Netpup's Cycling & Other Adventures

Colorado Biking

2011-06-23T17:00:00.098-05:00

Colorado Biking

This year we took a trip to Durango, CO for vacation. Although technically a family vacation I couldn't pass up the chance to take my bikes. We didn't want to take the truck and I didn't want both bikes strapped on the trunk. I decided to give myself the father day gift of adding a receiver hitch to the Camry. My 2" bike rack wouldn't fit so I had to borrow one. Thanks Keith!

On our way to Colorado

Day One: Taking it to the road

Since this was a family vacation I could really only bike when everybody was asleep. Our first morning I got on my road bike and headed toward Silverton. We were about 20 miles and a few mountains away from Silverton.

Runaway truck ramp sign

I climbed for 6 miles at 6-8% grade. I maintained about 160 Heart Rate I just took my time and climbed and climbed. I was surprised that the altitude didn't seem to affect me more than it did.

I stopped fairly often to snap a picture and enjoy the view

There was a bit of snow at the top of the pass. The snow is holding my bike up.

There was one more higher pass after this one. I decided with the clouds coming in and this being my first day here I would save that for another day.

I thought this was going to be awesome

What would be better than going 6 miles downhill? Apparently anything. :-s This was a very white knuckle ride where I kept the brakes on the whole way! The wind, drop-offs, and 30+ mph were quite scary when combined.

At the bottom of the 6 mile downhill. Happy to be alive.

Here are the elevation profiles up my climb & descent.

climb profile by distance.

climb profile by time. It didn't take me near as long to get down.

The elevation that first day didn't seem to bug me too much until a few hours after my ride. The rest of the day I had NO ENERGY. After that first day I got winded easy but it didn't take too long to recover.

Day Three: Off to single track

I didn't ride on the second day. The third day of our trip was scheduled for a family mountain bike ride.

The family: Kelsey, Hayden, Scott, Jocelyn, Sean, Ethan, Randy. Not riding are Kelly, Vivian, & Tracie.

going up in the lift. bike following

Top of the mountain. Ready to begin the first trail

We had a couple of wet crossings. Got some nice mud on my brand new Tulsa Tough jersey.

Love the scenery

A bit of Vitamin M on the bottle. It's good for you.

Day Five: Last day to ride

We leave tomorrow. I had to make a choice. Road or Mountain. The Mountain won out.

Several trails finished here at the base of the mountain. The 1990 World Cup Trail started here as well.

Beginning to descent the World Cup trail.

Trail map. One of the trails isn't on here but came down the black trail a few times plus a loop at the top.

Here is my mountain bike garmin data. The first climb is mine. One mile up the World Cup trail for about 500' of climb. The second two climbs were on the ski lift. The second descent is the World Cup trail. I didn't know my heart rate could be that high going downhill.

Can't wait to go back to Colorado someday.

Tulsa Tough '11

2011-06-12T18:00:00.130-05:00

I participated in the Tulsa Tough Gran Fondos this year. Several have asked me what Gran Fondo means. Best I can tell it is a fancy term for a large organized bike ride. Last year I rode 2 x 100 miles. This year they offered something new, a 200k called the Molte Gran Fondo on Saturday. I figured why not. The farthest I had ridden previously was 110 miles. This would be about 124 miles.

Day One Saturday - Molte Gran Fondo

The ride was to start at 7:30. A train through downtown Tulsa delayed the start about 15 minutes. It doesn't seem like much but every minute means more heat to ride in. The start was great, the route headed South down Riverside Drive. Riverside is closed down and it is a blast to ride down the road in a large group. I kept up with the large pace group through Kiefer which is about mile 26. This is the first significant hill on the ride. I wasn't far behind but I lost the main group on that hill. A small group of us stayed together for while after this hill. We were actually catching the lead group when we came to a four way stop with traffic. Stopping for traffic put the lead group way out of reach. Even if I would have stayed with the lead group I would have never stuck with them on Teal Rd Hill.

My first rest stop was Kellyville. After this rest stop was the optional 200k extra loop. That was a lonely extra 20 miles. It did turn out to have a benefit I never thought about. The 200k loop eventually rejoined the main route. I started seeing people again. That was great. What wasn't great was my second trip up Teal Rd. I might have cussed a bit. Or a lot. At the top of that hill I ran saw some Team Superior including Mike & TJ. A bit after that I saw Marsha for a bit. Had a brief stop in Kellyville again and then off with a few riders. At the mile 50 stop I saw Susan & more Superior including Dan. Taking that extra loop was great for seeing people. I ran into Nita several times throughout the day as well as she was providing support for Jared.

The last person I ran into that I knew was Paul. Paul and some girl that called him Scott :-). I forgot her name. Paul decided for this to be his first century! A tough century indeed. I think the century riders actually got 106 this day! I rode off/on with Paul over the last 40 miles. I did make one mistake. I left the last rest stop just as Paul pulled in. I did not enjoy that last 10 miles. It was hot and lonely. I was quite happy to finally finish.

Almost forgot, about mile 100 I help a guy named Danny change his flat tire. Well, I changed it for him since he didn't know how :-s. Come on people.... Then just as we got it completely changed the SAG vehicle pulled up. Timing is everything.

Day One stats
Tough Official Molte Gran Fondo results
http://www.milliseconds.com/races/detail/1437/144167
7:47:58 (1:40:31 behind the first finisher)
15.9 mph avg
15 out of 23 male finishers
17 out of 26 all finishers

My Garmin
126.58 miles
7:22:32
17.2 mph avg
45.4 mph max
8788 calories
158 heart rate average
81 average cadence
5722' ascent

Day Two Sunday - Gran Fondo Cento

Another 7:30 AM start from Riverpark West. Today looked a bit stormy. We were delayed about half an hour before we started. I ran into Brett at the start line. We've ridden some gravel in the past and we thought we would stay together if we seems compatible. We had both ridden long rides on Saturday. Turns out every time Brett was tired so was I. Somewhere in the first 20 miles we started riding with a group of 5 from Highroller Cyclery out of Fayetteville, AR. At rest stop 2 we decided to wait for this group to make the day go easier.

Rest Stop #2

The Highroller group was a good group to join for a pace group. One other guy, Mike, joined this group too. I thought he looked familiar and turns out I finished Flint Hills Death Ride with Mike last year. Eight of us rode together the rest of the day.

At the end ran into a friend, Susan. Thanks for saying hi and taking a few pictures.

Brett & Sean at the end to two days of Tough

New this year. A medal for finishing 2 x 100 (or more).

Day Two stats

Tough Official Gran Fondo Cento results
http://www.milliseconds.com/races/detail/1441

6:42:30 (2:06:18 behind the first finisher)

14.9 mph avg

33 out of 43 male finishers

37 out of 52 all finishers

My Garmin

106.24 miles

6:15:02

17.0 mph avg

42.8 mph max

7179 calories

136 heart rate average

78 average cadence

4305' ascent

Out of about 1000 riders only 5 did the 200k/100mi courses. Only 10 riders did the 2 x 100 mi courses. Fifteen "Double Tough" finishers. I think 17 people completed the ultimate goal of the Deuce, 2 x 100 miles in under 5 hours each.

Tour de Cure '11

2011-06-04T14:00:00.001-05:00

Had a great time at my 5th Tour de Cure. This year I raised about $2,500 for the ADA. About $1,500 plus another $1,000 in company matching funds. I know wonderful generous people. Because I raised over $1,000 I was obligated to ride my mountain bike for 75 miles.

Bartlesville Pedalers & Friends
Lori, Randy, Marsha, Sean, and Dan

We're Off!

Warp Speed

Randy leaving rest stop #3

Lori leaving rest stop #3

Dan leaving rest stop #3

In the middle of nowhere

I challenged Dan & Randy to climb the hill at Elwood Avenue. A very steep hill and even worse after 68 miles. This was NOT part of the course.

How far? 75.36 miles

How long? 5:12 riding time

How fast 14.5 mph (good for a mountain bike)

how many calories? 5002 (now I can eat anything I want for a day or so)

how high? 3701' of ascent

And lastly, the sound of knobbies riding 75 miles.... (by request)

requested Jeremy. hope you like it.

Full Moon Run

2011-05-14T21:00:00.023-05:00

The Full Moon Run sounded like a good opportunity to get a fast run with a bunch of runners. My second timed 5k.

Sean, Kristie, & Jennifer before the race

waiting to run

I'm in there somewhere behind a few hundred people

The Stats:

bib number:	1978
age:	43
gender:	M
location:	Bartlesville, OK
overall place:	745 out of 2005
division place:	51 out of 113
gender place:	505 out of 935
time:	28:25
pace:	5:47
guntime:	28:52

Vivian and I listening to the Journey cover band after the run

Chili Bike

2011-02-20T21:30:00.073-06:00

I just got a new mountain bike in December. For some reason that made me think I was qualified to ride EVERY trail at Lake McMurtrey near Stillwater, OK. Chili-bike is 28 miles of trails and 14 miles of road/gravel in 6 hours? Sure, why not. I was told these trails weren't technical; but then my source of information is somebody that races mountain bikes. Our ideas of technical are probably very different.

As with many rides that I have done in the past I was asking myself before it started "What am I doing here?" I don't know anything about mountain biking. Did a few hours at Turkey Mountain several years ago really prepare me to go 28 miles! I must be insane.

WARNING! There are graphic pictures below. Those who don't like the sight of carnage please turn back now! Okay, you've been warned.

Before the ride. My trusty bike enjoying the lake.

Yes, rose colored lenses were perfect for the woods.

The ride is somewhat unorganized. You just kind of start and do whatever you want in whatever order. I met a couple of guys, Ben & Spenser. Ran into them at the hotel and again at the ride. I asked if I could ride with them for at least a bit. They had the great idea to ride the farthest away sections first. This meant we start with a 7 mile road/gravel ride.

It was a good idea until about mile 5. I was going down a hill and the road was quite wash-boarded. My bike started bouncing around until I went sliding through the dirt & gravel. I believe I was going 15+ MPH. What a great way to start the day. Ben and Spenser were nice enough to wait for me to pick myself up and decide that I could indeed keep riding.

Ben, Spenser, & me had been riding about the same speed until we go to the trails. They then turned on the turbo and left me in the dust. We did see each on the trails some and at least started every trail together. It was good to have some company. I have no pictures so maybe I'm making them up. The woods can be very lonely.

The trails were awesome. Had a great tiring day. Occasionally remembered to look at the great scenery. Not much time to look around while riding the trails. Time did pass very quickly.

You can see the lake in the distance.

Ben & Spenser had only ridden a couple of the trails before. Thankfully, we happened to do the hardest trail first.

I walked plenty of up hills and several down hills. Very exhausting. This is at the top of a rocky hill that I just climbed.

Didn't take time for too many pictures. Every picture I took is here.

A view of my wounds. I rode about 5 hours after my accident. Yes, I am eating a hot dog.

Nasty! I warned you!

Ouch!

Mountain biking was great! I hope to do more in the future!

You have got to be kidding

2010-11-23T20:10:00.013-06:00

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

2010-10-09T21:48:00.052-05:00

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.

2010-09-11T23:59:00.000-05:00

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

2010-09-11T22:16:00.119-05:00

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

2010-08-28T22:00:00.094-05:00

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

2010-07-25T22:00:00.000-05:00

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.

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.

Milder ‘n Hell ‘09

2009-08-29T15:14:00.016-05:00

Milder ‘n Hell ‘09

But wait! What happened to last years update? Did you go? What it hot? Where are the pictures? The last one is probably the key as to why there was NOT a story.

HHH ‘08

Bobby, Chris, David, & Sean rode the 100 miles in ’08. Yes, one name changed from the previous year. Rich couldn’t make it. The trip was fairly eventless compared to the first year. We got a nice hotel in Wichita Falls. Everybody finished. A good time was had by all J. We did have a few things notable things.

First, the reason for NO pictures. I dropped my camera about mile 17. I saw it shatter into pieces and decided not to stop and pick it up. By the time I did think I should pick it up I was WAY too far down the road. I wish I would have at least snagged the memory card.

Early in the ride the lanes narrow from four to two. David was letting some guy come in and this guy still hit the curb. All I could hear was a crunching noise behind me. I called back after a few feet “David, are you still there?” Luckily he was.

Neal Diamond. Everytime we saw David he would sing “Hello, my friend, Hello”. A bit disturbing and yet comforting.

The high that day was 97 which matched the previous year.

MHH ‘09

The headline in the local paper the next day read “Milder ‘n Hell” the next day. The high temperature was expected to be 92/93. I’m not sure it got above high 80’s. It felt hot a few times. One of the great things was the number of riders; which was about 14,205. That is 2000 more than last year and a record turnout.

This year Barry, Chris, David, and Sean (me) went to the HHH. We changed one name again. Bobby went with his wife and Rich (from ’07). Now I’m wondering which name will change in our group next year. We started a bit more in the front than before. That made the start a bit easier. Chris and I thought maybe too easy. Not as many slow people to have to weave around. I guess it was safer.

Shortly into the ride I could hear a clicking noise. I tried to ignore it. I thought it might be my front magnet on my speed sensor. I stopped once to fix the front magnet. I stopped again to fix the back magnet. And then I was bugged that my cadence sensor wasn’t working. I had to stop and adjust that magnet too. Luckily that was the extent of my mechanical issues.

Max capacity for my little Tacoma.

Chris, Barry, David, Sean

I found Marsha before the ride began. She was lined up about a block behind our group.

Barry, Chris, David, Sean before at the start.

Rest stop #3 had great cookies

Somewhere before the 40 mile stop I got hit by a bug in the cheek and STUNG. That hurt for the next 15 miles.

Chris and Barry at rest stop #4.

Fuel from rest stop 5. Smoked Sausage! Yum! I also had a fried apple pie. I really didn’t need both of those.

Rest stop 5 is Margaritaville. Easily my favorite stop.

Hell’s gate.

Finish line 2:04PM

We had crossed the finish line at 7:16AM. I finished at 2:04PM. Average riding speed was 19.1 MPH. Overall average was 15.1MPH. Very much a personal best for 100Miles considering I was not in much of a paceline for probably 40 miles.

Chris ride ended at mile 90. He fixed his tire at mile 83 with a hammer gel packet. That lasted 7 miles. After the second blowout he decided his day was over.

Vivian’s First Bike Ride

2009-02-06T15:21:00.002-06:00

Vivian’s First Bike Ride

(san’s training wheels)

Friday, Feb. 6^th 2009

I came home from work and Vivian showed me that she had taught herself how to ride her bike without training wheels. She had been coasting and decided she would try to pedal. She showed me that she could pedal up and down the driveway. The temperature was warm and we rode up and down the drive a bunch of times. Vivian asked if we could go on a bike ride Saturday.

Saturday, Feb 7^th 2009

I have no idea what I was getting myself into when she was asking to ride the next morning.

Vivian wanted to ride around a little bit. I made her wear shoes and a helmet. She didn’t want to wear her gloves. She talked me into going to Sooner Park. Sooner Park is 2 miles. I figured we would probably get there and we would have to call Kelly to come rescue us.

We got about a block from the house and she was unstable enough that I made us turn around and get bandages. I didn’t want to be a long way from home with nothing to put on a skinned knee. We rode to Sooner Park. Everything went mostly okay until we got to the park. She wasn’t very good at stopping. Several times going downhill while trying to stop, she got a scrape from the pedal on her calf. She has a scab and 3 good bruises to show for it. Each time she cried but shook it off and we kept going. She didn’t want to play at the park but wanted to ride some more. I asked her if she wanted to go to Will Rogers, her kindergarten school, which was down the bike path. Off we went further from home.

She didn’t want to play much and asked me several times about some other trails we had been on before (in the trailer). I said we could go to them but we would have to walk along a busy rode. So, off we went down Frank Phillips. The side walk was too rough to ride so she walked most of the way to the next part of trails by Atwoods. From Atwoods we went to the Soccer fields. And from there we started South on the trail toward the High School.

We had to stop quite often for drinks and rest. Of course Vivian had a sore butt. But we both had sore hands. I didn’t think we were going far and didn’t wear gloves. Vivian didn’t wear hers’ either. Vivian would say that she was hurting but wanted to keep going. I finally said that we would have Mom pick us up at Jo Allyn Lowe duck pond.

I helped Vivian up Weselyn hill. I rode ahead and came back down to walk her bike up. Heading down the hills Vivian missed a turn and ran off the path into the weeds. The bike seat caught her in the hip fairly hard. She cried a bit but got right back on and kept going. That incident left good bruise.

Miles: 10.56

Time: 2:19:36

Avg Speed: 4.5 mph

Max speed: ~15mph

Kelly needed to go to Tulsa. We dropped her off at one store and went to a bike store. I told Vivian if she started riding I would buy her a real bike. We did by her a new bike.

Saturday, Feb 7^th 2009

One more day of good weather! With the new bike we had to ride. We were able to ride to Hoover school and back. Vivian is doing a great job.

Miles: 3.23

Time: 32:48

Avg Speed: 5.9 mph

DAM J.A.M SAG

2008-09-06T23:02:00.001-05:00

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

2008-07-27T22:52:00.001-05:00

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

2008-06-01T22:32:00.007-05:00

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

2008-05-17T22:49:00.000-05:00

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.

Oolagah Drive n’ Ride

2007-11-03T21:45:00.002-05:00

As told by a Bartlesville Pedaler… (not me)

Ten Pedalers rode the Oologah Lake Drive-n-Ride on Saturday. Those riding included Dan S., Keith, Raymond, Neal, Sean, Alan, Dale, Norman H., Bill, and Kevin. We started at 9 a.m. from the Fire Station south of Oologah; the NWS indicates the starting conditions were 46F with a NE wind of 7 mph, and the ending conditions were 64F and calm winds.

Here are some of the highlights:
After waiting on a train for about 5 minutes, we rode east on Hwy 88. We were then immediately passed by 20 or more cars that were also waiting on the train. Dan and Keith broke away to a quick lead. Kevin caught up to tell them about the first turn.

A chocolate lab chased us for about a mile at 15 mph on NS415 Rd. A very persistent dog. Keith assured us it is not uncommon for Norman "Big Dog" to have this effect on members of the canine species. Note: The dog was gaining on us at 15 mph.

My shortcut into Foyil involved a sidewalk and negotiating 1 to 3 steps by cutting throught the school grounds. Dan still does not believe I pre-drove this part of the route.

Highlights in Foyil were the Andy Payne statue and Bunion Derby marker as well as riding on the original Portland cement section of Old Route 66.

Andy Payne Statue

By chance we met and spoke to the mother of a fellow Pedaler at the Fiddle Museum and Totem Pole Gift Shop east of Foyil.

Keith almost got left behind at the Gift Shop. He was busy talking to the ladies there about the history of Rogers County. Also, he had to figure out how to make the Indian drum he purchased fit inside his jersey! Keith has been practicing and believes he will be ready for a drum solo before our next Saturday ride :-)

On Hwy 28 to Chelsea, Dale and a couple of others broke away from us stragglers. It always makes it easier to catch folks when they aren't quite sure where the next turn is!

The main group picked a spot on Wiganon Rd just west of NS 413 Rd to shed some clothes and eat snacks. Raymond and Neal toured the NW side of Oologah Lake, put in two extra miles and found an alternate route. All this and they rejoined the route still ahead of the rest of us.

Six of us decided to forego the C-Store in Talala and we forged ahead to Oologah to finish the ride with 56 miles. The adventure riders, however, fueled up in Talala to ensure a successful tour of Goose Island and 10 additional miles. The adventure riders can fill you in on that part.

Eight of us ate at Catfish Country after the ride, but not all at the same time. If you've never been there they make a killer peanut butter fudge pie.

Dan, Norman, Keith, Sean

Goose Island - Adventure

Big Dog, Gravel Man, Sean, and Keith went to check out "Mother Goose". Kevin had told us the road was bad - what he did not tell us was the road to the island was all down hill. There was some mud that Gravel Man decided to go through instead of around it. Sean did great so he is now a member of the Adventure Club.

While going to the Island we got to witness a large fire set by a few teenagers - not sure what they were doing and we were a little afraid to ask. We did have Big Dog, but he was not at 100 percent, and all his friends were at the top of the hill waiting on us. That's right 3 big dogs at the top of the hill we had to climb just waiting on us.

Oklahoma Centennial Ride

2007-10-20T22:26:00.006-05:00

I made the news. My dental hygienist said she saw this story on channel 6 out of Tulsa. She didn't pick me out but I think I made at least 2 tenth of a second in my Bartlesville Pedaler's jersey. I am somewhere in seconds 8 to 9. The attached picture has me in it. I'm the farthest on the right.

This was a one time ride to celebrate Oklahoma turning 100. I did my 3rd 100 mile ride. The wind killed me. Oh, and the hills. Luckily they saved all the hills for the last half of the course. And then a 15 mile ride directly into a terrible head wind to finish. I saw Joanne; thanks for coming over to say "hi". I assume Bill was there but when I looked I couldn't find them and the ride started. I think Gary and Carolina were supposed to be there but I didn't find them either.

The ride was a bit different. I got to wear the yellow jersey for a few miles when the lead pack missed a turn. :-) I was right behind them and I stopped while yelling; "I think we are supposed to turn". There were a few turns that weren't marked quite as good as they could have been. If you did the 100 mile or at least the eastern 45 you got to go through the zoo. That was fun and dangerous and confusing. Then the unexpected single file gate trying to get out of Mohawk Park. On the West 55 route there was a street that was literally under construction. It was easy riding but they were working on it as we rode. And a pedestrian bridge with tight turns that was probably quite dangerous riding slow while being clipped.

Of course it didn't help that my left knee started hurting at the 60 mile mark. Same thing happened on the fall century. But this time there were "lots" of hills left. At 70 miles my right knee started hurting from the compensation. I finished the last 20+ miles with a lady from Wichita, Mary. Mary was doing her first century. Talking to her helped me keep my mind off my worn out body and allowed me to finish. A special thanks to Mary.

Sean and Mary

I’m not sure I want to do any more century rides. Maybe just the cheating metric century (62 miles)*

* editorial note 8/29/10 - When I created this story almost 3 years ago I really thought I might never want to do a century ride again. I think I just completed my 7th century this year.

Bartlesville Homecoming Parade

2007-09-27T18:00:00.003-05:00

Vivian has always wanted to be in a parade. Sean found an opportunity to ride with the Middle School Bike Club. Since Vivian is riding yet the answer came from our neighbors bike trailer. Since this time, Vivian has logged about 75 miles in the trailer.

Kelly and Vivian decorated the trailer.

Not going to ride my new bike with that trailer.

Our fans Veronica and Vanessa watching from the side.

Here they come.

There they go.

An official Candy Hander Outer.

Hotter’n Hell 100 - Adventures of the .0004

2007-08-25T16:00:00.000-05:00

Hotter’n Hell 100 – Wichita Fall, TX
August 25, 2007

It is hard to believe I rode with 11,205 other riders. That was the official number. .0004% is what 4 out of 10,000 works out. I hope the other 99.9996% of the folks have near the fun and great stories that we had.

History

Chris, Sean, Bobby, & Rich the morning of the ride.

First, who are we. Sean (me), Chris, Bobby, and Rich. That is just the order that I know everybody. Three of us live near Tulsa. Rich lives in Colorado Springs. Four guys that average out to about 40 years old. I just turned 40 a week before this ride. I had a goal of a century, 100 mile, ride for October this year. My previous record ride was 76 miles. I never thought I would be doing it in the August heat and humidity of Wichita Falls, TX.

I can blame Chris for planting the idea in my head. Chris and I rode 30 miles a few weeks before the HnH. I remember thinking "maybe I can do this". I remember Chris saying that maybe he should just do the 100k, 62 miles. A few more rides and a 100k ride the week before locked it that we would at least try the century. The goal would be to make it to Hell's gate before cutoff. Cutoff is 12:30. If you don't make Hell's gate by 12:30 you are directed back to the finish line and only get to do about 80 miles. After hell's gate the goal was easy, just to finish.

As for Bobby and Rich. Bobby is a very active and motivated guy. In the Tulsa Tough he did 100k in 3 hours and he was going to try to finish in 5 hours. Rich, Bobby's future brother in-law, is from CO and a very athletic person. Rich and Bobby were going to ride together. We had decided since they were going to finish so far ahead of us that they would drive separate. That way they wouldn't have to wait for us all day at the finish line.

Most of this story is from the perspective of Chris and me; however, Bobby and Rich added some of the more memorable moments.

Hotel
I booked the hotel on priceline. The lack of online hotels in Wichita Falls forced me to book in Lawton. I believe I bid for a 2 star hotel. That rating was 1 star too many. The lobby was somewhere well above 80 degrees. The girl had very little interest in customer service. There were no "non-smoking" rooms. Chris and I were in one room. The air conditioner worked little if at all. We went back to the front desk. I decided that I better confirm our reservation was for 2 nights. Originally, we had booked 1 night but extended it through priceline to 2 nights.

The girl at the desk did find us another room but said it was "non-smoking". Hmm, didn't we ask for that in the first place? Anyway, that was great. Then I asked about the reservations. She said we were only down for one night and at least was helpful enough to give us the phone number for priceline. At least the room was cooler. And it didn't have the "funky" smell, as Bobby described it, of our first room. Priceline told me to make sure to tell the Hotel that our reservation was actually 2 separate reservations.

Back to the front desk. While the girl was checking the reservation I made a comment about they should get the air conditioning fixed. She gave me quite a look in return; I was scared. By some miracle she turned into a person and actually started talking to us. Her name was Sara. We found out that her husband had brought a fan for her to use but had broken the stand in transport. It had a bunch of tape holding it together. Sara did check and we did indeed have a separate reservation for the second night. The problem being that we would need to check out/in the next day. Or we would get a late checkout fee.? Realizing that we were going to be gone all the next day she actually volunteered to check us out/in. Sara did come through and do this for us. Thanks Sara, I hope you got air conditioning.

HnH countdown
Rich was driving from CO. He didn't get out of work until late and had a LONG drive. He wasn't expected in until after Midnight. The three of us went to Wichita Falls to look at the trade show and eat dinner. Bobby and Rich had pre-purchased the spaghetti dinner. We decided to pick up Rich's ticket so that it didn't go to waste. I was going to pay for dinner; however, the guy gave Chris two tickets for some reason. Basically I got a free spaghetti dinner out of the deal. Yea! We looked around and bought jerseys and stuff. The jersey sales were crazy and it would have been very easy to walk away without paying. Gotta like those trusting Texas folks. I also bought a cartridge thing for airing my tires; whatever those things are called. Chris finally got a cycling jersey.

I think we got to bed a bit after 10:30. Bobby stayed up for Rich who rolled in at 1:39am after driving through some wicked lightening storms. Four AM came very early. We were meeting at the cars at 4:45. Bobby wasn't quite prepared, on the way to the start we had to stop for Claritin because of his allergies. We got to the ride at just about the perfect time. Got in line about 15 minutes early. Rich and Bobby went up front with the 100 mile "scorchers" while Chris and me lined up in the 100 mile "keepers" section. Whatever that means. Next in line was the 100 mile "hopefuls".

Let the games begin

Tons of bikes at the start

We didn't move for 8 minutes after the cannon went off. When we did finally move, the congestion didn't seem too bad. The first 20 miles were amazingly fun. Chris and I had a blast working our way through the pack. Each at times picking different holes and lines to solve the puzzle and move through the pack. The 10 mile rest stop was too crazy to even think about stopping at. 20 Miles was our first stop. It was a mad house of course. I think that is where I drank my first glass of something called "pickle juice". The first sip is quite nasty. But they swear it will help keep you from getting cramps and keep you hydrated. I guess I will drink anything. That was the first of 4 glasses of the nasty stuff. I never got cramps or had hydration problems; maybe it does work.

Bikes as far as you can see for 30 miles. Amazing!

Off to the next stop. The ride from 20-30 was just about as fun as the first part. It was amazing to see so many bikes still together after 30 miles. At the 30 mile stop they had the best cookies. Getting ready to leave the 30 mile stop Chris saw Rich going by. We quickly caught up to Rich. Rich had kept up with Bobby for about 10 miles but then decided to fall back and ride his own speed. A smart move. Rich commented that Bobby told him there were "no hills" on this ride. Chris and I laughed as we said "there are NO hills". The whole ride was easily the flatest course I have been on. Not to say there weren't things that resemble hills. We rode with Rich for a bit but finally had to push on. Somewhere before 40 miles we found Bobby on the side of the road. He was changing his 4th flat. We talked to him a few minutes before abandoning him for the buzzards. But not before we gave him one of our tubes. Another biker had given him a tube as well. We later found out that Bobby started with 3 tubes and several air cartridges; must of had a premonition or something.

Chris

We were feeling good and had plenty of water so we passed up the 40 mile stop. That was probably a mistake for a few reasons. First, we heard they had pizza. Of course we heard about that later. Secondly Chris got kind of tired before the next stop. The road from about 40 to 60 miles was quite rough. The smoother driving lines were bad and the center of the lane was enough to shake your bike to pieces.

Sean

Before we started, Chris and I said that if we get separated then we would meet each other on the backside of the next rest stop. On this stretch of road I figured out that even if I did ride off and leave Chris he was going to catch up to me before too long and most usually before the next rest stop.

The 50 mile rest stop was good. We stayed there quite a while. We had 2 hours to make it to Hell's Gate. We were seeing guys with smoked sausages and went looking. Found one and wrapped it in a tortilla. It was GREAT! Amazingly I had to use the bathroom which probably took 10 minutes in line. The worst thing about this stop is I got some mud in my cleat and had a hard time clipping in. Chris decided that he was hurting a bit and we shouldn't skip anymore rest stops.

My Moment of Glory. Or was is stupidity?
Somewhere between the 50 and 60 mile stops is the town of Burkburnett. There were people downtown watching us ride through. A girl had a garden hose and was spraying it for riders. I couldn't resist. After going through the hose I had to speed up to catch Chris. As I'm accelerating and cutting back into the line a bike starts cutting in front of me. I hit my rear brakes and the rear end starts sliding. I'm thinking this is not good. All the while I am saying "whoa, whoa". I guess I thought I was riding a horse. To me this is one of those moments when things start going in slow motion. I pumped my brakes 3 times; each time the back end was sliding out. On the second or third time I was staring at this guys' tire a few inches from mine as I was sliding, as I was strearing, and as I was leaning right to try and coax the bike away from him. Somehow he stopped coming over and crisis nearly averted. Now my momentum shot me to the right out of the line of bikes and toward the side of the road where a 9-10 year old boy was standing several feet from the curb. He should have been in a safe spot except for a crazy biker. As I was heading straight for this poor kid, I just kept thinking please stop moving and I won't hit you. He was looking at me with wide eyes and trying to decide for himself which way to go. Oh, and I pulled on my brakes for the 4th time and was sliding sideways yet again. He finally froze and I was able to avoid him and get back in the riding line. The guy who came in on me was saying it was his fault but I never should have been coming up so fast on the right in the first place. The more I examine the situation it was mostly my fault.

Hell's Gate
Finally made it to the 60 mile rest stop. Bobby caught up to us. He finally found the problem with his tire and had rode quite a ways without a flat. I asked him his new goal and it was to "finish". As we were leaving Chris decided to lose balance while clipping in and fall down. Landing on a soft BIKE. Got a nice cut from their rear cassette on his shoulder. Luckily he didn't hurt himself or the other bike too much. He did however bend the shifter hood on his bike. He took this to the mechanic to see if they could straighten it. Bobby took off. I rested and used a bunch of icy cold towels while waiting for Chris. That was very refreshing.

Bobby's stop
Just outside of the 60 mile stop was Hell's Gate. Nothing too exciting but it was nice to make this milestone. Finally we made it to the 70 miles stop. Chris asked if I thought he should have his wound cleaned. It didn't look too bad but it was greasy from the other bike. He went to the medical tent. There he found Bobby. Yikes! Or more appropriately Bobby saw him and called his name. When we see Bobby he is laid out with cold towels on him and a nurse taking his blood pressure. He didn't look so good. As we are there he starts looking worse. They gave him an IV and informed him nicely that he has had a good ride and his ride is over. He didn't argue. Chris and I left after hearing that they are going to be taking him to the main medical tent.

We found Bobby in medical

Bobby did want to finish the race in about 5 hours. And his race was done in a bit over that. We found out later that he made it to that stop and was wondering around looking for a drink. The medical personnel found him and asked him how he was doing. After talking to him a few minutes they found out he was dizzy. It was downhill from there. Bobby did share one part of his adventure with us. In order to take him on the ambulance they had to take his temperature, rectally.?! A sheet covered him from view. I guess they used a bit of lubricant here; unlike when he had the same procedure at the main medical tent. :-\.

Chris and I were off. We got conflicting information that Rich had already finished. That would have been impossible unless he caught the SAG back. SAG is the Support and Gear. Basically the help wagons that drive around looking for people in trouble. We made it to the 77 mile stop with little problems and sat under a tree for a while. The pit stops get closer together near the end. For some reason all the good cookies and snacks weren't available anymore. It was bananas, oranges, weak powerade and water. We found a couple of chairs and sat around with other riders complaining about the lack of any type of real food. I had decided not to carry any energy bars because I assume we would have more than we wanted.

As we were leaving the 77 mile rest stop I had a flat (or discovered I was flat). I took off the wheel and while I was still getting tools out of the bag Chris had the tire off and ready for the tube. Thanks to the CO2 cartridge I bought the night before we had that fixed in no time. It was kind of hard to get the aired up tire back on the bike. There would be a lesson I would learn from this.

The next stop is at 84 miles. As we pulled up to the stop my tire was flat again! Great! At least there would be a mechanic to change it for me. Or at least we thought there would be. I didn't have another CO2 cartridge to air up the tire and my small pump would be a killer. Also, didn't really want to use our only spare. Luckily there was a SAG wagon with a good pump and a spare tire. I learned two lessons. First, when you change a tire check it for the "reason" you had the flat in the first place. Or you will have a flat again. We found a rock in the tire; I guess that had to be the reason. Secondly, release the brakes and the tire will go back on much easier. I think we may have found a few cookies at that stop. That was much needed.

Leaving that stop I had a bunch of mud in my cleat and couldn't clip in my left shoe. I was doing terrible. Chris took off on my and I couldn't keep up. People were passing my like crazy. I was really trying to decide what happened to me. I didn't think I was having a heat stroke but I kept thinking I would stop if I got the slightest bit dizzy.

Not sure when but we found out that Bobby had been released from medical; that was good to know.

Chris was waiting for me at the 92 mile stop. Only 10 miles to go. I was beat. I blamed most of it on my shoe problem. As I was cleaning my shoe a lady suggested I use their water hose. That worked GREAT! We rested for a bit and some lady came by and put cold towels on our necks as we sat by this big fan. Chris was saying that he felt good. I didn't feel good. I felt like I could finish but would be tired and slow. I was hoping I would feel better clipped in. We started up the road and I quickly realized that I was starting to drag. And I heard something, something that I dismissed earlier. A rubbing sound. I told Chris I was stopping. That is when I learned my third lesson about a flat. Make sure your tire isn't rubbing your frame.

With my back tire free I was back in good form. I was passing a bunch of people who had passed me not long before. The only reason I stopped at the 96 mile rest stop is because I didn't know where Chris was. I hadn't been looking back and in true Chris fashion he was about 10 seconds behind. He did have a low tire so he borrowed a pump and aired it up while I got a quick drink.

It was now 5 miles to the finish. I felt like I had tons on energy and was ready to get this over. I rode about as fast as I could. I don't think I ever looked at the speedometer to even see how fast I was going but I did feel like I was flying most of the time. I had to slow down two times. When two bikes in front of me were riding too far apart and trucks were passing. I HATE when riders do that. Then there was a sharp turn and I had to nearly stop for a recumbant. Also, there was a bar and guys shouting "free beer" that made for a distraction. Not a distraction that I wanted a beer but a distraction that you had to watch for people around the corner. And it did look like one biker did stop for a beer. Who the heck would stop a few miles away from the finish?

I never once looked back for Chris. I thought about his low tire. I would have felt very bad if he had a flat and I left him behind. But then he could have called me :-).

At that point we were riding by a neighborhood. It was really cool that they either had the streets blocked off or an officer was stopping traffic. There was one good hill, overpass actually, going into downtown. That slowed me a bit. But coming off that overpass was great. Zooming into four lane streets taking corners wide and fast. I finally turned toward the finish line and raced past two bikers. I think one was saying they had a flat. Anyway, as I got to the finish line they called my name and people were clapping. That was cool :-). As I slowed down I spotted Bobby on the side sitting under a tree for shade. I pulled up to him and said something about Chris being somewhere behind me. And in true Chris fashion he was no more than 10 seconds back. The time was just after 4PM.

The Finish Line.

We finished!

Now the big question was "Where was Rich?" Bobby had actually seen Rich while in the ambulance. Rich was walking. We checked the medical tent and nothing. Bobby still wasn't feeling great. Chris and I loaded up the bikes and found a shower. Never showered in a portable shower trailer before. It wasn't too bad. As we got out of the shower Chris saw Rich pull across the finish line. The time was about 5:30pm. Rich had a number of leg cramps and walked several times to work them out. By the time we got to Rich, he was in the medical tent because of the leg cramps. He never looked "out of it" like Bobby did. We were almost literally the last people still left in the racing area. Almost everything had been taken down. I went to get the truck and a TV crew came by. Rich, Chris, and the back of Bobby's head made the channel 6 news that night.

I drove back with Bobby and Chris drove back Rich. We left while Chris and Rich were still getting in the car. It is about an hour back to Lawton. It was good to have my pikepass so I could quickly get through the toll road. Bobby was hungry and we were talking about food as we got near the hotel. I was saying something about waiting for Chris and Rich when we pulled in. Wouldn't you know it, Chris was 2 seconds behind me. I just can't shake that guy.

In all fairness to Chris he wasn't behind me much. I was often on his wheel. Considering he doesn't ride as much as I do he did great. I was also very impressed with Rich. I guess he thought about quiting near the end but somebody said they would ride with him to the finish. If I would have had leg cramps I would have taken an early SAG. Of course I am also impressed with how fast Bobby rides. Unfortunately I think of the saying "a candle that burns twice as bright also burns half as long" Then add the heat of Texas in August and well, the candle doesn't have a chance in hell ;-).

Our meal in Lawton was somewhat memorable. I'm not sure I remember what was going on exactly but Rich wanted a draft. The waitress came back 4 times with different stories about beer and then finally a manager came over. I believe finally Rich drank something out of a bottle. Can you tell I'm not a beer guy? The waitress was nice and other than beer issues the meal was good.

All in all these were a great fun group of guys and it was a great adventure. I hope to see them all next year at the same place and time next year. But this time at a nicer hotel and in Wichita Falls.

- Cyclepup

Miscellaneous stuff

On the way to Lawton we stopped at a McDonald's on the turnpike. Chris was buying me a drink. While he was paying, I came up behind him and grabbed my cup. In the crowd Chris didn't know it was me and told the lady the "some guy" grabbed the cup. She gave him another. Bobby got a free drink out of that deal. I guess I got a free drink too because I never paid Chris. :-)

Timing stuff
  8:52:34 was the total time as the chip registered
  9:04 was the time on the finish line clock when I came in.
  6:14:59 riding time
  Almost hard to believe we stopped for 2.5 hours.
  101.95 miles total
  16.2 average mph (based on riding time, not overall time)
   29.7 max mph
   551.15 my odometer. I got this bike on 7/5/07.

Chip results. Fastest Men's time 4:26:58, pace 22.5mph
   my time 8:52:34, pace 11.3mph
   785th place out of 801
   there were 83 women. I finished before 3 of them
   The timing chip cost extra. I didn't notice the timing chip on most people.

Wichita Falls weather
  temp - high 94 low 78 (a very average temp for this day)
  humidity - high 79 low 41
  luckily it wasn't 109 like the previous record year. When Hell's Gate closed at 11am.

Big Mac Attack – The End of Innocence

2007-08-11T18:00:00.006-05:00

Big Mac Attack – The End of Innocence

Unfortunately, I was unable to make the Skiatook Dam ride. I thought that was where all the adventure would be. With Keith leading and all; but then everybody assumes that. With the impending HHH coming up, I did think I had better get some HOT miles under my belt. I plotted a 100k course around B’ville where I wouldn't be too far from a pitstop every 15 miles or so. I also had excellent SAG support from my wife and kid. A thanks goes out to the family. Just what was the point of this story?

Oh yes, on the way out 123 to Woolaroc, I got pummeled by what I think was a 65 MPH Big Mac. I believe I saw Special Sauce as it bounced off my knee. The car was an old, faded, red General Motors something. I was on the section with a wide shoulder and 2-3 feet off the line. Just what would bring somebody to pitch a burger out the window? I might say they were a good shot, but then they were probably aiming for my head. Then I have to think. Why would somebody throw away a Big Mac? Did they buy it with the intention of finding a biker? Did they buy two and decide they weren't that hungry? Had it been sitting in the car for a few days and they finally found just the right trash receptacle? Are they a Trek rider and didn't like the colors of my Specialized? Did they know that I secretly don't like the Big Mac? The questions are endless. I was picking off lettuce and wiping away the Special Sauce for the next 40 miles.

This all leads to the end of my innocence. I used to think my worst enemies were the dogs. I kept reminding myself to get some pepper spray just in case they are too aggressive and I don't have the energy to outrun them. Off subject... Will I ever feel safe again? Will I wince every time a car passes? What if the culprit only had a beer bottle handy rather than the Big Mac? Will I have post traumatic stress syndrome? Will I recoil in fear as I pass by McDonald's or more so, when I pedal by a McDonald's? Okay, probably not. I'm being a bit dramatic. It does make me wonder what other people have experienced. I would be interested to hear other stories.

On a different note, if I can keep up the pace I did on Saturday I should probably make Hell's Gate, assuming they don't close it early. That also assumes I attempt the 100 miles. Oh, and that there aren't any more Big Mac Attacks.

Note: Avoid these on bike rides! Unless of course you stop and buy one.

Tornado Alley 110

2007-07-07T07:07:00.001-05:00

First (to be annual) Tornado Alley 110. Starting 7/7/07 at 7:07 am. They will lose that gimmick next year. If you do the whole 110 it covers 4 states. 100k covers 3 states. The ride stared in Joplin, Missouri, went South to Arkansas (on the longer ride), West into Oklahoma, and just touched Kansas a bit on the way back.

I had my new bike 2 days and had done 4 miles on it before this day. What better way to get used to a road bike, the shifting, clippie pedals, and the seat (oh, such a hard seat). I signed up for a 100k (62 miles). Before the race I heard it was increased to 70 miles for safety. Well, it turned out to be more like 76 miles. 76 when a person is ready for 62 can be a huge difference.

When I started the race I had a delusion that maybe I could do the 110. If I could do 60 on a mountain bike why not? Right? Somewhere coming up to the 30 mile mark my whole body hurt and I really didn’t like that new seat! There was no way I was going to do more than 100k. When all was done I felt “okay” at the finish line. Rode lots of hills and saw some nice scenery. Since this time I have gotten quite used to the new seat.

I think they said there were about 450 riders. That was quite cool to start with all people.

Self portrait somewhere close to Grand Lake in Oklahoma. I was being safe, really!

Tour de Cure – Diabetes benefit ride

2007-05-23T22:06:00.003-05:00

This ride started it all. It gave me a goal to ride. I rode 41.908 miles this day. That was my longest ride ever. That included an optional “killer hill”. This was my first organized ride with rest stops, SAG support (Support And Gear), road markings, etc… I had a great time and look forward to it next year.

The Bartlesville Pedalers and Friends Team

Getting ready for the start

Near the top of “Killer Hill”

D’oh! I forgot to wear my “I survived Killer Hill” button they gave me at the top.

** note (8/31/10). As I repost this I wonder, who was that amateur? Walmart helmet, prescription clip on sunglasses, COTTON t-shirt, tennis shoes, no spandex at all.