body. Lon said it'd be memorable. I'm sure he was thinking of the steep climbing (some of it 3.5 miles long).

For me, it was the thunder and lightning moving in close. Scary close. Sudden temperature drop accompanied by strong winds. Then pouring rain and even some hail. Everyone made it down safe.

I had a rain jacket stashed in my Moots trunk bag. Lon gave out plastic bags in the pouring rain.

Course (MapSource and Google Earth):

This climbing day was an important test. It could have easily gone bad if I hadn't recovered from the previous day's late finish.

However, I take nothing for granted. I've got another 180 miles to do in a few hours.

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):

Pactour Elite Southern Transcontinental: Day 8

Day 7:	Hereford TX to Sayre OK
Mileage/Ride Time:	177 miles 9:00	Time Lv/Arr:	6:30am/4:30pm
Climbing:	3500ft	Avg Speed/Work:	19.6mph/3859 kJ

Although I finished at 4:30pm, today I felt kinda fatigued. I was really glad to see the Americ Inn in Sayre OK.

Things began brightly in Hereford TX at 6:30am. There was a glorious fast paceline on a good road surface into the rising sun, uninterrupted for the first 30 miles, and after a hiccup (wrong turn), to the first water stop at mile 35.

After that things broke up. I tried to stay as long as possible on Chris Block's wheel as he attempted to reclaim the lead pack. I probably pushed a bit too hard and got dropped. However, in the end, we both ended up riding with a smallish 2nd group (at a sensible speed) on the road against a quartering headwind. It all went smoothly and excellent time was made until lunch at mile 106.

Tom Rosenbauer indicated the profile looks like a "parabola". We'd lose 1500ft of elevation after lunch. On paper yes, but it really didn't reflect the reality on the road. Profile:

I left the lunch stop alone expected to cruise in way ahead of the time cut. I found Rieks Koning (from Holland) who pushed relentlessly for 25 miles until we caught up with a small group of 6: Vernon Smith, Chris Block, Charles Breer, Peter Beeson, Richard Waugh and Eric Hallam, who were riding at a sensible pace.

Historic Route 66's pavement in Oklahoma (at least) is far from smooth. I took a real beating despite the group riding it at a fairly quick but conversational pace. It has almost no traffic, having been superceded by I-40, but I cannot recommend it for cycling unless you have a full suspension mountain bike.

Coupled with the rising headwind as we made steady progress, I seriously doubted the existence of Tom's Parabola and the purported loss of 1500ft from the lunch stop. Numbers don't lie, but sometimes they don't tell the real story either.

Furthermore, although it was only 82F, the humidity felt high.

Course (MapSource and Google Earth):

Instead of it being a "recovery day", subjectively, it felt like a pretty long day and I was glad to get in.

I am really worried about tomorrow's leg to Ada OK. It's the longest day at 206 miles. And it begins extra early at 6:15am.

Pactour Elite Southern Transcontinental: Day 7

Day 7:	Roswell NM to Hereford TX
Mileage/Ride Time:	164 miles 9:25	Time Lv/Arr:	6:00am/5:40pm (+1 Central Time)
Climbing:	2000ft	Avg Speed/Work:	17.3mph/4130 kJ

The 164 mile question is this: can you call a 164 mile ride a recovery ride?

I think there is a trick to riding the Elite Southern Transcontinental efficiently (for those who are not toast). This trick is don't ride on your own.

There was a quartering headwind all day. For those riding solo, it's a very tough and long 164 miles.

The trick basically means: (1) hammer in the morning, don't get dropped, (2) stay in a pack that makes good time untll lunch, so the time cut is not a problem, and (3) complete the miles without killing yourself after lunch, leaving yourself well recovered for the next day.

Easier said than done of course. If you haven't recovered from a bad day or have heavy legs, even step (1) sounds impossible. And if there are big hills to be climbed, fuggetaboutit.

Today, physically.my right glute wasn't giving me pain. It's not going to be perfect, that takes days off the bike to achieve, but as the massage guy Jon put it: at least, it's not getting worse. I found it painful to sit in the saddle at times, but that's another story altogether.

As for the implementation of the plan: I tried to stay with the pack from the 6am start. Lasted 19 miles before being tailed off. However, I stuck with a 2nd pack until the 22 mile water stop. This was a lifesaver.

After that first water stop, a group of about 8-10 people formed, including Jeff Linder, Richard Waugh, Don Magie, Chris Block, Brad Haslam, and Stuart Levy. Rotating on basic half mile pulls, a sensible tempo was maintained to lunch (106 miles). There were two flats in the group but everyone patiently waited. This meant nobody had to fight the quartering headwind on their own. The group managed to reform after lunch as well. So I spent the whole day this way.

So, although I started the day with heavy legs, I didn't feel so beat up by the end. Also, there was only 2000ft of climbing.

And so perhaps I can cautiously claim it was a "recovery" ride insofar as a 164 mile day can be. It's all relative though. Some people in the group seemed to have really fresh legs. The sprint for the Dairy Queen at mile 141 (free ice cream for PacTour riders) was hotly contested.

Two riders were ordered to sag in 2 water stops from the end. This is what can happen even on the easiest of days given cumulative fatigue.

Route (MapSource and Google Earth):

Profile:

Notes:

• We crossed into another time zone today (Central Time) when we entered Texas.
  Each time the time zone changes as we move from west to east, we lose an hour of sleep. However, tomorrow, the start is at 6:30am, so we "only" lose another 30 minutes.
• It has been 7 days of riding. An intense week.
• I put on a new chain at the end of the day.
• We have covered more than 1000 miles. See the map:
  
  
  
  
• Tomorrow, it's 170 miles to Oklahoma. We just keep trucking

Pactour Elite Southern Transcontinental: Day 6

Day 6:	Socorro NM to Roswell NM
Mileage/Ride Time:	170 miles 10:07	Time Lv/Arr:	6:00am/5:21pm
Climbing:	5000ft	Avg Speed/Work:	16.9mph/4416 kJ

I really didn't feel like riding this morning.

First time I've contemplated not starting since the Elite Tour began on Sunday. Not getting recovery and still having to put in long hours on the bike was getting to me.

However, I did start:

• Jon Jahant, the Elite Tour massage therapist, worked on my right glute for 30 mins last night. I hope the pain I've been experiencing is reduced.
• Afterwards, I sat in the spa for 15 mins as well.

• Plus, at breakfast I was given the purple pig to carry today. It's a plastic toy that squeals when squeezed. Rather embarassingly, it was squealing like crazy when I was trying to squeeze it on top of my Moots bag while Lon was giving last minute instructions at the start.

(Why I was given it remains a secret between me and the pig for now.) And that was a big incentive to finish. I'm told not everyone gets to carry the pig. I guess since there are 17 days and we started with 50 riders, that must be true.

Anyway, today, I was praying for any sign of improvement. If I can't find a way to recover, I'll be riding myself into the ground and be totally wasted every day, raising the ire of Susan. To my great relief, today was a better day. Not a great day. But let's just say the purple pig had a good ride.

The plan was 170 miles to Roswell NM plus 5000ft of climbing:

I started off in the big pack. And managed to stay there for 15 miles of rollers averaging a bit over 20mph before I fell off the back.

This is a big deal for a tired rider because even though you get tailed off on a climb, there are smaller groups behind that you can surf for a while, rather than battling it out alone. I reached the first water stop this way by sucking the wheel of Jeff Linder (of Bike Friday) and Fred Matheny.

Leaving the first stop, there was a strong sidewind component as I headed south. The weather forecast for the area had indicated a 14mph wind from the east and high temperatures around 90F for the day. I was by myself at first but fortunately, I was passed by Scott McIntosh (who didn't say much but) provided steady shelter. Again, for a rider who needs recovery, this is a much better strategy than letting the pack go and grinding out 170 miles by yourself.

My right glute locked up fewer times today, so I was riding a bit stronger (or more accurately, less weak) than yesterday, but I still got seriously tailed off on every climb of course. You do what you can in the circumstances. I even managed to ride at the back of a group with Lon on his single speed for a while. I felt halfway like a rider.

As a result of extra minutes spent surfing wheel after wheel that passed me, I arrived at the lunch stop comfortably ahead of the time cut and didn't feel ready to die. Even Susan Notorangelo was pleased. I posed for a picture with the pig at the 106 mile lunch stop. Having made the cut, I decided to back off a bit on the last 65 miles. This is a luxury I haven't had for the last few days.

The profile looks favorable but you wouldn't think so. Since we were heading more or less due east, there was a strong headwind coming into lunch and all the way into the finish in Roswell.

I rode carefully for a while, then joined Chris Block (whom I know from the Boston Brevet Series and Boston-Montreal-Boston) for the last 40 miles or so.

Course (MapSource and Google Earth):

Tomorrow, we leave New Mexico and head into Texas. 160 mile day. Hopefully, Jon can work some more on my right glute tonight. The PacTour operation just keeps moving forwards. Gotta stay with it or leave.

Pactour Elite Southern Transcontinental: Day 5

Day 5:	Springerville AZ to Socorro NM
Mileage/Ride Time:	154 miles 8:28	Time Lv/Arr:	6:00am/4:32pm (+1 MTN time)
Climbing:	4000ft	Avg Speed/Work:	18.1mph/3286 kJ

I got read the riot act by Susan Notorangelo this morning.

She said: "See this board? Those are the time limits.
I'll be at the first stop (22 miles).
If you don't make it, you're in the van."
(I was 3rd last of those who finished yesterday.)
Well, she definitely put the Fear of God in me.

I needed to recover from overextending myself yesterday.
But I also needed to make the time cut.
And there was climbing before that checkpoint.
Which means, I'm not going to be able to hang in a paceline.
And if your legs don't go, you don't go.

My heart rate felt high when I woke at 5am. Not a good sign. On the bike, I had a narrow range of 110-140bpm to work with. My heart rate just wouldn't go higher no matter how I huffed and puffed. That meant I was toast - not recovered from the previous day's 11000ft of effort.

Well, I was relieved to make the time cut.

I have Dan Fuoco of Florida to thank. Strong but cool. Never hurries. Recovers well each day. Very relaxed demeanor at the stops. And still makes good time. He is the reason I made it today.

Although it was 154 miles, and if you're tired it's still a long way, nevertheless Route 60 in New Mexico is absolutely beautiful. It has rollers to make the 4000ft of climbing. But,as you can see from the profile, there were two gorgeous descents over 10 miles long. And a tailwind for long portions. That really, really helped.

Profile:

Course:

Notes:

• I have developed a taste for beef jerky. Feels satisfying to chew a little something while riding.
• We crossed the Continental Divide today. Mile 72.7 (7,729ft) after 3000ft of climbing. It was wierd to see the sign, and then start climbing more.
• Since I was always near the back, never saw any watermelon at the stops. Price to pay for being slow.
• I wonder if I can do better tomorrow. However, if there is one word to describe the Elite Southern Transcontinental, it's INTENSE. No chance to recover if you dig yourself a hole. Day 6: 172 miles and 6000ft.