You have got to be kidding

I go out to the garage last night to a frightful sight.  A pancake looking thing where my front tire should be.  A flat is no big deal but I have angered the air gods this year or something.  The more I start thinking about my flat situation I'm amazed at the number I've had this year.

June

Tulsa Tough day one.  Tire disintegrated about mile 85.  Got a free tire from Tulsa Tough, not a bad deal overall.

July

Flint Hills Death Ride.  Rear tire at mile 35, front tire at mile 70.  Or there about, I'm not fact checking tonight.

August I think

Two different times leaving work I had a flat.  One I repaired, one I aired up a bit and tried to repair, made it a short way and gave up and got a ride home.

If you are counting we are up to "6"

October

Slow leak that cost me dearly on the road bike.  But that's another story.  

Literal "blow out" with a nice size gash in the tire at the bowling ball yard art house near of Nowata.  Thanks to the awesome pit crew I had that day.

November

Gravel ride with Kevin.  Slow leak on the rear.  Change in Lenepah, OK

Other times I can't remember the time of  year

- Going through Woodlands neighborhood a few miles from home late i the evening.  slow flat, aired up with CO2 and made it home.

- Riding with Keith WAY TOO LATE one night near circle mountain.  Thanks for the CO2 Keith!

- Two times I "fixed" a flat, aired up the wheel only to find it flat in the morning.  Finally found a wire poking through the tire.  The tire had been fine.  I changed tires because of a broken spoke and I thought I had pinched the tube so didn't check the tire.

If you add that up that is 13 flat tires.  And I'm probably forgetting one or two.  On the plus side I haven't had a single flat on the front tire of my road bike.  But there is still time this year.

To be repaired on the left, repaired on the right.

I don't have enough money to buy new tubes.  Good news is I've never had a flat because of a patch.  I guess that is good news.

Race The Rail

First year for this event based in Watonga, OK.  The basic idea is to ride a bike 32 miles in the same time this train goes 16 miles.  You can read more here: www.racetherail.com

The Trophy

Everybody gets a cowbell!  Can't have enough cowbell!

Sean and Kevin before the start

Roads were rougher than we expected (that's a joke people)

Winds dropped us from the larger pace group.  This is on the return trip.   I like this picture because I'm in the lead.

And here is the train we beat

Overall there were 127 riders with 34 beating the train.  Our small group passed the train after 29 miles of the ride.  We finished with an average speed of 22.1 mph in 1:26.26.  The train finished in 1:37.

Discover DAM J.A.M.

I'm on TV doing what I do best on a bike ride.

I'm in the middle of the screen

My family thought it was funny to watch me walk across the screen eating.  This can be viewed at www.discoveroklahomatv.com episode #848: Pryor.  It is the last segment.  Not worth watching unless you are bored or possibly want to laugh at me too.

DAM J.A.M. '10

The best weather I've experienced in 4 years at DAM JAM.  The morning was cool and overcast.  Storms had blown through earlier.  I watched lightning move away as I got closer to Pryor, OK.  


Strategy for the day was to take it easy, take some pictures, smell some flowers (if I found any). All that seems to go out the window as the lead group took off.  I just couldn't resist the quick pace line at the beginning of the ride.  It helped that Lance (go Team Superior) was up at the front too.  I chatted with Lance and held on to the lead group for 22.5 miles.  At that point I had a decision to make.  One water bottle and 22 miles until the next rest stop.  No reason for dehydration at a "fun" ride.  I pulled off to the rest stop as EVERYBODY else in the group kept going.  I hope they all got thirsty :-).


After a quick stop I headed down the road by myself.  I had a bit of music to keep me company.  Yes, I know, that is dangerous.  Only one ear bud and the volume not too loud.  The day was nice and I thought I saw a cyclist behind me when I looked in my mirror.  I might have been hallucinating as they never seemed to catch up and then finally just disappeared.


As I approached Grand Lake I ditched the music to just enjoy the scenery.  I enjoy looking off the DAM every year when I ride by.  This year I decided I had to take pictures.  Actually I have only ridden past this once as I've only previously done the 100 mile route one time.

Near the end of the DAM.

There wasn't much traffic which was good because I was stopped in the lane on this fairly narrow DAM.

An Awesome View

Finally, other cyclist!

Yea!  Motivation!  More Cyclist coming.  Put away camera and start riding again.  Only missed one spillway that I thought might have made a good picture.  Rode with, around, near these guys for a while.  Finally made it to the mile 44 rest stop.  Shortly after started riding with Dennis.  Finished the ride with Dennis.  Thanks Dennis, even though you will likely never see this.


At about mile 80 is the hardest hill on the course.  Gee thanks!  At the top you are greeted with the cross dressing rest stop.  Actually, the theme is M*A*S*H 4077.  Dennis was kind enough to take a picture of myself and Klinger.  We never figure out who was Hot Lips.

Question?  Which one of these guys is the cross dresser?  Tough call.

Weather was nice but was fairly hot by the time we finished.  There is one reward for finishing this ride, an Ice cold shower at the local pool.  A perfect (and shocking) end to a great day of riding.  And if you are wondering, no, I did not smell any flowers.  I did however smell a number of dead things on this warm moist day.

Stopped in Claremore on the way home.  There are a number of bike related sculptures downtown.  This one is right outside the local bike shop.

2010 Hotter 'n Hell 100

My goal this year was to do the 100 mile ride in 5 hours or less.  When checking on registration I found there was a new group that was dedicated to doing just that.

This group of up to 100 participants provided coaching, support, and a special jersey.  Finally decided that is was financially attractive and signed up.  The pace group got to line up just ahead of the start and just behind the race groups.  We got to start 8 minutes earlier than the mass start.  The group even had it's own photographer.  I hope to post links to some of those pictures when they are available.

Traveled to HH100 with Chris, David, and John.  Again this year 4 of us went in my small truck.  It works well for me.  I'm not sure how these taller guys stand it.  And luckily we haven't had any rain because our luggage is in the back.

Sean, David, Chris, and John

Woke up at 3:45.  Left Lawton at 4:30AM.  Left the staging area at 6:00AM.  Ride start time 7:01AM

We were told in the briefing the night before that we were going to ride in one lane 4 across like a peloton.  Luckily, when it came ride time they didn't organizes us this tight.  I think that would have been certain death as none of us had ever ridden that close to others.  We settled into mostly a 3 wide group.   Not sure if that is still considered a peloton or a 3 line pace line.  Either way it is a fast way to ride where you have to pay attention constantly.

Time passed quickly.  One guy lost his chain, another had a flat.  Turns out the guy who lost his chain was my friend Kevin.  He was able to catch up from that quickly.  He announced that he was back and I asked "were you gone?". 

Pre-ride information led us to believe there was going to be one stop.  The night before we learned we were NOT going to stop at all.  That was a concern for hydration.  However, the group did provide bottle refills.  After I swapped bottles a few times I realized that they must be refilling bottles so I was drinking out of somebody else's used bottle.  At most I shared with 3 other riders; unless they had been swapped before.  I'll just try not to think about that too much.  Overall I drank about 4 bottles and my 70oz camelbak.  The last 10 miles I was very thirsty.  I've been drinking tons for the last 24 hours.  I think I'm almost caught up. 

A number of folks couldn't take it and stopped for their own bathroom break.  Most of these seemed to be around mile 40-50.  Kevin stopped and it took him 6 miles at peak effort to catch up to the group.  Again he announced that he was back when I hadn't realized he was gone.

I only saw one rider go down.  He got up immediately and was saying he was okay.  The only surprise of the day was when the pace group seemed to take off about mile 92.  I wasn't far back and there wasn't any real gap.  They just accelerated away.  Not sure why because we had plenty of time to make the 5 hour mark.  Kevin, Edwin (a guy I met at the end), and myself paced to the finish line coming across at in 4 hours and 54 minutes.

Kevin and Sean at the finish

We decided to eat in OKC.  We were starving by the time we arrived.  Looking around Bricktown Bourbon Street Cafe seems like a good reward for the day.  Followed by some self-serve frozen yogurt. :-)

Reward!  Blackened KBobs at Bourbon Street

All the numbers.


Garmin Data:
Miles: 101.23
Time: 4:54:02
Avg Speed: 20.7mph
Max Speed: 32.4mph
Calories: 7606
Avg Heart Rate: 153
Max Heart Rate:182
Avg Cadence: 77
Total Ascent: 1763


Weather Underground Data:
Temp at 7AM - 65.9
Temp at 10AM - 83
Temp at 11AM - 88.4
Temp at 12PM - 90.8
Wind at 10AM - 7 gust to 11 SSE 
Wind at 11AM - 6 gust to 11 SSE
Wind at 12PM - 5 gust to 5 SSE
 - sure seemed like more wind.


Weight change -4 lbs. (maybe 5)

Flint Hills Death Ride '10

The first year I almost quit.  Second year came back and finished feeling good.  This would be my third year.  The route changes every year so always something a bit different.  Was there anything to really be afraid of?  My only concern was mud.  What would it be like to ride in the mud?  Not a question I'm sure I wanted answered.  The night before the FHDR we got lots of rain.

July 27th, 2010.  

The morning of my third Flint Hills Death Ride, FHDR, in Madison, KS.  The ride organizers warned us of dangerous low water crossings.  They were considering closing a portion of the course if it was too muddy.  Part of me didn't mind if they cut the course short.  Part of me thought that I paid good money to torture myself for 80 miles.

The Streets of Downtown Madison

Kevin ready to tear it up.  I might finish before him if he has a couple of flats.

Dan, Larry, & Larry’s brothers Gary, & Daryl. Kevin and I have ridden some gravel with Dan & Larry not too long ago. They liked it J. Hope they continue to like it after today.

The day turned out to be overcast.  The roads turned out to be soft and sluggish for most of the first part of the course.  One rider I was with noted that you couldn't even coast downhill.  Luckily we had reasonable temperatures.  When the road wasn't a bit soft it was rough.   More rough than I remember in the past.  My no suspension mountain bike was giving me a beating.

(c) netpup

The day was going okay.  Pushed myself some but was trying not to use up all my energy.  Got stopped by a small herd of cows.  The started to cross the road just as I reached them.  That took several minutes and a number of riders caught up to me.

  

Rest stop 3 was at about 33 miles.  The ride started at 7:30.  We were supposed to make rest stop 3 by 10:30.  I panicked at rest stop 2 when it was 10:09 and I had to be 5 miles in 21 minutes.  I made rest stop 3 at 10:34.  The didn‘t turn me away thankfully.  The did say "full course open".  Gee, thanks, we have (get) to ride the whole course.  I think they extended the time because the ride started about 15 minutes late.

Photo by Mary, near rest stop 1

The next rest stop was at about mile 38.  This was also a cutoff spot.  Supposed to be there by 11:00.  Which wouldn't have been a problem; however, I had  flat at about mile 37!  I tried to ignore my flat.  I can make it I told myself.  I realized I was fooling myself.  Lots of people passed me while I was changing my tire.  It was nice to say "hi" to my fellow riders.  I made it to rest stop 4 at 11:12.  And they let me go, yay!  The next 16 miles were the part of the course they thought they might have to close.  It was passable but very rough.  Since I made the cutoff all was good.  Now I just had to finish.

Between rest stop 4 & 5 (actually the same location) I passed one of my friends.  After his second flat and some saddle sores he was calling it quits.  Almost impossible to climb a gravel hill if you can't sit down :-s.  That was a bummer.  I did start passing some of the people that passed me while I was changing my flat.  It feels good to pass :-).  I think I passed a few more than passed me.

A nasty little hill with a 15% max grade.  I didn’t walk it, yay!

Things were good for a while.  Just riding and enjoying the flint hills.  After rest stop 6, I started riding with a guy & girl.  Nice to have somebody to talk to.  We were having a good time.  Well, as good as torture gets. That is, until I had another flat tire and said goodbye to my new friends.  That was at mile 73.5.  I know that because I put my wheel on backwards and the odometer didn't work after that.  Luckily I had my Garmin data.  The second flat was a bit more annoying because I didn't have another spare tube.  This one would be a patch.  And I only had one more CO2 cartridge.  If this didn't work I would be pumping.  Had a small issue with CO2 but I got enough in the tire to get me to the end.  Whew.

Of course a bunch more people passed me while changing the tire.  L.  I don’t count those as real passes.  :-)

I was ahead of two guys when I got to a turn.  The indicator was wrong compared to the map and cue sheet.  I waited for the other guys to catch up to make sure we all agreed.

We turned to follow the map.  This was only 3 miles from the finish.  A guy in a truck pulled up and told us that we did NOT want to take the next road.  He said it was too muddy and we would regret it.  We weren’t sure if he was with the ride or just a concerned local.

Well, he obviously doesn’t know why we are out here riding.  We are paying good money to be here and regret it.  The few of us riding together decided to give it a try.  Probably should have turned around when I went through the low water crossing that was about 18” deep.

At the end of the mud road

We carried, pushed, and pulled our bikes for a fair bit of half a mile.  It doesn’t get any better than this!  My bike is 36 pounds without water bottles and without mud caked all over it.

I'm done!  Who's going to clean this mess?

Kevin had no flats and beat me easy!

Still able to smile at the end

I drank out of this thing?  Flint Hills dirt is good for you.

note:  some of these pictures were borrowed from friends & others.  Thanks to Dan, Mary, Larry.  I hope they don't mind too much.