The Group that made it to Boston, plus random pics

If you can't read this, it says: "Welcome to Hillsboro, The Home of 600 Happy People and a Few Old Soreheads". I wonder if the soreheads know who they are?

Here's the ghost of other tours that have gone through this town.

Another example of something tall on the great plains other than a silo.

This is another one of those towns, like Blue Balls, Pa, that warrants a stop and see just how many double meaning articles can be seen in one store. This place had a plethera of shirts with sayings like: Hooker...a location NOT a vocation. Oh, well, something to do while your traversing this country of ours.
Here we were, 1,000 miles into the ride, and still half way between nothing and nowhere. Man, this is a big country!!!!! Another Winslow, Arizona shot with my roommate and a statue commemorating the song with the name above the statue. Bob was the one on the bike.
Just a monument to my faithful companion after the second century in the desert. Notice that the shadows were getting a bit long as it was a long-g-g-g-g day.

Note that while posing, I was also, unbeknownst to me, incurring my first flat. This was a ramp to a highway, and I picked up some of the famous shards of steel upon the enterance to the ramp, and the tire went flat as I was posing. This was somewhere around the second day as we began to leave any semblence of TREES for what seemed to be weeks, because it was. We were moving from the right of this picture to the left, and heading directly to the Mojave. This was the Manhattan pier and the first and last picture of the first day, given that I managed to NOT recharge the camera before the start of the day.

This is the group that made the XC tour, door to door. I'll use this location to post various random pictures from the ride, in no particular order. The pictures will be posted as I get around to them.

Atlantic Ocean

Day 48--THE END

Burlington to Boston, Mass.

SMILE>>>>>>>>>>YOU MADE IT!!!!!

After all the smiles and drinks, and good-byes of last night, there are even more parting hugs, hand-shakes, pictures taken, and, of course, promises to stay in touch during the day and at the farewell banquet. And, in fact, the web continues to transmit messages and pictures to and from the crew that not only made it door to door but among everyone that rode with us anytime: all the way, at the start and retired, or joined us near the end.

The bonding that occurs from these shared personal experiences is nice and is probably why I do these kind of things. Even the vacation trip to Alaska with my wife was on a small cruise ship in August, still has us sharing emails with a few of the people we met pver the course of that week. The same is true of the friends I've made over the years doing the Anchor House charity ride. I'll probably continue this blog with stuff about the Anchor House ride, and perhaps the Alaskan vacation over the next few weeks, if ever. Just not this minute.

Back to the ride.........
There was a large folded map of the US that was placed in the lobby of every hotel we stayed at. It had a blue trail of the route we were taking, and every evening, a black mark was placed over the blue for the distance we covered that day. It just seemed forever to get to the first rest day, and then I don't seem to recall focusing on the map until we got to Ohio. It's not that I didn't look at it. Actually, I'm sure that I was occasionally found staring at it. It's just that I didn't want to focus on the distance until it became more emotionally manageable.

I guess I was surprised to find how many people do this cross the US trip more than once. For some of our riders, this was their 3rd or 4th time. If people ask any questions of me, then they ask at least two: why did you do it, and would you do it again??

The why I did it question has as many answers as there are days. There always seems to be another reason depending on just I might be thing about when they ask. There are all the glib answers, and the usual answers, and the thoughtful answers; but, I just don't have one perfect answer. If I had to pick one, I guess it was simply for the experience of it all: the people I met on the ride and throughout the country, the wind, the rain, the sun........just whatever happened, and the enjoy it for what it was. It didn't stop me from complaining at times, it just was the power of living it, whatever IT was. Would I do it again? Possibly. But, first, I have a number of other things in mind, not the least of which is doing things that my wife can share it.

These things were running through my head as we all shared our congratulations to each other, and the corresponding good-byes, as we road to the Ocean. We had all kinds of chatter going on during the ride, and the occasional craziness. (We won't talk about the "mooning" provided us as we gathered at the staging stop just before the Ocean. I won't name the person, but those who where there know.) The route through the towns to the Ocean was not a straight shot but we had Al. Al does national level orienteering races at a high level. We just give him a cue-sheet with the directions, turn him loose at the front, and though our cue-sheets away, and make sure we stay close.

I will now go back to post and share some of the pictures that go with this last week, as well as a few that I may just post from prior days that I'll add here. I'm not sure whether I'll add them to a given day or just add a post of just pictures. We'll see. See ya...............

P.S....I did have a few slips with the gears going to the ocean, but not enough to cause me to fall back, just enough to make me slip with a few expletive-deleteds!! When back home with the mechanic who sold me my bike with the SRAM components, he noticed that my cables were a bit more beat up then we gave credence to on the ride. After changing out the cables, and replacing the chain (that had gotten beaten up from all the slipping), I had a great Anchor House ride with all the hills on that ride, have ridden a few centuries to date, and hundreds of other random miles and everything is fine todate. This is not a condemnation of the work that Rick provided during the ride, but just a PS to all my comments in regards to the gears over the course of the last week of the blog. SRAM is relatively new company and like many new things, if you don't work with it, there is a learning curve. I trust my experience will only help those future SRAM riders on the XC ride. See ya...........

Day 47--Last Full Riding Day

Brattleboro to Burlington, Mass.

Again, no stats. The day was again truncated by gear troubles, and I cut things short for all the reasons I've mentioned before. I was torn between that fact that this was a poor last week to finish an other-wise great ride. There were other far more serious situations outlined earlier in the blog that happen during the ride, and my minor inconveniences this past week do not even compare to those.

I hope it's obvious that I would have preferred to end this week on the bike. But, in the sceam of things, all's well that ends well. I started every day; I only lost about 200 miles out of the total 3,415 (not counting the occasional minor detours) despite all the truncated days; I ended up in one piece; I was stronger, in many ways, then when I started; and got to meet some great people, share a great experience, and cross off another item on the "bucket list". No nothing's wrong, it's just a figure of speach.

As with many of the riders, my wife, Chris, joined us in Burlington for the last couple of days. We went out to dinner, and found a Sushi place near the hotel, virtually by accident. We went looking for a steak place, and found this place. Chris works full time and teaches at a community college part-time. So needless to say, she stayed busy while I was gone. However, after living with each other for over 30 years, things change when the other one isn't aroung to help out in the various odd ways, or be around to yell at, or whatever. All I will say about this is that I, like most of the other riders, certainly appreciate the support of our significant others who let us wander off across the desert, over Rocky mountains, across the plains, through the midwest, and over the eastern mountains and on to the Atlantic Ocean. Actually, we had a payback vacation planned to three weeks after the Anchor House Ride: an inland waterway Alaskan cruise.

We still have a final short day (18 miles) tomorrow to the Atlantic Ocean. Compared to most days, 18 miles is just the morning warm-up. See ya............

Day 46--Another Mechanical SAG Day

Albany, NY to Brattleboro, VT
Miles: 60.1 part of 76.0
Time: 4:39
Average: 12.9 mph
Max: 34.1
Est. Calories: 4,681
Ascent: 4,532

I made it most of the day, but was just too concerned for the "ol' knees" to continue. I just didn't want to get into more hills and have to climb in the "big ring". I had been fighting the gears as soon as we started climbing today. I could feather the gears on the flats to get into and keep in the right gear, but the hills were getting to be just too big of a challenge to keep the gears in the right place. As I have mentioned in earlier posts: in two weeks from the end of the XC ride, I will be riding a 500 mile, 7 day ride for Anchor House Ride for Runaways Charity that I have ridden for 13 years, and this obviously will be my 14 year. I really didn't want anything to happen so close to the end of this ride that would compromise my ability to ride the Anchor House Ride.

I rode with Sue and Champ most of the day. We were doing fine, until I wimped out at the last SAG stop. There was less than 20 miles to go, but I just didn't have it in me to fight both the hills, and the rain that was threatening. Hank, Chris, and Nancy had already retired during the day, or did not ride for various reasons.

I obviously put poor Rick to work on the gears again that night, and as in the past, everything worked fine that evening.

Dinner was on your own that night. I wasn't big on walking too far, or being out too late, as there was strong storms coming in, and I was tired. I walked down to a supermarket down the hill, and got a whole bunch of food and drink. I brought it all back to the hotel room, and just "grazed" through the evening and watched TV. And, despite what I said a couple of day's ago, I did one more load of laundry this evening just to have more clean clothes then dirty ones. I was looking forward to the last full day of riding tomorrow, and doing my usual praying for no rain. See ya.........

Day 45--To the State Capital

Little Falls to Albany, NY
Miles: 69.8
Time: 4:38
Average: 15.1 mph
Max.: 30.7 mph
Est Calories: 4,815
Ascent: 2,,341

A relatively short day. One SAG stop, and one stop for a soda. As Harry is like to say: "just peddle, baby; just peddle". For the most part it was just a day in the saddle.

It's easy for me to say because I personally was not experiencing any physical or mechanical problems this day. That was not so true for a couple of my riding companions of the day. Hank had a number of physical malodies that he handled with the same toughness he has displayed the whole ride. Sue ended up with a flat on her front tire which put her out of commission. She rides a recumbant, and she was not carrying a spare intertube for the smaller wheel. We left her where she could be seen, made sure the SAG folks knew where to find her, and then rode on.

There was some major highway and mall construction going on leading up to and around the hotel. After negotiating a fair bit of this construction, we still had to get across the traffic into the hotel location, which was a bit dicey, but all manage to do so safely. See ya...............

Day 44--Another SAG Day, this time mechanical

Syracuse to Little Falls, NY

Again, no statistics. A short day due to gear trouble. As we climb an incline right out of the hotel, I started with slipping gears, not able to move to other gears without slipping back to the gear I was moving from. Rick had worked on the gears a few times now. Not seeing one of the SAG wagons, I rode some 20 miles with 2 gears. I finally saw Mack (one of our smiling, helpful, friendly SAG support people). I stopped and asked if he could mention my dilemma to Tracy, who had helped fix the gears one other time.

When Tracy found me, I pulled over and the other riders kept on. One we determined that we really couldn't fix it, we put the bike on the truck, and I rode with Tracy and helped out where I could. That included putting luggage in the rooms at the end of the day. Tracy was fighting some serious back problems, and Rick, who had been riding, came back to meet us and take over the truck while we dropped off Tracy with Maggie, who took Tracy to the hospital.

It was subsequently determined that Tracy had cracked a couple of vertebra. She toughed it out the rest of the week, had surgery when she got back home, and as I understand things she is back up and out, including riding.

When we got to the hotel, after cleaning up, I wandered down to McD's for lunch, and then across the street for laundry. My last tug of war with the laundry bit, as there were only 3 more riding days to go. In the meantime, Rick checked the bike out and got it working fine.

When Hank and Champ got in and freshened up, we took a walk, got some ice cream, and visited one of the world's largests canal locks located in Little Falls on the Erie Canal. We didn't take too much time because, afterall, we did need to get back for dinner. See ya..........

Day 43--New Blood

Canadagua to Syracuse, NY

We had a new rider with us for part of the day. Hank's friend, Jeff Malone, who hosted dinner last evening joined us in the morning for the first 24 or so miles. He then turned around and returned home on his own. He was a good rider, and it was nice to have a new face, with new stories, to share the ride with. As mentioned yesterday, Jeff and his wife are very active people, and Jeff was just so impressed with our ride, and hopes that he can do it some day. I know we all rode for our own reasons, but it is nice to occasionally have someone else be impressed with our efforts.

While I didn't do it every day, I checked my tires in the parking lot before we left this morning. I noticed 3 cuts, with two down to the cord in the back tire. I really didn't want to wrestle with a tire change at that point; so, I took my chances and started out with everyone else. Despite the 'no luck' with the gears this past week, the tire held up the entire day. I changed it out and cleaned-up the bike at the end of the day.

The day again started out damp, with wet roads, and the occasional rain, but not bad. The weather changed over to sunny near the end of the day, for an overall nice 68 miles. I noticed in my notes that I didn't put anything down as to statistics or why I didn't have or post the stats. I can only assume that I must have had the Garmin 'run out of gas' in the middle of the day from a poor charging process last night. Sometimes the hotel electrical outlets were so used that the plug does not rest tightly in the outlet, slips out slightly loosing contact, and just doesn't fully charge.

Speaking of last night...there apparently was a wedding party that stayed at our motel last night. I know because I saw them as we were leaving for dinner last night, and.......I heard them around 3AM!!!! I won't quote what I heard, but suffice it to say that at first I thought that I was going to have to call 911, and then when I finally figured it out, I was disappointed that they had to do this when I only had 2 more hours of sleep before I had to get up. Everything is about biking on this ride. I did hear that others had been awoken as well, so it wasn't just a hopeful dream of mine.

Willie and Peter passed us at one point in the day. We came up on them two or three times at stop lights that let us close in on them. Unfortunately for Willie, it was his birthday. I almost became rich because of it. You see, every time we came up on him, I sang Happy Birthday, even on the uphill. He started to offer me money to stop, and I got it up to $20 dollars. I stopped, but I never got paid; and NO I'm not using this to geode Willie into sending me money. We just do most anything to breakup the day's routine!!!

Chris pulled a ligament in his leg during the day, which made it a problem for him the rest of the week, but he was able to ride to the beach the last day. Nancy fell and broke her helmet, with no lingering effects. But, she also took a nasty rash on her hip. She did ride the next day, but had to take some of the following day off because the rash acted up. Everything seems to getting stronger but tired, and some bike mechanics are getting worse, and my gear problems never quite vanished (more to come). See ya.......

Day 42--A Second SAG day

Hamburg to Canadagua, NY

We started out with another serious rain day. Apparently the whole East Coast was having major rain and floods throughout the week, and upstate NY was no different. Hank and I were riding together. Like everyone, we were having trouble in every aspect. I had traded in my sports glasses with the doulble glass, for my "civilian" glasses in the hopes of seeing better. That strategy had worked on the lessor rain days. Unfortunately, this was not to be the case today.

At one early point of the day, we had to take a left turn on a down hill, across a busy road. We barely navigate that when we had a number of long down hills with subsequent uphills. Given that we couldn't "let the bike roll" down hill, we were forced to slug it up the next hill. This routine was repeated with the ponding along the side of the road, and small creeks running down the road, whether you were going up or going down. We came upon a small store on the corner of this small village, and Hank said he was quiting the day, and assumed that I would have pressed on if he was willing to ride. I assured him, with absolutely no reservations, the I had been pressing on because I thought he wanted to press on, and that I was pleased that he suggested that we retire. We managed just 22.7 miles.

This retiring bit for weather was almost becoming a habit: twice in one week. In retrospect, I would like to have said I road every inch, but again, long before, I had had to come off the road because of intestional problems, or mechanical problems. Coming off because of safety concerns, ceased being a problem for me. And, some of the other riders had not even started the day on their bikes for other reasons.

The experience of these types of days helped me became impressed not just with the people that rode every inch, but the prudence of those that made other personally tough decisions not to ride on a given day, or down a given down hill, or because of injury, or for any other reason. Even Magic Mike, who took a number of rides on one or more days, rode himself into shape such that he road all the way from Boston to Florida, where he lives, after the XC ride. He did the extra couple of thousand miles unsupported, on his own.

It was days like this, where I needed to make personal decisions, that I learned the most. Things like that it was OK to leave some of my testosterone in the bag, not judge a book by its cover, and enjoy the moment more. Thanks for all on the XC ride, riders and support, who helped me learn more about myself, and accomplish a meaningful experience, and permit me to reach for more in life from myself.

While I look for other things to commit some of my time, I have been able to be more involved with a friend who not only manages a work team for habit but volunteers his time to help other families renovate there homes, and I get to help out on these projects. Wow, I've definitely been writing too long today, I'm getting way too heavy. But, since this is a journal for myself as much as to share the experience with others, you'll all have to bare with me.

At the end of the day Hank was kind enough to invite me to join him and Champ in a dinner hosted by a business acquaintence. The gentleman and his wife were a pleasant ending to a very wet, tough day. The couple have been all over the world in various physical challanges, hiking, biking, etc. The gentleman joined us the next day for part of our ride to Syracuse. More on that tomorrow's post. See ya...................

Day 41--Sugar Shack

Erie, PA to Hamburg, NY
Miles: 80.5
Time: 4:59
Average: 16.1 mph
Est Calories: 5,546
Ascent: 1,820 ft

I was looking forward to this day back in Indiana. I was well aware of what challanges Ohio had in stall for us having live there, and gone to college there. And, I had ridden part of this area with the Anchor House ride in the past, as well as the fact that the Anchor House ride in two weeks was expected to cross the XC route somewhere near Canadagua this year.

The day started out damp and chilly. This was one of the few days that I wore my rain jacket. Others often wore their jackets in the mornings and shedded them toward the afternoon. Depending on the weather, I would bare up to the chilly weather in the mornings, sans jacket, if I expected to see warmer weather in the afternoons. This was not one of those days, and in fact I wore my jacket all day.

This was essentially a flat day. Gentle rollers effidence the 1,820 of elevation covered over the 80 miles. During the early part of the ride, we stopped at the "Sugar Shack", which was a friend of Hank's. This is a lady the makes her own sauces. Everything is grown and picked by hand, and made by her. She often sells the sauces that people use for everything from sauce on pancakes, to flavor in their teas. She had little cups that she put a dollup of ice cream in, and we picked the sauce we wanted to taste that she would pour on it. It would have been so easy to just stay there and get sick eating all the sweets. This was a small nugget of a jewel, with a great lady, doing extroidinary things with natural products. Thanks to Hank for showing us this place.

Having grown up along lake Erie, I asked the lady if she was loosing any land to the lake. I hit a nerve. She had just been at the tax office the past week to argue that they were charging her taxes on property that was sitting in the lake. She claimed that she had lost over 300 feet over many years, and that she was still being charged property taxes based on the survey of when she bought the place. I wish her good luck with the tax man, the lake, and success with her humble, honorable, healthy Sugar Shack.

Near the end of the day, Champ and Hank stopped to take one of those "huh" pictures of a giant advertising statue at some pottery store, and Sue and I continued on. We rolled on together to the hotel, stopping at the last minute for lunch where we ran into Willie. It was a nice day with a nice pace, getting us into the hotel relatively early in the day, sometime around 2pm, even with the stops thrown in. It was just what the doctor ordered, and just what I expected. See ya...............

Day 39 & 40--Biking by Braile, and Rest

Niles, Ohio to Erie, Pa.

I explained in an earlier blog posting about my problems while serious rain. Today was my biggest test todate.

It rained most of the night before and most of the day. The day started wet and dark, with pouring down rain. Most of us started out together. In addition, Willie had some friends that joined us for the day. Other riders had people join us periodically throughout the ride for a day of riding. I'm sure that these guys were second guessing themselves but to their credit they all made the full day's ride. I can't say the same about myself.

We started out down a major road, and were virtually soaked within the first miles. At our first left turn, Hank was in the wrong gear, stop to adjust his gearing, and told everyone to go around. It was a slight up hill, and we all began grinding it out.

I wasn't real fond of the weather, and it wasn't long before I was wondering if the weather would let me continue. The next turn was a left, and Sue and I were together. For some reason, I was pressing. I guess I intuitively knew that if this situation continued for me that I would be off the road at the 1st SAG.

This road was very rural, no sidewalks, few homes, a road with a slight crown in the center. I rode center line because of the lack of traffic, and it took out some of the standing water that ponded near the side of the road. At one point, I looked back and didn't see Sue, but I knew there were others behind us that she could pick up with. Later she said that she didn't know where I was going at that particular speed, but that she knew she couldn't keep up.

I started to come up on some earlier riders and kept going. I then came up on 3-4 of the faster riders, and passed them. Soon thereafter, I was stopped, running my thumb over my computer to see the mileage and trying to decide when I needed to turn. The group of 3-4 riders then passed me and asked if I was alright, and I realized that I needed to ride with them to improve my chances of avoiding getting lost. Some stories of others that came up on to the SAG indicated that they, in fact, had missed one or more turns.

At these speeds we were moving (?) we even caught up at the first SAG (around 34 miles) with the guys who left some half hour to an hour ahead of us. At that point, I threw in the towel, and took a ride in the rest of the way. This is the first time in almost 15 years of riding, including 14 of the 500 miles for Anchor House that I've ever come off the road for weather. Everything I say about this almost seems like whining, but since I had never done this before, I almost feel that I copped out. But, since I had not ridden every F --- inch up to that point because of other factors beyond my control, it didn't make much sense to push unsafely.

I didn't post any of the usual miles, average, etc.,on this blog posting as I forgot to turn off the garmin when I got off the road, and the garmin kept running in the truck taking my average up into unrealistic 40 mph range and all the other numbers were out of wack as well.

Trying to manage my riding in this weather was like trying to ride by Braile, which didn't seem very prudent. I kept hearing in my head one thing that Hank said one time, that we should use some of the wisdom that 63 years was supposed to have given us. I was not the only one who came off the road at that SAG, and some others came off the road at other points throughout the date. As we rode along in support of the other riders, I was a bit conflicted. At one point I would feel sorry for them and respected their tenacity. At the same time, I was relieved from the fear factor I was dealing with given that fact that I couldn't see through the rain drenched glasses, and I couldn't take them off and still see as others could. Plus, I knew that I would be doing another 500 mile ride within a couple of weeks, and didn't want anything to compromise that.

When we got into Erie, Pa, I went down to a laudramat about 5 blocks away (that old 2-3 day laudry requirement). On the way down to the laudramat, I saw Champ coming in and just pointed to the hotel a couple blocks up the road. And, it was still pouring rain, with driving winds. Again, seeing Champ rose up many conflicting emotions. It was still raining so hard that when I returned to the hotel, I had to change clothes to go to dinner, because I was soaked.

The next day was an off day. The first night in we ended up at an Italian place that was OK but not a step up and no alcohol. Some folks found a very nice place that we went to the next night of the rest day. The off day was again overcast and rainy. Some of us found a bus stop that took us to a mall, and a movie theater. The movie was a 50 cents, and the popcorn and drink was $2.50! Don't ask, I guess it was to just barely cover fixed costs? Well, it gave us something to do.

See ya............................

Day 38--Wooster to Niles

Wooster to Niles, Ohio
Miles: 91 expanded to 95.6
Time: 6:51
Aver: 13.9 mph
Max: 29.7
Est Calories: 6,727
Ascent: 4,177

One day after Bob's accident, and I just tried to maintain my routine, like getting up at 5AM for my wake-up shower, often less for hygiene then stretching and waking up. The one treat was that I could spend a bit more time in the hot shower waking up, without taking bathroom time away from Bob. Secondly, I did need to reintroduce myself to some folk with the intent of riding with them for the day. Even though one or the other of us might take off a ride off once in a while, Bob and I usually started and ended the day together. I latched onto Sue, Hank, and Champ for most the remainder of the ride. They often went down hills better than I, especially Champ. That met that I would sometimes give myself a bit of ahead start by climbing a bit quicker, or running them down on the other side of a climb. I just don't have the guts to "let it go" on the down hills, especially after blowing out the tube, tire, and flattening the rear wheel rim in Arizona coming out of Jerome.

While riding with various groups throughout the last week, it was interesting to note the various "group cultures". Each group had little nuances that had developed over the course of the last 6 weeks. Nothing unique, just different from others. One group would slap their hip and then point to the direction they were going when making a turn, rather than perhaps just point or call out the turn. Others might yell, Going, when starting up from a ride light or the like, where others may not. One group had a reconized point person, who by personal preference wanted to be "out front" virtually all the time (Harry!), where other groups would rotate through a paceline, or still others who ride together but not in any type of paceline.. These were some of the minor adjustments I needed to adapt to as I would occassionally ride in and out of the other groups throughout the last week.

This day's ride had some horrendously rough roads. I promised Hank that I would not quote his expletive deleted's. We also had may more turns than in the past. There were days in the west that we had barely on side of a 8.5 x 11.0 sheet of paper for directions. This day we had 3 sides and a bit more on the fourth side, of directions. Other than that, we moved nicely thoughout the day. The extra few miles were due to riding around another construction situation. These extra miles, plus the century the other day, made for some 95 miles a day for the 4 days through Ohio. I know that anyone that has only driven through Ohio via the Ohio Turnpike would say, so what. The fact is that once you get south of the turnpike, you start to pick up the hillier terrain. It was a tough 4 days (almost 4 straight centuries), (including tomorrow), especially with the unfortunate incident of Bob's accident surfacing in our thoughts regularly. See ya..........

Day 37-- Changes and Adjusting

Marysville to Wooster, Ohio
Miles: 98.0
Time: 6:40
Aver: 14.7 mph
Max: 32.4
Est Calories: 6,505
Ascent: 4,453

As stated in my last post, this day started out with a strong carry over from the prior long day, with our strong finish. Bob start out with a couple of other riders, and I with a couple of others. Somewhere in the 10-20 mile range, I saw some flashing lights up the road a bit. This is always a cautious time for any group of riders, just hoping that it's not for one of them. Unfortunately, this was Bob's accident. I came upon the incident just as the police showed up. The CrossRoads people where right there as well, given that they were stopped, as often the case, across the road at an intersection to point the way. Most other riders was now showing up, and the CrossRoads people indicated that we should move on. It was tough to just press on, we knew that, in truth, we could not provide any immediate help, and perhaps could cause another problem with all of us standing around the roadway, or getting in the way of the true first responders. In addition, one of the riders, a recent addition to the group from Oregon, Sue, was out in the road trying to re-direct traffic to keep anyone from just running over Bob while he was down in the middle of the outside, highspeed lane. Kudos to Sue, who of all people was the smallest person barely visible by herself. She was right behing Bob when he was moving left to take the left hand lane and was hit.

At the direction of the XC people, I moved on with Al and Jim, who are normally stronger than me. I stayed with them most of the day. At one point of the day we came up to a early SAG stop. There was a bridge out that we could walk over, but the support vehicles could not. Margerite stop her vehicle to let us load up on food and drinks because the ride around the detour would not let her get to the scheduled stop before us. As I was eating some things, Jim decided to move on, and Al soon followed. By the time I was ready to go, it took me may miles to catch-up with them.

We also stopped in a small town for lunch. (Frankly, I'm not sure now whether this was this day or the day before??) The point is that in this small town in southern Ohio, we met a couple of bicycle guys in the this place, and one guy was from Elyria, Ohio, which was the next town over from Lorain, where I grew up. I asked, amoung other things, what brought him to this part of the state. He said that his wife was at a conference near by and he took the opportunity to come down and ride the rural areas of southern Ohio.

It reminded me of time that I was on RnR (Rest and Recuperation) in Australia from VietNam, were I called some family that offered to host military people from VietNam on RnR. After a couple of misses I got a family that was going to be home, and invited me to visit for dinner. It turned out that the father of the family had spent some time in Ohio, and new my home town.

It just seemed that you can go anywhere, and still meet someone in, around, or familiar with your home town. And, this chance meeting in a one-restuarant, small village, in rural Ohio just reinforced that such chance happening do occur, at least for me.

Near the end of the day, just after the last SAG, we ran into some hills that separate the three of us. At one point, I was glad to see Margerite, just to validate that I was on the right road. When I asked her to confirm how far the hotel was, she said that it was xxx miles ahead, but that she couldn't bring it to me. What a polite way of saying...Get riding!!

My cousin, and best friend and wife, did show up and took me to an Amish place outside of town. Once again, a recurring theme, great food and lots of it. See ya.........

Day 36--after 5 months..an update to Boston,

Richmond, In. to Marysville, Ohio
Miles: 107.1
Time: 7:03
Aver: 15.2 mph
Max: 26.2
Est Calories: 7,223
Ascent: 3,081

(You will notice in the blog outline that this entry is posted in November, which is true. However, I will follow by prior posting entries, and pick these entries up where I left off in terms of "by day postings".)

This was our last official century day, and after a long day I didn't get a chance to post my blog. I was going to do so the next day, but circumstances turned decidedly sour the next day, and now some 5 months later I am trying to reconstruct a brief summary of those last days to Boston.

(PS. I'm just trying to get some narrative down, and I'll review the pictures I did take and add some later, particularly of the last day.)

As you may know from my prior posts, I used my roommate's computer to make my posts, and sometimes, due to a case of the "tireds" or laundry or Bob's posting efforts, it just became to late for me to want to post to the blog, and I would pick up and recap in the next day or two. Well, as fate would have it, the next day 37 from Marysville to Wooster included Bob getting hit by a motorcycle early in the day's ride, and with him went the computer. I will refer you to his blog for more details (see my first blog entry for his blog link), but I am glad to say, as bad as the accident was, and despite the difficulties in his recovery, that he is back riding (darest I say on a new bike). In fact we rode together some 27 miles yesterday (11/09-2009) including some 2,000 ft of climbing.

So, while I will be attempting to recap my final days into Boston on the XC ride, I will be relying on some Senior-memories, and very brief notes I made along the way. Beside some typical procrastinations, my delay in finishing up this great cross-country experience was also delayed because of the 7 day 500 miles annual charity ride for Anchor House (more on that ride later) that I have referenced before on earlier blogs, a trip to Alaska with my wife (just a super experience), and various domestic chores that had piled up during my some 9 weeks away from the homestead.

Day 36, while long, was a great day. There had been strong threats of rain early, but it held off for the most part. Everybody seemed to be stopping to take pictures of some pretty spectacular cloud and sun scenery. All I recall me trying to do was out run the very nasty looking weather.

As you'll hear more later in the week, I just can't see with my glasses in the rain, what with two layes of glass (1 perscription, 1 sunglass) there was water on both sides of each glass leaving virtually no visibility. Top that off with water on my bike computer, and I couldn't tell where I was, or when I was supposed to turn. Often during the ride, I would give the riding glasses to the SAG crew, and try to ride with my none-sport glasses...eventually with little success. And, if I were to take my glasses off, like many of the other riders, would get headaches. Because of all these personal problems, I really don't like getting caught in major rain situations for long periods of time, and just thought that if the weather was moving in the right direction, and our route took us in the other direction, that just maybe we could out ride the worst of it. Fortunately, that is what happen this day.

While I don't recall much of the details of the day, I do recall that Bob and I finished strong during the last 10+ miles of the day. There were a number of do-able rollers that propelled us along at 20+ miles an hour for that last bit of the day. I don't recall if there was any tail wind, but regardless, if there was a tail wind it was not meaningful, and the wheeeeeee-factor of finishing strong for the day. The hope was that this was partly a factor of getting stronger, and we hoped that this would be a forcast of our last days into Boston.

I was looking forward to the next day, as my best fiend, Mike and his wife, Jan, along with my cousin Bob, were planning to meet me in Wooster for dinner. They had about an hour ride from their homes up along lake Erie, where I was born and raised. See ya..........

Day 35-Warm and Friendly Day of Riding

Indianapolis to Richmond, In

Miles: 84.0

Time: 5:39

Aver: 14.9 mph

Max: 26.2

Est Calories: 5,564

Ascent: 2,209

I really didn't take any pictures today, so I added the above picture from an earlier day because it represents what we expect to feel like after the next 4 days. If you expand the picture, you will note that the sign says: Dysfunction Junction. Today was fairly long but it will be the shortest of the next five days (including today which was 84 miles). We will working the last official century tomorrow, but the next day is 97 miles. Virtually another century. The next two days after that will be 91, and 87 miles. That rest day in Eire, Pa after these next four days is already looking good.

We were going to take it easy today, but like many mornings, we all started out virtually together, and I ended up riding with some of the more aggressive riders for some 30 miles. Two of us slowed down at about 8 miles from the SAG, and just chatted our way in to the SAG. It was nice to run with a new group for a while, and get to know Willie a bit more.

At the SAG, we split up with two other groups (that we have separately been riding with lately) , and we each motored along with our respective groups to get through the rest of the day. Our group stopped at a sandwich shop in a small town, Centerville. I ordered a grilled ham and cheese. I was pleasantly surprised when the sandwich came out with about a half inch of ham. It was just what the doctor ordered today.

I wasn't particularly attentive, but Sue from Sisters, Or. that just joined the ride, asked about all these large, shiny, colored or silver balls in so many lawn decorations. Apparently they are not found in Oregon. One hit with the male riders was a car wash that was being advertised by bikini clad high school girls on both sides of the road as we left the sandwich shop in Centerville. I would have taken a picture to prove that this actually occurred, but we felt that discretion was the better part of valor, and we hesitate to think what would have happened if some parents saw us lined up taking pictures of their daughters in bathing suits.

I hope that my recoupertive powers will work wonders tonight for tomorrow's, hilly and long sojour into our tenth state: Ohio, the state of my birth, and many years of living until I eventually found my self moving to Pennsylvania, and then to NJ, after college and the military. See ya........

Day 34-Short Day....... 8>)

Crawfordsville to Indianapolis, In

Miles: 65.8

Time: 4:24

Average: 14.9 mph

Max: 29.4 mph

Ascent 1,793

Est Calories: 4,393

This was the shortest day between now and 12 riding days from now, which will be the celebratory ride to the Atlantic Ocean near Boston. It was mostly flat and cool, but dry. I got to the hotel by 1:45 PM, and had a shower, and had my chain on the bike replaced by 2:45....a real treat; and then got a load of laundry done before dinner. The treat of extra time at the end of the day was amplified by the fact that the next 5 day's mileage will not be LESS then 83 miles per day. As we sometimes say, it will be time to go back to work starting tomorrow.

Today I rode with Hank and Champ, and two business friends of Hank's that live here, who only rode with us for the day. We were joined by Sue, who just joined the ride to Boston 2 days ago, and rides a recumbent (a good rider, but no draft off of the recumbent for the rest of us). At times, with the aid of a tail wind, we scooted along at around 21 mph. A extra treat, and but totally un-sustainable. You can look back over the days and see that it seems like no matter the day, the distance, or the conditions, we often end up averaging around the 15 mph average mark by the end of the day. You figure it out? We obvious find time to meander, get lost, stroll around a town looking for food, or slowing for a nature call. All these elements of a given day are all part of the ride, and sometimes even critical to our energy levels, pacing, and fun of the ride.

The one SAG for the day was at the Gentry Farm were the pictures above were taken. Historically this family has been kind enough to host the SAG, which included the use of their bathroom. (True hospitality above and beyond). The family used to have a dairy farm, but had to sell the cows a year or so ago. They now raise soybeans and corn, but with ONLY 650 acres owned and around 150 acres rented, they find this also economically challenging. So after 100 years (as of next year) and 4 generations in the family, the farm's next fate is unknown at this writing. At this point the owner's son does not seem so interest in farming. Just another story on the impact of the large industrial farmer versus small farmer, and the expections of succeeding generations. We all wish the best for the Gentry family. TTFN......TA TA FOR NOW............See Ya..............

Day 33-Crazy Helmet Day, and a Real Cruiser

Champaign, Ill to Crawfordsville, In.

Miles: 80.7

Time: 5:17

Average: 15.3 mph

Max: 29.5 mph

Ascent: 1,421

Est. Calories: 5,461

After a nasty weather warning of a night, including severe thunderstorms and tornado warnings, we started the day with damp roads, and standing water in places. But on the lighter side of things, we also started the day with crazy helmet decorations. Some of those are shown above. The last picture is yours truly, and I had balloons with various candies in the helmet holes. The idea is that it is the Party SAG. I donated the candies for the real SAG as I did not wear this stuff past the few minutes pre-ride. The next picture up is my roomie with a wine screw in the helmet that said: "screw old age"; which was appropriate as the second oldest on the ride. The other two most decorated people actually wore their stuff all day.....go figure. Harry, our British rep, was decked out in USA flags and stuff; and Nancy had long flowing BLUE hair.

The day actually turned out perfect: no rain, partly sunny, enough clouds to make it comfortable, a bit higher humidity, a fairly short day, virtually no ascent, and just a fun group to ride with. Looking for food by mid-day produced The Bus Stop; a small cafe in Veedersburg that was just a fun place, and not really a Bus Stop. All the people were very accommodating and friendly, and wanted to talk with us. One local couple actually came out to look at our bikes and learn more about our ride. While the cafe were out of a lot of things on the menu, what we had was all good. Pictures were being taken with babies, and we all n' all we had a good break in the day and gave the local Veedersburg-ites something to talk about. Once again, kudoes to middle America.

The top picture is credit to the "ghost riders in the sky"....empty bikes moving toward an Ice Cream sign......How appropriate! I guess you might even say that ice cream could be said to be our primary food group. One person, George, is stopping at every DQ he sees all across the county for a Blizzard with the same toppings each and every time. The rest of us at least vary our ice cream preference over time. My personal preference is for hard ice cream, not the soft ice cream you get in DQ's.

TIP: For those that may not be aware, if you click on the pictures in the blog, they will increase in size, with more visible detail. See ya..................

Day 30-31-32-Another Century, Another Delayed Start, and Another Rest Day

Day 30-Qunicy to Speingfield, Ill.
Miles: 108.2
Time: 7:06

Average: 15.2 mph
Max: 33.2 mph
Ascent 2,573

Est. Calories: 7,114

Day 31-Springfield to Champaign, Ill.

Miles: 87.5

Time: 5:49

Average: 15.0 mph

Max: 25.9 mph

Ascent: 1,926

Est. Calories; 5,908

Day 30-Another delay in starting because of lightening at our normal start times. At first the delay was expected to be an hour, and then the storm moved on enough to get started a few minutes early. I am beginning to feel like a fireman: first you are relaxing, then the alarm goes off and your out the door. Given the delayed start and the long day, we had to keep moving throughout the day to get into the next hotel at a reasonable hour, and still it took us a bit over 7 hours in the saddle. Fortunately, the wind shifted in the later part of the day, and we could pick up a bit more speed. The two bikers I was riding with were the two oldest riders, Bob and Hank, (see above). While following them, I decided to get a quick picture. I hadn't anticipated the speeds we were going (high teens), and by the time I stopped, got the camera out, they were almost gone. I had to kick it up quite a bit to close back in on them. So much for a little diversion. The second picture is Bob in his biking splendor.

Day 31-This was the last day before the fourth Rest day, and some riders were dragging a bit as we started out, but almost every kicked it up a bit through the course of the day; partly because the ride was quite flat, partly because the wind changed in the later part of the day to a tail wind, and partly because the sooner you get in the longer your rest day becomes.

While we had been through many, many miles of Agri business in terms of farms, growing crops, herds of cows and horses, and silos of all sizes, it just seemed to be more meaningful riding to day thinking that we will be moving into more industrial areas in the next week (northeast Ohio). Hence the farm and crop pictures. The pictures of the grasses along the road is also a strong indication of the direction that the wind is blowing. At the time of the picture, you can see the lighter side of the grass being on the left, which is the direction of the wind, and which, of course, was the direction we were riding at the time. Sometimes it seemed as though you watching your own garden grow as you moved across states, or just from one day to another. One day you'd see a plowed field, the next day you might see sprouts coming up, the next would show a couple inches, and then you might see a green corn field with a deer standing up to his neck in corn, and then bounding through the field to avoid us crazing on bike moving by. Just nice stuff!!

Riders continue to share ongoing issues: like sore hands, sore this and that, etc. And, other's willing share solutions that work for them. The sharing is part of the strength of the group. I can't imagine what would have happen to some of us with the tips and help of others. While some have gone across the USA more than once, I am sure those of us who haven't would have had a much more difficult time with the group dynamics and support.

Day 32-Besides the normal laundry, eating, and resting, most of us went to a party store to get sill things to put on our helmet for tomorrow. God only knows what some people will come up with, since some bikers are already carrying stuffed animals, a plastic fish tank, and seemingly all they can carry in their shirt pockets already. We'll see tomorrow. See ya....................

Day 29-A New State and 2,000 Miles

Kirksville, Mo. to Quincy, Ill.
Miles: 75.7
Time: 5:43
Average: 13.2 mph
Max: 26.2 mph
Total Ascent: 2,156 ft
Est Calories: 4,852

Another wet start to the day, so I again left my camera in my bag. Also, another day with headwinds for the majority of the day. What's with this prevailing winds of west to east? We're not going to change things, so we just ride. We were hoping for a bit of respite from the weather today given that tomorrow will be another century, but it wasn't to be. In fact, tomorrow is shaping up to be the same as the last two days as respects the potential for a rainy start, but there may be a bit of help from a more trailing wind. We'll see.

We did move into a new state today: Illinois, and have now covered over 2,000 miles of the 3,400 total. It seems like eons ago, but it used to be a big deal when I used to train 1,000 getting in shape for the Anchor House ride I do every year (see the first blog entry). I guess I won't have to do anything special this year other than this ride. Actually, Bob Fuller and I did a bit less then 2.000 miles since Jan 1, so I will have done almost 5,000 miles by the time this ride is over since the first of the year. I am tired just writing about this. While this ride has many challenges, one of the great upsides is learning more about our fellow riders each day. Each rider has his/her own unique stories and lives, and none of them are boring to be sure. People, riders and staff alike (some 20 people), live or have lived or have homes in Japan, Iran, Afghanistan, Israel, England, Mexico as well as all over the USA. Some lived there because that is where they are from, some lived there because their jobs took them to those locations, and some just retired there. Whatever the reason, the stories are interesting. And, occupations to not seem to breed the decisions to ride. We have a wonderful mixed bag of current and prior vocations, and avocations, and there does not seem to be a loss for subjects to talk about, which is one of the more interesting parts of the ride. And when the weather cooperates, and scenery explodes into all its splendor, this truly is a great ride! I'm not sure that there is another one of these in me, but more than one of these riders have done multiple crossings. We have people were this is their fourth crossing. I told you these folks weren't boring, whether or not you may have your own definition for these people..............

As the ride days pile up, we are getting stronger or just think we are, and in other ways we push harder, which makes us look even more forward to those rest days; the next being in 2 more days. See ya................

Day 28-Late Start

Chillicothe to Kirksville, Mo.
Miles: 75.0
Time: 5:11
Average: 14.5 mph
Max: 33.9 mph
Total Ascent: 4,875 ft
Est Calories: 5,189

No pictures today, as I buried my camera in my bag that is transported by truck. We had the potential for rains all day and I did not anticipate what nice opportunities there would be for great views because the sun came out for most of the day, and of the scenic green hills. and winds blowing the grasses in waves. We actually waited almost 3 hours before starting out in the rain, because of serious lightening, thunder, and hard rain before the actual departure. Some of the lightening was followed immediately by the thunder, proving that the storm was directly over us. By the time we started, some of us had been up almost 5 hours, and were ready to eat again. I must admit that I slept through most of the waiting time. Given the late start, we pushed most of the day to make up for the time lost in waiting around in the morning. One rider actually slipped in his bike shoes on the wet parking lot of the hotel, and hit his head. He rode today, though.

About 25 miles into the ride, we stopped at a store for some snacks and. on the way again, we ran into a parade (Fun Day in Brookfield). Waiting was interesting given the old tractors, and kids, but this cost us a bit more time to make up. Despite the views and parade, we had a busy day with a plethora of hills (one rider in a past ride counted over 148 hills in the last 50 miles). You do the math. If you didn't carry enough speed into the hill that carried you most, if not all the way up and over the hill, you were forced to slug it out in low gears....very taxing. The roads were wide enough and straight enough for my comfort zone that I was able to handle most the hills nicely.

Tomorrow is supposed to be a bit easier in terms of hills; but, the following day is another century, so I hope to pace a little better tomorrow. We'll see how that turns out. See ya............

Day 27-Middle America at its Best

St. Joseph to Chillicothe, Mo.

Miles: 85.8

Time: 5.21

Average: 16.0 mph

Max: 33.0 mph

Total Ascent: 5,842ft

Est Calories: 4,648

After some 30 miles of wind assisted hills, we came into Maysville, Mo. And, as has been the case for the last 10 years that CrossRoads tour has come through this town, the whole town seemed to show up to greet us. For those that were not personally involved, they would shout out to us from their cars, trucks, or tractors. The local Pre-K and Kindergarteners were taken out of class to greet us, and then walked up a few blocks to town to sit across the street and watch us bikers swarm over the food put out for us. The one picture above is me giving "low-fives" to the five year olds.

There was fresh cinnamon buns with cherry sauce and cherries on top, and plenty of PBNJ's to go around. It was difficult to stop the feeding frenzy to get back on the road. The "spread" was put out in front of the Historical Society, and people were there to see that we got as much as we wanted, and poured ice water and lemonade. One lady just recently retired from the bank over on the corner: she was 94 years old. It was pure Americana hospitality, and cordial conversation. We got to wander around the Historical Society's building while we ate, as well. Even though we had an 85 mile day to cover, there was no rush to press on. One guy kept asking everyone where they were from, and asking us to come back. Isn't that the best complement from someone you just met?

Once we did our "thanks, and farewell's" we continued our ups and downs, into the hotel. I guess I wish I had taken a few pictures of the hills, but I guess I was just busy riding them. They were higher and longer than I have done in past rides.

Dinner at the hotel was actually a BBQ wheeled in from an outside service, and was quite good. I often wonder if all this food is really this good, or are we in such a need that most anything tastes good. It may be a bit of both, but I'd like to think that good is good no matter what the rationalization. Tomorrow is more of the same in terms of Ups and Downs, but 10 miles shorter. Here's hoping the weather continues to be in our favor, winds and all. See ya.............

Day 24, 25, 26-Rest, Long and Windy, and a New State

Day 24. The Rest day was a rainy day, so much rest was accomplished. One fellow rider offered to have Bob and I join him and his wife, and one other rider for dinner. Peter's wife was visiting and had a rental car. We ate at the Farm House Restaurant, which was a favorite of President Eisenhower's, who is now buried, along with his wife and child in the Eisenhower Meditation Hall at the Eisenhower Library and Museum, in Abilene, Ks. We did have to call the restaurant more than once because we drove right by it because their sign was flat on the ground. OOPs.

Day 25. Abilene to Topeka, KS. So much for the Rest day. The next day was 108 miles with head winds for most of the day. In my opinion, if this had been earlier in the tour, many riders would not likely have made it all the way in this day. It was a beautiful day in terms of scenery, but the winds were brutel. I made it through the desert without serious sunburn, but this day gave me and a few other riders, a wind burn. You can see from above that road was also seriously rolling. The road above reminded me of the ribbon christmas candy. And, these rollers were the most benine portion of the ride this day. We also saw some elk, note second picture above. We did have a nice late ride treat. We did stop at a place for pie. Norma, the owner, has won a National contest for best pie. One of the riders actually had 3 pieces, plus ice cream, and a drink. There was only about 15 miles to go after the 90 plus up to that point. I admit that I had a piece of pie, and a bowl of ice cream. Since the pie was lemon merange, I did have the pie and ice cream separately. We just ordered, and they delivered it. Then, before you leave, you just go up to the cashier and state what you had, they ring it up, and you pay. Can you imagine that happening is any Big city?

We did manage to average 13.5 mph for the 108. That included some 6,624 ft of climbing per another's Garmin. I managed to incorrectly re-charge my Garmin, again, and I had to shut it down at the SAG at the 62 mile mark. At that piont, my Garmin was showing just short of 4,000 ft of climbing. We all know these figures are not exact, but they show give a good indication of the efforts being put out for most days. And, today took us to the half way point of the tour, in terms of miles covered.

Day 26. It was an overall good day. It took me a few miles to get my body in gear today, given a bit of fatigue spill-over from yesterday. We did move onto another state: Missouri. One of those, gett'r done days.
Topeka, Ks. to St. Joseph, Mo.
Miles: 85.8
Time: 6:04
Average: 14.1 mph
Max: 28.6 mph
Total Ascent: 3,035 ft
Est Calories: 5,537

See ya.............................

Day 23-A Cruiser into a Rest Day..... 8>)

Great Bend to Abilene, Ks.
Miles: 62.4
Time: 3:34
Average: 17.4 mph
Max: 30.0 mph
Total Ascent: 966 ft
Est Calories: 4,629

We continued our heartland tour today, continuing through Kansas. It was a really good ride day today: warm, with 40 miles of down wind cruising after a 22 mile stretch with a cross wind. At the turn that picked up the tail winds, Mack, one of the staff of CrossRoads who is from England, was standing on the side of the road with a large, black trash bag held above his head, and it was standing straight out demonstrating the benefits we could expect after the turn. And, it was true, and great. Hence, the 17.4 mph average for the day through rolling country roads that were mostly downhill.

One strange event happened during the first 22 miles. We came upon a non-CrossRoads rider along the side of the road with his recumbent bike (low rider type). He was offering us donuts; yes, donuts. He asked us where we were going, and said that he was jealous, but that he wasn't in shape for such a ride anyhow. When Bob Fuller asked where he was going, he said that he was just riding around scavenging. It turned out that there had been a recent truck accident, and there was a pile of rubble on the side of the road, including sealed bags of donuts. You know, the kind you'd find in any store; the powdered kind in a sealed white bag with a clear plastic window on the front. He had about a half dozen of these bags in a small cardboard box, but I couldn't help wonder how he planned to get these home, not to mention that he actually planned to eat them. I hear tell from Mack that the rider on the incumbent was actually on the other side of the road when he saw him, and must have crossed over when he saw the pile of "stuff" on our side of the road. Oh well. Every day brings us new sights and sounds, not to mention the people along the way.

We have our 3rd rest day tomorrow, and most all riders seem to welcome it. The day after the rest day, we kick it up a notch with a 106 mile day to Topeka, Ks. Actually, we will have 2 century rides next over the next 7 days, but we're moving into the second half of the tour with twenty-two days of riding down, and 23 to go. See ya............

Day 22-Cause Celeb in McPherson, Kansas

Great Bend to McPerson, Ks.

Miles: 64.4

Time: 4:14

Average: 15.2 mph

Max: 24.0 mph

Total Ascent: 820 ft

Est Calories: 4,329

Thanks to Tom Dunn for the action shot, above, of Bob Fuller and I. For those unfamiliar with us, I'm the chunkie one on the right. Tom will be leaving the ride after tomorrow, and he will be missed. Regards, Tom D.

Today was another short day with a fair bit of cross winds, but based on conversations at dinner, many riders napped as soon as they got in to the hotel. While this was a relatively short day, it was however the eighth straight right of riding, and tomorrow will make 9 straight days of riding before our 3rd rest day. Other than the cumulative effects, this was a nice sunday ride. Not much traffic, some favorable winds, and no elavations to speak of. On the other hand, nothing was open in McPherson, Ks. We went up and down the town looking for something open for a sandwich, to no avail. As it was, we came upon a few other of our bikers a mile up the road, and we all doved into SONIC for food. Another first for me. I've never eaten at a SONIC and had to take lessons from the other riders as to how to order (all outside, and then they deliver your food to your outside table).

When we arrived at the SONIC there was a family group of about 4 adults and 2 children, sitting there. I didn't pay much attention, as I was focused on food. The 2 couples on the other hand thought that we were some riding friends of one of the husband's and started to cheer for us. That interaction only lead to a constant exchange between our 2 groups. They were there when we got there and were there as we left. They suggested that there really wasn't much to do in McPerson on a Sunday but to hang out at the SONIC.

Before we left for the hotel some 3 miles down the road, they took our picture, our names, and some info on our ride to submit to the "McPherson Sentinel", the local newspaper. I undestood that the guy with the camera was a part time contributor to the paper. We checked the internet when we got to the hotel, and found that the Sentinel has a website. It will be interesting to see if we make the local paper, which we will be checking over the next few evenings. Here we are, the Cause Celeb in McPherson, Kansas. What a goof! See ya.................

Day 21-Wheeeeeeeeeeeee

Dodge City to Great Bend, Ks.
Miles: 86.6
Time: 4:26
Average: 19.5 mph
Max: 32.5 mph
Total Ascent: 916 ft
Est Calories: NA

If yesterday's ride was NICE, today was as close to perfect as we could have imagined. Virtually flat as a pool table as evidenced by the Ascent and the Average noted above. The Max actually may be my fastest todate, and it was on the flats. We had a tail wind from heaven. After 60 miles we were averaging 20.2 mph and probably only finished below 20 mph for the day because we were looking for an eatery in Larned, Ks before we settled on Subway, and there was a bit of head wind for about 3-4 miles at the end of the ride. Some people get in around noon and actually went to the movies. The est calories is noted NA because the methodology used by the Garmin really does not compensate for unique effort days like today. I did not use over 7000 calories today as was indicated on the Garmin, thus the NA indication.

The picture above, in the background was a sign that indicated that this was the midpoint between San Fancisco and NY. It is not the midpoint for us, as that is still a couple of days away for us because of our route.

At the end of the day we went to Walmart on our bikes and in our biking clothes. Walmart was about 1/2 mile from the hotel. We had a need for some supplies (gatorade for the morning, sunscreen, etc), Coming out of Walmart we stopped at Arby's for a soda (so I had a sandwich as well. After all, it was 5 hours until dinner.) As I was about to enter the place, I held the door for an elderly gentleman, and we began a conversation about where we were headed, and from where, etc. As we were about to finish our snacks, the man came over and asked if he could give us a gift. It turns out that this 84 y/o man has been a bee keeper and would like to give us some honey. He then went out to his car and returned with a 24 oz plastic bottle of pure honey, shaped like a little bear with a little yellow cap (for pouring). So, if you find yourself in Great Bend, you can find the kind Mr. Watson Nichols at the Nichols Apiaries, PO Box 396-520 Odell, Great Bend, Kansas, 67530, PH: 620-793-5267. We will be sharing this with our fellow riders, and the Cross Roads staff will find some creative use for this fine sugary treat on something, to be determined, at one or more of the SAG's over the next few days.

As we left Arby's we went over to thank him again before we left. He assured us that this gave him more pleasure that it would give us, and offered a "God be with you" and "be safe". Just another great expression of kindness we have experienced along the way. This expression of kindness is just what the doctor ordered, and what, as I have said before, is what I was hoping to experience on this ride. God bless the Mr. Nichols of this world. See ya...............

Day 20-Pulled Buffalo Meat Sandwich

Liberal, Ks to Dodge City, Ks.
Miles: 84.2
Time: 5:20
Average: 15.8 mph
Max: 28.2 mph
Total Ascent: 1,647 ft
Est Calories: 5,666

We had a nice day with tail winds for almost 60 miles, and crossing winds for the last 24. The first 40 miles to the first and only SAG (at the Dalton Gang Hideout) was accomplish comfortably at over 17 mph. NICE. Here we have a picture of young calves having a curious look at us while we watched them. They got bored first and moved on before we did.

Those "amber waves of grain" in the heartland have not quite ripened, as we saw "emerald" waves of grain as far as you could see for most of the day. It's clear that these farms are measured in sq miles, not acres.

Once again there wasn't much to eat along the route, but the best was saved until last, in Dodge City. The Boot Hill historical section provided the savory delight. We came upon two guys hitching up two very large draft horses to a stage coach and asked them where there might be a local sandwich shop that would allow people dressed like us to enter. They pointed to this Ice Cream Parlor in the Boot Hill section right next to us. It turned out to be a real treat. They had a yummy pulled buffalo meat sandwich (very tender like pulled pork). Bob and I each had that with pepper cheeze, lettuce and tomato, and BBQ sauce, on a nice soft, fresh honey wheat roll, with pickles on the side. BBQ chips to go along. Then, we finished up with a hard ice cream chocolate sundaes (one hot fudge, and one regular chocolate). And, lots and lots of Dr Pepper soda. Yum, Yum, Yum. After 80+ miles anything might taste good, but this was a sandwich to die for, on Boot Hill!!!!! Ah, f-o-o-o-od. Another 80+ mile day is scheduled for tomorrow. See ya......................

Day 19-Welcome to the Plains States

Guymon,Ok to Liberal, Ks

Miles: 46.0

Time: 3:24

Average: 13.5 mph

Max: 24 mph

Total Ascent: 893 ft

Est Calories: 3,893

Today was a midweek (day 5 of 9 straight riding days) mini-day. Basically a casual riding day just to keep the tour going, but not a challenging day. The official day was less than 40 miles, but we took a side trip to the Mid-American Air Museum in Liberal, Kansas. I was primarily loaded with private and experimental aircraft with a few serious military aircraft, like Cobra coppers, and Jets. The side trip was enhanced by the fact that, Nancy, the older women on the ride at 66, was a pilot since college. Her original plane was CANVAS skinned, not metal. Needless to say, she added a lot of commentary to the history of the these older planes. They even had a version of her old plane in the museum.

As mentioned in the last blog, we moved into Kansas today, and the city of Liberal is the old "yellow brick road" town, but we did not look for Dorothy's house. On the way to Liberal, we stopped in Hooker, Kansas (see above). And, no, Kansas is not the end of the world despite the Welcome to Kansas sign above.

We stopped at Pizza Hut for a salad and personal pan pizza, and I normally change to my "civilian" glasses from my sports glasses for indoors. As we departed and re-dressed in the biking helmet, etc, I did not change the glasses back to the sport glasses because the hotel was only about 500 feet down the road. So I managed to leave the civilian glass case near the bushes outside the Pizza Hut. Once settling at the hotel I recognized what may have happened, and road back to the Pizza Hut to try to find the case. I found the pad I had in the case, but no case. Just another senior moment. I will try to get a new case at the KMart the day after next.

I noticed a bubble forming on the front tire of the bike yesterday, but was too tired to deal with it. So, at the end of today I had the pleasure of changing out the tire for a new one at the hotel. It turns out that there was a cut in the tire that weaked the side wall of the tire, which is what caused the bulge to form. Fortunately, the slow easy day did not cause any tire problems on the road. Tomorrow we move back into the longer days, being +80 mile days and early departures. See ya..............