Well it is Day 38 of riding but not for Larry and I. We took the day off. I am dealing with my swolling knee. And we have a broken spoke on our rear wheel. But most of all we just needed an extra day off. With all of the planned activites today it was a good day to take off. We were greeted at a fire station for lunch and shuttled over an hour to a huge reception at GE Aviation.
At the hotel GE Aviation treated us to dinner and spa treatments at the hotel. I had a hair cut and a massage. Thanks again GE Aviation.
Thursday, July 12, 2012
Day 37 Sea 2 Shining Sea
Today had the best roads in a while. Not the best surface or the best traffic but the roads actually went up and down and turned left and right. Not just arrow straight and flat like the last couple thousand miles. I can't wait to get back home to ride loops on curvy roads. Soon enough.
Because we were having so much fun on these roads we got to lunch way early. I knew we had well over an hour to wait for the last group. So like an idiot I played basketball with the staff in the church parking lot where we were having lunch. We started with a simple game of H.O.R.S.E., not good enough for me, I suggested we play 2 on 2. Not bright at all. My 46 year old rebuilt knees can't take that at all. Idiot. Now two days later I'm still icing the day lights out of my knee trying to get the swelling to go down.
After lunch my Garmin computer battery died. Rats, only getting credit for 44.5 miles of an 80 mile day stinks. Honest we rode the whole ride to Seymour. Plug in the Garmin nightly!
Because we were having so much fun on these roads we got to lunch way early. I knew we had well over an hour to wait for the last group. So like an idiot I played basketball with the staff in the church parking lot where we were having lunch. We started with a simple game of H.O.R.S.E., not good enough for me, I suggested we play 2 on 2. Not bright at all. My 46 year old rebuilt knees can't take that at all. Idiot. Now two days later I'm still icing the day lights out of my knee trying to get the swelling to go down.
After lunch my Garmin computer battery died. Rats, only getting credit for 44.5 miles of an 80 mile day stinks. Honest we rode the whole ride to Seymour. Plug in the Garmin nightly!
Day 36 Sea 2 Shining Sea
More wonderful people and food followed by more rider mayhem. Today we entered Indiana at Vincennes. This is the home town of one of our staff members Brianna. She makes our lunches everyday on the USO. Brianna's father hosted us for lunch at his car dealership. This was the best lunch for me yet. Great salads, grilled chicken sandwiches, fruit salads and chips.
Dinner was hosted by Brianna's grandparents at an Amish restaurant. The best lemon maringue pie. This ride has become all about the food. Over and over again.
Tonight I played ultimate frisbee with a bunch of the staff. Running was never something I was good at but wow that was a whole bunch of fun. Playing with a bunch of 20somethings makes me realize that I'm not 20 anymore. Ouch but FUN. I like fun.
After dinner we had a rider meeting to talk about how the ride was going for everyone. It was heated to say the least. I think the people at the pool could hear all of the yelling. I don't respond well to yelling so there were a couple times I almost walked out, but I stuck around. Alot was said but I'm not sure about what was really accomplished. (I am keeping this blog as P.C. as possible and not saying names or talking about the events in any detail. Maybe after we get to Virginia.)
Dinner was hosted by Brianna's grandparents at an Amish restaurant. The best lemon maringue pie. This ride has become all about the food. Over and over again.
Tonight I played ultimate frisbee with a bunch of the staff. Running was never something I was good at but wow that was a whole bunch of fun. Playing with a bunch of 20somethings makes me realize that I'm not 20 anymore. Ouch but FUN. I like fun.
After dinner we had a rider meeting to talk about how the ride was going for everyone. It was heated to say the least. I think the people at the pool could hear all of the yelling. I don't respond well to yelling so there were a couple times I almost walked out, but I stuck around. Alot was said but I'm not sure about what was really accomplished. (I am keeping this blog as P.C. as possible and not saying names or talking about the events in any detail. Maybe after we get to Virginia.)
Day 35 Sea 2 Shining Sea
Still going east. But today we had a great lunch in Flora, Illionis. The whole town showed up once again. It is amazing. At the start of this trip we were told how great the midwest people are. Oh so right. But I also know why I call it the waist of the country. I lost 10 pounds during the first few weeks of the ride. It has all come back and then some. Great meal after great meal is to blame. Ok, really it is up to me to push the plate away. Not happening, the food is too good.
The town of Olney pulled out all the stops. Is this a competition to see who is the nicest town with the best food? It may be. After dinner the nicest town's nicest state trooper invited a bunch of us over to his house to meet his family, do laundry and shot guns. Crazy I know, but we had so much fun. I have not shoot a gun in many many years and here I am standing looking over a corn field firing a shotgun at clay pigeons. Again way fun. Thanks again Will for a great night.
The town of Olney pulled out all the stops. Is this a competition to see who is the nicest town with the best food? It may be. After dinner the nicest town's nicest state trooper invited a bunch of us over to his house to meet his family, do laundry and shot guns. Crazy I know, but we had so much fun. I have not shoot a gun in many many years and here I am standing looking over a corn field firing a shotgun at clay pigeons. Again way fun. Thanks again Will for a great night.
Day 34 Sea 2 Shining Sea
After all that time off the bike we were excited to be back on the bike and on our way east again. We rode across the Mississippi River where we met our police escourt across the whole state of Illionis. Even with police escourt it was a good thing we were riding thru East St Louis early in the day. Not the best looking part of town. Scary even. We made it.
Not far up the road we were greeted to the real american midwest. People came out with flags waving.
It is wonderful to see all the people in these small towns come out in the heat to greet us.
It is wonderful to see all the people in these small towns come out in the heat to greet us.
4th and 5th of July Rest Days
After so many days riding in the heat at was nice to have a couple days off the bike hanging out in St Louis in the heat. The heat was still with us. Also returning for a repeat performance was my friend Jill. She flew in yesterday afternoon to hang out with all of this crazyness called S2SS. The guys love having her around. And of course I love having Jill around too.
We spent the day having lunch with a bunch of the guys and then walking down to the river and the Arch to watch the AirShow.
I have some great video of the Harrier Jet but I can't seem to figure out how to get it off of my smartphone. Again, my smartphone is much smarter then me. Go figure.
The fireworks at night were great too. The amazing part was how calm and controlled such a huge big city crowd was for the fireworks and the concert before. No nonsence at all. Cool.
The highlight for the whole St Louis stay was City Museum. I can't even come close to explan how cool this place is. Think of a guy who got a welder for his birthday and went crazy. It has some of the coolest art made from all recycled stuff built around a maze of cement and rebar. I was climbing and crawling, sliding and swinging, jumping and flipping with all the rest of the kids in this place. It is a place where you can bring your kid and lose him for the afternoon. But since I don't have kids and I'm a kid myself anyway. I lost myself in there all afternoon. Way, Way, FUN!!!
We spent the day having lunch with a bunch of the guys and then walking down to the river and the Arch to watch the AirShow.
I have some great video of the Harrier Jet but I can't seem to figure out how to get it off of my smartphone. Again, my smartphone is much smarter then me. Go figure.
The fireworks at night were great too. The amazing part was how calm and controlled such a huge big city crowd was for the fireworks and the concert before. No nonsence at all. Cool.
The highlight for the whole St Louis stay was City Museum. I can't even come close to explan how cool this place is. Think of a guy who got a welder for his birthday and went crazy. It has some of the coolest art made from all recycled stuff built around a maze of cement and rebar. I was climbing and crawling, sliding and swinging, jumping and flipping with all the rest of the kids in this place. It is a place where you can bring your kid and lose him for the afternoon. But since I don't have kids and I'm a kid myself anyway. I lost myself in there all afternoon. Way, Way, FUN!!!
Day 33 Sea 2 Shining Sea ***4th of July Parade***
This is a big day! We stayed at a hotel by the St Louis airport so we would have a short ride to the parade start instead of a 50+ mile ride that we would have had to start at before dawn. We rode 12 miles to the parade start all together as a group. That is something. We lined up 53rd out of 150 parade groups. Big parade. We got there at 8:15am for a 10:00am parade start. More hurry up and wait. Many people were on edge by the start of the parade. Not sure if it was all the waiting in the heat or just the thought of riding in a parade with 200,000 people watching. Crowds and noices can ready get to people.
With the parade rolling it started very slow, like slower then walking pace. Way slower then I was willing to ride so I started riding in circles at the end of the block. I think I was starting to make Larry sick. When we started rolling a bit I started weaving and riding more circles around our whole group. I was having fun. Paul got the great idea to do 50 meter sprints in the middle of the parade. 4 or 5 of us would line up, let the group get some distance ahead and we would sprint. I was riding in flip-flops so Larry would do all of the pedaling during our sprints and I would just hang my legs away from the pedals.
We were playing with everyone on the sides of the parade and everyone in the parade. We were even trying to get into the Shriner scooter bike figure 8 loops. They had some crazy patern so I kind of messed that up. We were having so much fun. I think I may even have seen the other tandem having fun. Now that is crazy.
With the parade rolling it started very slow, like slower then walking pace. Way slower then I was willing to ride so I started riding in circles at the end of the block. I think I was starting to make Larry sick. When we started rolling a bit I started weaving and riding more circles around our whole group. I was having fun. Paul got the great idea to do 50 meter sprints in the middle of the parade. 4 or 5 of us would line up, let the group get some distance ahead and we would sprint. I was riding in flip-flops so Larry would do all of the pedaling during our sprints and I would just hang my legs away from the pedals.
We were playing with everyone on the sides of the parade and everyone in the parade. We were even trying to get into the Shriner scooter bike figure 8 loops. They had some crazy patern so I kind of messed that up. We were having so much fun. I think I may even have seen the other tandem having fun. Now that is crazy.
Day 32 Sea 2 Shining Sea
Again it has been a long time between blog updates so now I'm sitting my hotel room in Cincinnati Ohio on a rest day trying to remember all the rides and experiences we've had over the last 10 days. Well here goes.
The name of the game on this day was hurry up and wait. It took us over eight hours to finish a three hour ride. And hurry up we did. We raced a 10k time trial in the beginning of the day. Paul found this perfectly flat section of road with darn near no traffic at all for all of us to race on. We started in one minute intervals with the slowest starting first and the fastest starting last, just like in the tour. Larry and I started last. Let the trash talking begin. Joe was our minute man and Hunter was our two minute man. Larry and I told them both to watch out behind them because we were going to catch them. Not likely.
Larry and I went out at very stead fast pace trying not to go too hard in the beginning. We started out at 27mph and settled in at 29mph in the middle and picked it up to 31mph at the end. The finish line came up way faster then we thought. We almost caught Joe at the end. We finished in 11:52 something like 30.5 mph average speed. Wow, we are very happy with that. All most all of us competed in the time trial. At was way fun. We hope to do another race before the end of our trip.
From there we rode in small groups having fun and playing games all the way to lunch where we hung out waiting for the rest of the group. but that was not the big wait for the day. That came at the edge of the town of Hermann. We sat in the parking lot of a gas station for well over two hours just waiting for time to past so we could ride into town with a police escourt over a bridge into Hermann with townspeople waving flags all the way down the main street in town. Well worth it.
They treated us to a great dinner of pork roast with all the fixings. It was in their local winery. But no wine was had. Strange? Not that I cared.
After dinner we loaded up all of our bikes for an hour and a half drive into St Louis airport hotel. I got to drive one of the bubble buses. It made my day. I like to drive.
The name of the game on this day was hurry up and wait. It took us over eight hours to finish a three hour ride. And hurry up we did. We raced a 10k time trial in the beginning of the day. Paul found this perfectly flat section of road with darn near no traffic at all for all of us to race on. We started in one minute intervals with the slowest starting first and the fastest starting last, just like in the tour. Larry and I started last. Let the trash talking begin. Joe was our minute man and Hunter was our two minute man. Larry and I told them both to watch out behind them because we were going to catch them. Not likely.
Larry and I went out at very stead fast pace trying not to go too hard in the beginning. We started out at 27mph and settled in at 29mph in the middle and picked it up to 31mph at the end. The finish line came up way faster then we thought. We almost caught Joe at the end. We finished in 11:52 something like 30.5 mph average speed. Wow, we are very happy with that. All most all of us competed in the time trial. At was way fun. We hope to do another race before the end of our trip.
From there we rode in small groups having fun and playing games all the way to lunch where we hung out waiting for the rest of the group. but that was not the big wait for the day. That came at the edge of the town of Hermann. We sat in the parking lot of a gas station for well over two hours just waiting for time to past so we could ride into town with a police escourt over a bridge into Hermann with townspeople waving flags all the way down the main street in town. Well worth it.
They treated us to a great dinner of pork roast with all the fixings. It was in their local winery. But no wine was had. Strange? Not that I cared.
After dinner we loaded up all of our bikes for an hour and a half drive into St Louis airport hotel. I got to drive one of the bubble buses. It made my day. I like to drive.
Monday, July 2, 2012
Day 31 Sea 2 Shining Sea
Funny how a 67 mile ride can become an easy day. After all the miles that we have done over the last month anything less than a century is easy.
In spite of more drama on the road we had a great day. I don't feel like writing anymore about that.
In spite of more drama on the road we had a great day. I don't feel like writing anymore about that.
Sunday, July 1, 2012
Day 30 Sea 2 Shining Sea
Great day of riding on the best roads so far of the trip. Yesterday we ended on 15 miles of the crappyist road, so having good roads were much appraicated. We had a great group to ride with Paul, James, Jeffery and Larry and myself. Western Kansas is rolling, not bone ass flat like eastern Kansas. ( I think some of the state line are in the wrong places. Denver is in Kansas because it is flat and no one told the people of Denver. And western Kansas is actually in Missouri because the flatness ends and the rolling hills have begun. Anyway....) We had lots of fun with the rolling hills, it took away the bordum of the flatness. Maybe someday soon the roads will start to turn some, so we don't have to see where we are going to be a half hour away.
Today was a nice long ride of 102 miles. Another century and another state line in the books. I can't tell you how excited I am to see Kansas go into the rearview mirror. We broke the bike ride into nice bite size sections for our own sanity. First water stop, second water stop, first lunch, water stop, second lunch, water, water, water. You get the idea. We drink alot of water. With all that water comes a lot of pee breaks with those water stops. The miles just flow by today. Before we knew it we were in Warrensburg, Missouri.
Today was a nice long ride of 102 miles. Another century and another state line in the books. I can't tell you how excited I am to see Kansas go into the rearview mirror. We broke the bike ride into nice bite size sections for our own sanity. First water stop, second water stop, first lunch, water stop, second lunch, water, water, water. You get the idea. We drink alot of water. With all that water comes a lot of pee breaks with those water stops. The miles just flow by today. Before we knew it we were in Warrensburg, Missouri.
Saturday, June 30, 2012
Day 29 Sea 2 Shining Sea
Slated as an easier day, it was still tough in the end because of the heat. We rode 70 miles, which is much less then the big days of the last week. We started with a police escourt out of Emporia, so we were riding at controlled easy pace. At the town line the escourt stopped and the riding began. Larry and I began with the plan to ride our own ride so we could start working on doing some intervals. We rolled out with the fast group just sitting on the back of the pack. At about 10 miles Larry and I got a flat. Hunter stopped to help us with it. The others didn't wait, not surprised at all.
By the time we changed the tire we were passed by the B group too. We rode with the B group for a while until we warmed up again. Then we started doing our first set of interval training. We did 4 three minute intervals. Not bad for our first try. I've never been one to have any kind of training program, I just ride and have fun. So this is new to me. I've been around long enough to know something about training but I am definity looking for downside help with setting up a program that will work for both Larry and myself.
By the time we changed the tire we were passed by the B group too. We rode with the B group for a while until we warmed up again. Then we started doing our first set of interval training. We did 4 three minute intervals. Not bad for our first try. I've never been one to have any kind of training program, I just ride and have fun. So this is new to me. I've been around long enough to know something about training but I am definity looking for downside help with setting up a program that will work for both Larry and myself.
Friday, June 29, 2012
Day 28 Sea 2 Shining Sea
Today was another planned century in 100+ degree heat. Ugh... We started with a great breakfast provided to us by the American Legion of Hucthinson, Kansas. We got a later start then was scheduled because of breakfast but well worth it. We also got escourted out of town by the American Legion Road Guard motorcyle group. Very cool indeed.
Larry and I rode out with Paul and James who were riding our spare tandem. That was a lot of fun. Those guys are just fun to be around. Always having fun. I like fun. We were trading off turns at the front every mile like clock work. When we were riding thru the town of Newton we were met by more Road Guard motorcycles. They led us to the State Farm office in Newton where we were treated to a very good fruit salad medley. We had know idea we even had this stop, we thought we were just riding straight to lunch. I loved this stop. We sat and hung out with the fine folks of Newton for about an hour waiting for the rest of the group.
With such a long stop and all the long hot miles already this week Larry decided to pull the plug on todays ride at 35 miles. He is human. I thought that it was a very smart move. Take a break, recover and come back stronger the next day. Thanks Larry.
Larry spent the rest of the day helping Danelle with water stops for the fast group and I drove the bubble bus with Hunter and Alex. I had a great day helping everyone else. And again we had more riders completing their first century. Congrats to Brianna and Andrew.
Larry and I rode out with Paul and James who were riding our spare tandem. That was a lot of fun. Those guys are just fun to be around. Always having fun. I like fun. We were trading off turns at the front every mile like clock work. When we were riding thru the town of Newton we were met by more Road Guard motorcycles. They led us to the State Farm office in Newton where we were treated to a very good fruit salad medley. We had know idea we even had this stop, we thought we were just riding straight to lunch. I loved this stop. We sat and hung out with the fine folks of Newton for about an hour waiting for the rest of the group.
With such a long stop and all the long hot miles already this week Larry decided to pull the plug on todays ride at 35 miles. He is human. I thought that it was a very smart move. Take a break, recover and come back stronger the next day. Thanks Larry.
Larry spent the rest of the day helping Danelle with water stops for the fast group and I drove the bubble bus with Hunter and Alex. I had a great day helping everyone else. And again we had more riders completing their first century. Congrats to Brianna and Andrew.
Day 27 Sea 2 Shinig Sea
Today was an Incredible Day!! Because it was such a long day I planned to split the day with Hunter. It worked out great. I rode the first 76 miles and Hunter rode the last 44 miles to the end. This give Larry 120 miles!!!!
Since I've been struggling with the heat and the distince lately, I thought it would be best to share my riding duties on the long days. Larry is just super human, somehow he is as strong at the beginning of the day as he is at the end of the day, amazing. We started out riding with our fast group. At 52 miles we had a quick lunch and as we were just about to leave Glenn came riding in. Wow, he was just a couple minutes behind us while riding my himself after 52 miles. Very impressive. After a little discussion the group choose to have Glenn join us to the end. As we rode out I told Glenn we would all ride his pace (which of course was just a half mph slower than us). This lasted about two miles before the other tandem started to ride away. I yelled for them to slow down a bit. They did for a couple pedal strokes and then they sped up and were gone. No surprise there. Larry and I rode with Glenn for the next 24 miles until Hunter was able to catch up in the van to releave me from my riding duties for the day.
For the rest of the day I helped Danelle with water stops for the fast group. Larry and Hunter kept a very steady fast pace and the other tandem and Joe rode with Glenn. Joe did a great job keeping Glenn motivated to complete his first century. They laughed and joked their way in for a huge century of a 120 miles in 100+ degree heat. Great job Glenn. I don't think the other tandem had such a good day.
The day took on more incredible turn when so many people went above and beyond by completely their first century on our longest planned day of the trip. Congrats to Henry, Jonathan, Bill(on a handcycle), Jeff, Jena, and Razz.
Since I've been struggling with the heat and the distince lately, I thought it would be best to share my riding duties on the long days. Larry is just super human, somehow he is as strong at the beginning of the day as he is at the end of the day, amazing. We started out riding with our fast group. At 52 miles we had a quick lunch and as we were just about to leave Glenn came riding in. Wow, he was just a couple minutes behind us while riding my himself after 52 miles. Very impressive. After a little discussion the group choose to have Glenn join us to the end. As we rode out I told Glenn we would all ride his pace (which of course was just a half mph slower than us). This lasted about two miles before the other tandem started to ride away. I yelled for them to slow down a bit. They did for a couple pedal strokes and then they sped up and were gone. No surprise there. Larry and I rode with Glenn for the next 24 miles until Hunter was able to catch up in the van to releave me from my riding duties for the day.
For the rest of the day I helped Danelle with water stops for the fast group. Larry and Hunter kept a very steady fast pace and the other tandem and Joe rode with Glenn. Joe did a great job keeping Glenn motivated to complete his first century. They laughed and joked their way in for a huge century of a 120 miles in 100+ degree heat. Great job Glenn. I don't think the other tandem had such a good day.
The day took on more incredible turn when so many people went above and beyond by completely their first century on our longest planned day of the trip. Congrats to Henry, Jonathan, Bill(on a handcycle), Jeff, Jena, and Razz.
Wednesday, June 27, 2012
Rest Day 5
Laundry followed by lots of typing. Rider meeting at 4pm. Dinner at 6:30pm at the VFW of Dodge City, Kansas.
Day 26 Sea 2 Shining Sea
Not my best day. Planned 104 miles, I rode 55 miles and climbed off at lunch. Much more to the story but for another time.
We had a very nice welcome by the people of Dodge City Kansas.
We had a very nice welcome by the people of Dodge City Kansas.
Day 25 Sea 2 Shining Sea
Today was more of the same but with a different dynamic. Left at the same time, same distance(more or less), same hot as hell temperture and same people plus one, Paul our road captain. Yesterday was rode very well as a group but today with Paul added to the group it went way wrong. I am a very big fan of Paul, but the other tandem captain is not. The ride rode more like a race instead of like a ride because of the power struggle in our group. I will say it in a word, bullshit.
We still made good time to lunch and ate a fast lunch and got to the hotel way early but it was not a fun ride at all. This crap needs to stop.
oh, by the way we entered a new state- Kansas
We still made good time to lunch and ate a fast lunch and got to the hotel way early but it was not a fun ride at all. This crap needs to stop.
oh, by the way we entered a new state- Kansas
Day 24 Sea 2 Shining Sea
The hills are gone. Let the heat begin. I mean, really let the hot heat from a blast furnace begin. We are riding into 110+degrees of the dryest heat I've ever riding in.
Because of the impending heat the fast group left at 7am instead of our normal 8am. We turned up the speed early because it was only 85 degrees at 8am. We were averaging close to 25mph for the first couple hours. We ate a very quick lunch and brought the speed down just a bit all the way to the hotel in Las Animas Colorado. We arrived at the hotel before noon after 87 miles with average speed of 22.4mph. Nice.
We waited by the pool and in our rooms until 4pm before the rest of the group got to the hotel. It was well over 100 degrees from noon on. What an incredible hard day for the other groups.
Because of the impending heat the fast group left at 7am instead of our normal 8am. We turned up the speed early because it was only 85 degrees at 8am. We were averaging close to 25mph for the first couple hours. We ate a very quick lunch and brought the speed down just a bit all the way to the hotel in Las Animas Colorado. We arrived at the hotel before noon after 87 miles with average speed of 22.4mph. Nice.
We waited by the pool and in our rooms until 4pm before the rest of the group got to the hotel. It was well over 100 degrees from noon on. What an incredible hard day for the other groups.
Day 23 Sea 2 Shining Sea
Today had a couple big surprises. First off Caroline was joining us all the way to Pueblo Colorado. Paul had set her up on one of our spare bikes. Very cool.
Second, we didn't start riding until 10am because we were being treated to lunch at Fort Carson by the USO. They had a great welcome for us and great meal planned. They pulled out all of the stops by having enterainment too. We watched a wonderful performance by a Polynesian dance troop. Even with the temperature rising on the USO patio we all had a great time. As we left the USO we noticed smoke coming from the mountains above our hotel. A new forrest fire?
We left with the idea of just 40 miles to Pueblo and our hotel. The third surprise was it was not a flat 40 but a hilly 60 miles. Larry and I didn't ride with the fast group today so we could ride with my friend Caroline. I loved riding with Caroline but the slowness of the group was really hard on Larry. Once we got off the rolling back road going south we got on Route 50 going EAST. We better get use to this road. We will be on this road and this road only for the next couple hundred miles, ouch.
After dinner I drove Caroline back up to Colorado Springs. We could see the flames from the forrest fire in the hill by Garden of the Gods. We were there just that morning walking around before our ride. Kind of scary.
Second, we didn't start riding until 10am because we were being treated to lunch at Fort Carson by the USO. They had a great welcome for us and great meal planned. They pulled out all of the stops by having enterainment too. We watched a wonderful performance by a Polynesian dance troop. Even with the temperature rising on the USO patio we all had a great time. As we left the USO we noticed smoke coming from the mountains above our hotel. A new forrest fire?
We left with the idea of just 40 miles to Pueblo and our hotel. The third surprise was it was not a flat 40 but a hilly 60 miles. Larry and I didn't ride with the fast group today so we could ride with my friend Caroline. I loved riding with Caroline but the slowness of the group was really hard on Larry. Once we got off the rolling back road going south we got on Route 50 going EAST. We better get use to this road. We will be on this road and this road only for the next couple hundred miles, ouch.
After dinner I drove Caroline back up to Colorado Springs. We could see the flames from the forrest fire in the hill by Garden of the Gods. We were there just that morning walking around before our ride. Kind of scary.
Day 22 Sea 2 Shining Sea
Today we rode from Denver to Colorado Springs. Tough winds and rolling hills. We were riding like we could not get out of our own way. We had to pedal going down hill and still could barely break 35mph. For such an easy day on paper this turned out to be a very hard day. One of the reasons was we didn't get our first water stop until 25 miles and by that time we were hard pressed to get enough liquids in us to get caught up.
When we got to lunch we waited about an hour and forty five minutes for the rest of the group before leaving for the Air Force Academy. There we were escourted to the B-52 Bomber for pictures and a quick ride across the base. There was a lot of hurry up and wait. And a lot of very tired people when we finially got to our hotel on Garden of the Gods Road.
I was very pleased to find out my friend Caroline was going to meet me at the hotel. We had dinner together and again hung out and chatted. I was also able to intruduce Caroline to my new friends and she was able to help my friend Sabrina with a nagging injury. Caroline is amazing at finding what ails you and getting you to help yourself with stretching and exercise. Thanks Caroline.
When we got to lunch we waited about an hour and forty five minutes for the rest of the group before leaving for the Air Force Academy. There we were escourted to the B-52 Bomber for pictures and a quick ride across the base. There was a lot of hurry up and wait. And a lot of very tired people when we finially got to our hotel on Garden of the Gods Road.
I was very pleased to find out my friend Caroline was going to meet me at the hotel. We had dinner together and again hung out and chatted. I was also able to intruduce Caroline to my new friends and she was able to help my friend Sabrina with a nagging injury. Caroline is amazing at finding what ails you and getting you to help yourself with stretching and exercise. Thanks Caroline.
Rest Day 4
A day off in Denver!! It is great to have friends!!! My friends Jill, Caroline, Kim and Jim came to visit today. We went out to lunch and dinner and just hung out and talked. I love hanging out with my friends. The only other thing I did was load the tandem up with laundry and ride 2 miles to the local coin-op laundramat. We had internet but I was way too busy to update my blog. It was a great day.
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