DAM J.A.M SAG

DAM J.A.M SAG

SAG?  SAG is Support And Gear.  I have ridden the last few weekends and will ride all next weekend in the MS150.  I thought I should give Kelly a break.  Vivian and I decided to provide support for a ride out of Pryor, OK called DAM J.A.M.  Basically this means driving around and helping any bike riders that need help.  We were assigned the 100 mile route.

Riders at the start.

 This is the lead pack as they pass the 10 mile rest top.  Vivian was the main photographer.  I let her use my good camera.  She asked me if I would give it to her when she turned 12.  I said “probably not”. 

It was rainy and cold for about the half the ride.

 A self portrait

Our first stop around mile 45.  I had one tool.  A pump.  It was useful once.  I think this was Alan.  He had a nice titanium bike.

Our second stop was to help Mike at about mile 50.  Mike was from Fayetteville.  Mike had major cramping problems.  He was riding a fixed gear bike.  He blamed the cramping on the cold. 

Third stop.  We came up to the 59 mile rest stop and found Andrew and Drew.  Andrew was Drew’s father.   They were from Fort Smith.  Drew had been riding hard and was somewhat hypothermic.  He didn’t have good color and needed a SAG back to the beginning to get into dry clothes.  We didn’t have room for Mike so we left him at the 59 mile stop.  There was another SAG vehicle not far behind.  I would have called 911 if it wasn’t for his Dad saying he would be okay.  We cranked up the heat and drove back as fast as we could.  Drew was doing fairly good by time we got back to the start.

 Vivian took lots of pictures of the scenery.  Unfortunately she didn’t agree with me what type of things were scenic.

Vivian also like to take pictures of riders after they passed.  I told her it was more interesting to take a picture of their fronts.

Fourth stop.  While riding from the start/finish backwards I passed this guy near the 93 mile rest stop.  This guy was from Tulsa and was trying to patch his tire.  I think he was finally getting it to work.  Another SAG came along and I left to ride back to the 100mile route.

Vivian found some more interesting scenery.

Fifth stop was at the 72 mile rest stop.  Forgot this guy’s name.  He came from New Mexico for this ride.  He decided to call it a day after his third flat.

The end of our DAM J.A.M. SAG adventure.

  We were dismissed from our duties.  We were eating lunch in the tent and telling somebody about Mike, the rider we left at mile 59.  I expected that he would have been brought back a long time ago.  His friends were sitting in the tent and worried about him.  I was a bit concerned too.  Finally, they decided to drive the course backward.  They found him riding not too far from the finish.  The sun had come out and he felt better so didn’t SAG the rest of the route.

Next year I plan on riding the full 100 mile JAM and seeing this route from the bike.

Flint Hills Death Ride ‘08

July 27^th

I got talked into going to the Flint Hills Death Ride by some of the guys in the bike club.  The ride is 70+ miles on gravel (and less than gravel) roads around Madison, KS.  To top that off it is in the middle of summer.  As luck would have it the heat of the summer seemed to arrive about a week before the ride.

Madison is several hours away.  Vivian went to stay with her cousins.  Kelly and I went up a day early and spent some time in Topeka. 

I don’t think I’ve ever seen a drive-thru only McDonalds before.

Kelly went to antique stores.  While she did that, I visited the local bike shops.  I found a used Specialized Rockhopper that I couldn’t resist.  I surprised Kelly with it when I picked her up.  Here is a picture of my new bike (the white one).  Both bikes and my truck look quite patriotic.

This 1950’s Jeepster was at our hotel.  The guy driving it was in town for the Shiner’s Bowl.

Off to the races.  Okay, so it isn’t a race.  The ride stared at 7:30am.  Kelly dropped me off and went back to the hotel for more sleep.  From reading internet post I expected the ride to be about 77 miles.  During breakfast somebody was saying the ride was going to be about 82 miles.  For some reason that made me think “What the heck am I doing here?”  My previous gravel experience was 20-25 miles.  Hard to back out when your ride is gone. 

There were no maps before the ride.  We were given a map that morning with a queue sheet that told you at what mileage to turn what direction.  The course was marked with ribbon but they said somebody had removed some of the ribbon so don’t count on course markings.  We did find several unmarked turns. 

The starting line of bikes looked different from what I am used to.  We rode out of town to the roaring sound of knobbies on pavement.   

Not too far into the ride we were on a slightly wet dirt/gravel road.  Mud started to cake up on the front wheel and again I thought “What the heck am I doing here?”.  The mud section wasn’t long.  Luckily the rain from the previous night wasn’t enough to wet the roads too much. 

 Many of the roads looked like this one.

Keith and Kevin left me early on with their cyclocross bikes.  I thought I would never see them again.  I did however catch up to Keith (pictured) before long.  About mile 25 we turned south into the wind.  Then we knew why the first part of the ride was so easy.  We rode together until mile 30 where we ran into Kevin. 

Another of the various road types.

Sean, Kevin, & Keith

We rode with Kevin from mile 30 to mile 42.  You had to make 42 by noon to be allowed to continue on the full route.  We got there about 11am.  If you complete the full route you “earn” the right to buy a jersey.  Here are Sean (me), Kevin, & Keith at the 42 mile SAG stop.  I felt fairly good at 42 miles.

I didn’t get any pictures of the worst roads.  We were on anything from packed gravel, loose gravel, mud gravel, near mud, rocky, boulders with gravel,  gravel ruts with tall grass growing up on both sides/middle, short grass that almost looked mowed, and something called a minimum maintenance road with a warning to use at your own risk (or something like that).  The one constant is that it was all fairly rough, in the middle of absolutely no where, and seldom a tree for shade.  I don’t have picture of the rougher roads because I was too busy riding.

Riding with Kevin and Keith took it’s toll on me.  Somewhere around 50 miles I started getting tired.  We were doing a lot of up hill, into the wind, and it was hot.  There was a SAG stop at 57 miles and all I could think of was making it to that point.  I was just a bit behind Keith and Kevin when I saw three riders stopped on the side.  I stopped too.  I rode with this new group for a while before I pulled ahead.  On the way to the next SAG I talked to a few guys.  One was doing about like me and we both said that we would rest and see if we wanted to continue after the next stop.  Trying to finish the ride was not worth a heatstroke.

At the rest stop I caught up with Keith and Kevin just before they left.  I told them I didn’t know if I was going to continue and I would be there for a while at least.  Luckily at the stop there were cold rags, watermelon, cookies, and plenty to drink.  I sat there chatting with other riders and contemplating my next move.  After 10-15 minutes I started to feel fairly alive again.  Talking to the SAG people and some riders who had done this last year it sounded like the next part of the course wasn’t too bad.  They ran that part of the course the opposite way the previous year.  Memories were sketchy about terrain but it gave me some hope.  The thought was the course was mostly along a ridgeline and one significant hill left.

At this stop one rider had messed up his tire.  He was trying to find somebody who was going to quit so he could borrow their tire.  I told him I “might” have one available.  A rider did finally come in on the back of an ATV and was nice enough to donate his tire.

One of the riders gave me some liquid electrolyte for my water bottle.  At that point free unknown drugs from a stranger sounded like a good idea.  The ride to the next rest stop wasn’t too bad.  I rode with two other riders.  There was one crazy fast downhill with a few curves.  I know I was going well over 30mph.  At the bottom was a cattle guard on a sweeping curve.  I was trying to slow down for that and just after I crossed I looked down and was doing 28mph.

I caught up to Keith and Kevin at SAG number 5.  Kevin had 2 flat tires which slowed them down a bit.  At this rest stop I again decided it was a good idea to take drugs from strangers.  This time too electrolyte capsule; but I had known this rider for at least 30 minutes by this point.  Just what was his name.?  Kelly later told me that I should probably take along my own supplements in the future and I agreed.

 Not long after the last SAG stop we came to a nasty looking hill.  I witnessed a rider throw his bike down and sit in the road (pictured).  Leg cramps don’t get much worse I suppose.  I saw a number of guys walking up this hill.  I’m proud to say I made it up without walking.  That said my body did HURT at the top.

I enjoyed this sign.

This “road” was not passible by the average vehicle.  I’m not sure my 4x4 would have done well.  There was one drop that I approached slowly.  By the time I got close enough to see that I could probably make it I was going to slow and had to dismount.  I should have taken a picture of these large cracked boulders that we crossed.  I was able to ride through the rest of that section.

Yea!  I finished.  Overall a great experience that I’m not sure I want to do again.  Finished about 3:15pm so about 7:45 total time.  Weather Underground shows 95 degrees, 93% humidity, 10-15mph winds from the South. 

My computer said:

84.859 miles

12.3mph average

39.1mph top speed

6:53:15 riding time

Tulsa Tough '08 - 2 days of riding

Tulsa Tough – 2 days of riding

Saturday

I rode 100k (62 miles) at the Tulsa Tough with Chris, a friend from Owasso.  Starting weather was good.  There are a few fairly good hills heading out of Tulsa and at mile 8 I can remember thinking I was more tired than I should have been.  Not long after that my body woke up and everything was good.

584 total riders for all rides

Chris and Sean at the start

The 30 mile rest stop is in Avant.  We broke a rule leaving Avant; or maybe just showed no common sense.  We headed out of the stop straight toward a lightening storm.  Fortunately it dissipated as we rode.  Unfortunately there was a good uphill climb.

  

The 40 mile rest stop was in Skiatook.  We left this stop going into a dark storm.  We got some cold “stinging” rain between miles 40-50.  Several deep puddles assured complete water saturation of the socks.  The only other notable hardship is a steep hill at about mile 55.  We could see a guy in front of us struggle up the hill weaving back and forth.  A police car was behind him and we found out later that the cop had sounded his siren right behind him.

 Sean and Chris at the finish.

Saturday ride stats

Total riders for 100k = 279

Sean finished 128^th , Chris finished 132^nd

Total time: 3:42:18  - (Chris was 43 seconds later)

Time from leader: +1:08:33.000

Overall pace:  16.7mph

Sunday

I rode 100k (62 miles) for a second day.  This time I rode by myself.  I did see fellow Hotter ‘n Hell rider Bobby at the start and finish.  In the middle I just talked to whomever was closest.  The first 10+ miles were great.  We had a police escort all down Riverside Drive and through Jenks.  Riding 20 mph in a large pack is fairly easy.  After the police escort was gone the lead pack took off and I started losing site of them quickly. 

Rest Stop #2

I lost several items on this bike ride.  The first of which was my bike mirror at rest stop #2 in Keifer.  This mirror clips on glasses or a helmet.  I have a habit of knocking it off.  Anyway, this time it landed in the portapotty urinal.  I bit it farewell.  Maybe some less than fortunate rider retrieved it later.  On a different note, there is a mean hill right after this rest stop.

Rest Stop #3

I debated if I was going to stop in Kellyville.  I didn’t really need anything.  I decided to stop because a little boy was handing out water.  I thought he would like it if somebody took water from him.  Leaving that stop we heard reports of storms, lightening, and hail in Mannford.  I figured it would be gone before I got close.  For the second day proving I have lost all common sense. 

It wasn’t long after that when I realized it was VERY DARK.  Of course I was wearing sunglasses.  I removed them and it was still VERY DARK.  That didn’t bode well.  I would occasionally hear hair ripping through the trees.  I stopped by a small group of trees for a bit of shelter.  Then a bike passed and I couldn’t resist following.  That put me out on Highway 33 with no possible cover, horrible wind, and nickel size hail.  I got hit a couple of times with hail.  After about a mile the storm lessened. 

Then I came upon a group of bikers standing in the road.  As I pulled up to see what was wrong I realized that they had just been beaten by golfball+ size hail.  I saw some guys hand with a large raised welt.  I also saw several bruises.  I heard a couple of guys were bleeding.  Part of the group got in a ditch and part of them went ahead to a farmhouse.  I heard one guy say his helmet was cracked; one guy lost a garmin gps to a direct hit; and one guy had a broken rear derailer and was left with 2 gears.  I guess the good thing is we all wear helmets.

The riders that I had found were part of the lead group.  Most of these guys were trying to finish 100 miles in under 5 hours.  I got to ride with a number of these guys for about the next ten miles.  I did see a chain reaction wreck.  Only one bike went down.  The lead rider swerved which caused the bike behind to swerve and the third bike swerved and went down.  I came close to hitting the head of that rider as he slid in front of me.  Because of the slick wet roads he just slid and didn’t have any apparent injuries.  I talked to him at the finish line.

The group I was with didn’t stop at rest stop #4.  We did however learn that the 100 mile route was cancelled and they were asking everybody to take the 100k path.  So I got to ride with some of these guys longer.  Several miles after this stop we hit another storm front.  There was no hail but the wind and rain were amazing.  We darted into a neighborhood.  I took shelter behind a large sign with two other bikers.  Three other bikers went into an open garage of the first house in the neighborhood.  After a few minutes the rest of us went in the garage as well.  After a couple of minutes I walked around to the front of the house to announce that 6 bikers had taken refuge in their garage.  The owner didn’t seem to mind and he brought us towels and gave us a weather update.  This does lead to my second loss on this ride.  My cell phone was dead.  At one point it came on (by itself) and started buzzing and wouldn’t stop.  I removed the battery.  

My bike still partially braving the elements.

This was a good group of guys to be with.  At least 4 of us were riding Specialized.

Picture of a few us as we were about to leave.

I think we left after about 20 minutes.  At that point my body had cooled down.  The wind and rain felt VERY cold.  A few riders stopped at the next rest stop so we were down to 4.  A bit down the road we were going around a corner and my helmet visor picked that time to fly off.  I went back to get it and never saw that group again. 

At this point we only had about 10 miles to go.  Most of it was on a long flat road.  Unfortunately all the rain had flooded the road in a number of places.  It wasn’t hard to ride through but it was deep enough that I was pedaling with my feet getting submerged.  My feet were cold and chaffing.  On top of that it was into a head wind for those final miles.

Lastly I had planned to watch one of the bike races when I was done.  The storm had cancelled all the races.  On the first day of riding I had commented to Chris that we couldn’t get any wetter.  After Sunday I realized that I could get wetter.  I will have to say that this year was Tulsa “Tough”.

Sunday ride stats

Total riders for 100k = 279

finished 17^th

Total time: 3:53:24

Time from leader: +16:59.000

Overall pace: 15.9mph

* not bad considering having to stop for weather.

Tour de Cure - 2008

This was my second year riding in the Tour de Cure, TdC, for the American Diabetes Association.  The 2007 TdC was my first organized ride ever and it really got me interested in biking.  Last year I pushed myself to 42 miles.  At that time it was quite a challenge.  This year I rode 75 miles.  As an extra incentive for fundraising I decided that if I raised $1000 I would ride on my mountain bike.  I raised just over $1500.  The ride took us from Mohawk Park in Tulsa to Owasso, Collinsville, Oolagah, Claremore, and the Port of Catoosa before returning to the park.

 We had a good sized group out of Bartlesville.  Front Row – Jim, Donna.  Second Row – Jack, Dan, Keith, Sean, Kevin, Richard, Jonathon, and Tom.

I assumed I would be well behind most of them.  However, Dan and Keith rode with me the whole day.  Dan, using a similar deal to raise money, also rode his older heavy bike.  Keith seemed to have some excuse about being tired.  

Here we are at the Tiki Bar in Collinsville.

The day was just about the nicest riding day of the year so far.  At Lake Claremore the “CARD Headstart” group was having a fishing derby.  Keith wanted some real food and they were cooking burgers.  He thought they might be selling them.  They weren’t selling them but some nice ladies gave us each a hot dog.  Overall a profitable detour.

We finally found a place that was safe for Keith to ride.

The next rest stop was at the Port of Catoosa.  This is also at the base of the optional “Killer Hill”.  This was about mile 62.  As we came up to Killer Hill I asked if we wanted to go up first or rest first.  Keith said he wanted water but Dan said he was going to try the Hill.  I followed Dan and Keith followed both of us.  I took a running start at the hill passing Dan.  I slowed down quickly.  About half way up I started to think, “Maybe we should have rested first”.  Keith passed me but I held onto second place.  We all made it up without stopping. 

A few miles from Killer Hill was a hill that we climbed last year but the course took a turn away at the base.  Keith suggested that we go up it anyway.  It was a fairly steep hill with a sheer rock wall on either side.  It made a nice for nice echoes as we went up and down.  Keith,who had been tired all day, seemed to perk up after we made this diversion from the course.  Keith lives for Adventure.  Either that or the Pizza he ate 15 miles ago finally started to work.

We got stopped by the same train three times.  The first time we waited quite a bit.  The second time we caught the tail end.  Several miles later we were riding beside the same train as we approached the entrance to Mohawk Park.  We were riding faster than the train and got to the park entrance just as the engines passed.   So we now had to wait for the entire train to pass.

We rode 75.053 miles at an average of 14 mph to finish at about 3pm.  We rode 5:21 and took about and 1:30 for rest/detour/hot dog eating/etc.  I think there were about 70 riders in our class.  We finished in the last 7.  Jack (below) was with our group also.  He took off early in the ride and had to wait for us slow guys.

At a couple of the rest stops we heard that there was a group behind us.  We heard them referred to as a father, son, and a slow guy.  They are Jonathon, Richard, and Tom; also, from Bartlesville.

The End.