When you wake up knowing you have an impossible task ahead of you it is a strange feeling. I would reference it to 1/10000000 of that of the Jews walking into the death showers. Great start Evan you have started your blog with a Nazi WWII reference.
Ok let’s start over. When I woke up today I got the treat of a continental breakfast, which is rare because I am up at 5am and usually leave at 5:45 – 6am. I thought it would be uneventful but I was wrong. I was just sitting down to eat my waffles when the lady from the front desk sits down right beside me. Odd I know but it get better. She asks me how old I am. I respond. She then says I have a 10-year-old son who just refuses to apply himself to math how can I get through to him? Hmm I don’t know I am only a kid. She then keeps going on and on about her family issues. It really made me feel both uncomfortable and sad because this woman had no one to present these issues to except an 18-year-old Canadian cyclist. This rambling went on for roughly 15 minutes and progressed from her genuine concern for her child to anger about the issues she could not solve. I tried my best to offer some advice but I honestly did not know what to say.
When I left I was flying down the road. Climbing at my average speed and tarring up the first 50-mile gap. About halfway through this ride I got to thinking “o crap if I have a tailwind now then for the big gap im going to have a brutal headwind”. Well I was right. As soon as I got into show low I hit the first of the wind. Seeking shelter I hoped into a gas station. At this gas station I asked about what lay ahead for me in this gap. What the lady said just crushed my moral. You are going to have a headwind, you and going o have the biggest hills in Arizona, and there is nothing between here and there.
Because I had already been dealing with the crosswind getting into Show Low I wanted to stop. I had a sure thing in show low, but I pushed on. My expectations were at 0 and were quickly raised. When I entered the forest the wind died down and I was able to have a normal ride for a while. I was on a steady descent for about an hour, which as awesome as it sounds is a really bad thing. The reason is I knew I had to climb to the highest peak in Arizona so every foot I went down I knew I had to climb back up.
Well I was right, but not before going up and down a few big climbs. My legs were completely toasted then I saw it. The mountains opened up to this huge empty space. Across this gap I saw a road zig zaging up the face of this rock. “O crap”. I have never been so intimidated by a climb before in my life.
As I started going down the canyon I gained more and more speed. I was nearing 70km/h on this awesome road. Every few hundred metres would be a tight curve that I would shoulder check then take up the whole road to road the corner. It was simply awesome.
After going down I hit the bridge that crosses the river of the Salt River canyon and very quickly my momentum was robbed. I was brought back down to earth within 15 metres of finishing the decent. Ahead of me was a 1.5-hour climb where I was pushing to do 10km/h the entire time. Hitting the peak was a like nothing else. I mean I had climbed to the highest peak in Arizona after battling a headwind, and rain the entire day.
On the horizon I saw it. Pitch black clouds and a sheet of rain that brought visibility down to nothing. I live in b.c. rain is ok im used to it so lets ride through it. Then a guy in a blue truck pulls up beside me. “The state has issued a severe weather warning for the area. 60mph winds, and serve hail. Don’t be stupid let me give you a lift to Globe”. After riding beside him and talking for a while I caved. Within 7 minutes the hail started. I have never experienced weather like this. It had everything from hail, to monsoon style rain, and a wind that caused some semi trucks to pull over. It was ugly.
I forgot to talk about someone I met who was crazier then the lady at breakfast. I met a guy by the name of Michael Blogg. We was walking along the highway so I stopped to ask what was up. This man has spent the last 21 years walking around America. He may only do 10 miles a day but the fact is he has been walking for 21 years, and even has a wife (who does not travel with him). I had so many questions that I forgot to ask because I was just in aww of what this man was doing. I thought I was crazy for leaving for 100 or so days. This man has left his life for almost a quarter century.
Trip Distance: 150km
Ride Time: 7:55hr
Avg. Speed: 19.01km/h
Total Distance: 15248km
Total Ride Time: 707hr
Destination: Globe, Arizona
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
Monday, October 4, 2010
Tour Day 101 Expect The Unexcpected Oct 4 2010
After an extremely hard end to the day yesterday I was ready to have a nice long sleep. 10 hours later I woke up and was ready to make the 140-mile gap to Springer Ville Arizona. I loaded down with 9 litres of water, a full load of food, and a full tank of gas.
Within the first 20 feet I knew exactly how the day was going to go. Right off the bat I had a stronger wind then I finished off the day yesterday with (roughly 12 – 15mph) and I had an extended climb out of town that lasted an hour. In that hour I only covered 6 miles. It was the slowest and hardest riding I have encountered yet.
When I summated the hill I saw the plains of San Agustin ahead of me. This was a dead flat space that extended 20 miles. I was extremely nervous about this because I thought that if the wind was bad in the hills then it would be 10 times worse in the open area. Fortunately I was mistaken and I got up to the whopping speed of 20km/h. By this time the sun was coming up but because of the elevation it was still cold as heck. Cold enough for me to dig out my winter gloves. Once I got heat back in my hands I could focus on the horizon. This is where I saw something unique, a radio observatory. I stopped to take a closer look for a few minutes. While I was stopped I heard a loud alarm then 10 seconds later they all moved at once to a specific location. I was amazed how quick they moved, and how elegant the whole thing was.
After plugging in my ipod I was back grinding down the road. Then it happened. You guessed it another flat. So let me set the scene. We are either 80 miles back to the next town or 100 miles ahead. The sun is just starting to peer out of the clouds, it is cold, and I have no circulation in my hands. I had one spare tube so I thought all was going to be peachy. All was not peachy because I was an idiot and pinched the tube. Ok back up plan I can use my patches to limp my way down the road a ways. After applying the patch and inflating to a lower then normal pressure I started rolling again. After 2km it was flat again. Peel and stick patches are useless.
So I am not stoked because I am only 45km into the day and im stuck. At this point I have only used .5 of the 9 litres of water I had on me. Luckily I was close to a gas station and at this station were two older gentlemen that were topping up their camper with fuel. I asked them if they were heading west to Springer Ville. They said yes. I then fallowed up with the question if I could hitch a ride to Springer Ville to get a few tubes. My hopes were high, but then they hit me with an answer of no because they had their guns in the backseat and did not have room. Accepting the answer I went on my way and started walking down the road. 2 Minutes later I see them waving frantically at me. After making my way back they said that they had moved the guns and had room for me in the back seat.
Once we were rolling we got to talking. In a way it was actually a good thing because they were both pilots, and one was a pilot for the air force. This gave me a chance to ask some questions that have been nagging in the back of my mind. Now this is the reason I love cards because as much as im trying to remember I cant for the life of me remember the name of these two fine gentlemen. I believe they were named bill and john but im pretty sure I am wrong.
We stopped in a small homestead and they said they were going to treat me to a breakfast, which was an unexpected surprise. This whole trip has made me a lot more confident with the way that I deal with strangers. When you approach people as your friend, and as if they are out to help you they are a lot more open to your stories and sharing their life with you. When I left I approached people as if they were out to do me harm. Now I know that sounds weird but most of us are guilty of that because as much as we try to ignore it a lot of us are judgemental. Case and point getting in a car after they say just let us move our guns.
Now in Arizona I expected the weather to be bright and sunny because most of this state gets between roughly 15-25 inches of rain a year. Well I managed to hit Arizona during those 15025 inches because it started to rain as soon as I hit Springer Ville. Looking at the forecast it does not look like it going to get much better because it shows three straight days of rain. Adding to my luck I have the largest gap of the trip tomorrow. The day is going to stat off with a 40 mile run into sho how, and then fallow that up with 116-mile gap into Globe. Because the first 40 miles I wont use any of my resources this is pretty much a 156mile gap. Great. Even better the western wing I had today is going to shift to a southern wind tomorrow. Guess what. I am heading south tomorrow. Adding to this apparently the road out of Springer Ville has some of the most brutal hills I have ridden to date. Lets see how far 9 litres of water gets me.
As much as I may sound chipper today I am very disappointed about the day not only for how little I accomplished, but also because I am watching my goal of maintaining my 150km average disappear day by day. About 700 miles to go till the ocean. If I don’t hit 16000km by the time I hit the water I am going o spend a few days doing some local rides because I simply cat return hoe without hitting that milestone.
Trip Distance: 47km
Ride Time: 2:56hr
Avg. Speed: 16.24km/h (shows you how brutal the ride was)
Total Distance: 15098km
Total Ride Time: 700hr
Destination: Springer Ville, Arizona
As a side not my body clock is completely screwed because I was just starting to get readjusted to mountain time, then I find out Arizona does not sue daylight savings. So it is Mountain Time but is actually the same time as Pacific Standard Time.
Within the first 20 feet I knew exactly how the day was going to go. Right off the bat I had a stronger wind then I finished off the day yesterday with (roughly 12 – 15mph) and I had an extended climb out of town that lasted an hour. In that hour I only covered 6 miles. It was the slowest and hardest riding I have encountered yet.
When I summated the hill I saw the plains of San Agustin ahead of me. This was a dead flat space that extended 20 miles. I was extremely nervous about this because I thought that if the wind was bad in the hills then it would be 10 times worse in the open area. Fortunately I was mistaken and I got up to the whopping speed of 20km/h. By this time the sun was coming up but because of the elevation it was still cold as heck. Cold enough for me to dig out my winter gloves. Once I got heat back in my hands I could focus on the horizon. This is where I saw something unique, a radio observatory. I stopped to take a closer look for a few minutes. While I was stopped I heard a loud alarm then 10 seconds later they all moved at once to a specific location. I was amazed how quick they moved, and how elegant the whole thing was.
After plugging in my ipod I was back grinding down the road. Then it happened. You guessed it another flat. So let me set the scene. We are either 80 miles back to the next town or 100 miles ahead. The sun is just starting to peer out of the clouds, it is cold, and I have no circulation in my hands. I had one spare tube so I thought all was going to be peachy. All was not peachy because I was an idiot and pinched the tube. Ok back up plan I can use my patches to limp my way down the road a ways. After applying the patch and inflating to a lower then normal pressure I started rolling again. After 2km it was flat again. Peel and stick patches are useless.
So I am not stoked because I am only 45km into the day and im stuck. At this point I have only used .5 of the 9 litres of water I had on me. Luckily I was close to a gas station and at this station were two older gentlemen that were topping up their camper with fuel. I asked them if they were heading west to Springer Ville. They said yes. I then fallowed up with the question if I could hitch a ride to Springer Ville to get a few tubes. My hopes were high, but then they hit me with an answer of no because they had their guns in the backseat and did not have room. Accepting the answer I went on my way and started walking down the road. 2 Minutes later I see them waving frantically at me. After making my way back they said that they had moved the guns and had room for me in the back seat.
Once we were rolling we got to talking. In a way it was actually a good thing because they were both pilots, and one was a pilot for the air force. This gave me a chance to ask some questions that have been nagging in the back of my mind. Now this is the reason I love cards because as much as im trying to remember I cant for the life of me remember the name of these two fine gentlemen. I believe they were named bill and john but im pretty sure I am wrong.
We stopped in a small homestead and they said they were going to treat me to a breakfast, which was an unexpected surprise. This whole trip has made me a lot more confident with the way that I deal with strangers. When you approach people as your friend, and as if they are out to help you they are a lot more open to your stories and sharing their life with you. When I left I approached people as if they were out to do me harm. Now I know that sounds weird but most of us are guilty of that because as much as we try to ignore it a lot of us are judgemental. Case and point getting in a car after they say just let us move our guns.
Now in Arizona I expected the weather to be bright and sunny because most of this state gets between roughly 15-25 inches of rain a year. Well I managed to hit Arizona during those 15025 inches because it started to rain as soon as I hit Springer Ville. Looking at the forecast it does not look like it going to get much better because it shows three straight days of rain. Adding to my luck I have the largest gap of the trip tomorrow. The day is going to stat off with a 40 mile run into sho how, and then fallow that up with 116-mile gap into Globe. Because the first 40 miles I wont use any of my resources this is pretty much a 156mile gap. Great. Even better the western wing I had today is going to shift to a southern wind tomorrow. Guess what. I am heading south tomorrow. Adding to this apparently the road out of Springer Ville has some of the most brutal hills I have ridden to date. Lets see how far 9 litres of water gets me.
As much as I may sound chipper today I am very disappointed about the day not only for how little I accomplished, but also because I am watching my goal of maintaining my 150km average disappear day by day. About 700 miles to go till the ocean. If I don’t hit 16000km by the time I hit the water I am going o spend a few days doing some local rides because I simply cat return hoe without hitting that milestone.
Trip Distance: 47km
Ride Time: 2:56hr
Avg. Speed: 16.24km/h (shows you how brutal the ride was)
Total Distance: 15098km
Total Ride Time: 700hr
Destination: Springer Ville, Arizona
As a side not my body clock is completely screwed because I was just starting to get readjusted to mountain time, then I find out Arizona does not sue daylight savings. So it is Mountain Time but is actually the same time as Pacific Standard Time.
Sunday, October 3, 2010
Tour Day 100 I Love The Smell Of Radioation In The Morning Oct 3 2010
10 hours of sleep sure does wonders to the body. Because I am so used to 8 hours of sleep a night for the last two hours I was left tossing and turning. Since the first few weeks of the tour my dreams have settled down, but for the last few nights they have been acting up again. I think it might be because my mind is starting to race again with thoughts of hitting the Pacific Ocean. Last nights dream was one that I want to go back to. Now I have never ridden a motorcycle before but this dream gave me the most vivid experience of ripping a triumph thruxton through the mountains I had climbed the day before. The feeling of having such a vivid dream is a strange one. You can feel you body lean into the corners, you can feel your fingers wrapped around the clutch.
When my alarm went off I raced to get ready and out the door. I went to fill my pot with 3cm’s or water to cook my oatmeal. When I turned the tap on it came out slowly, but no worries I got my water and was set. While the water was boiling I went to take my morning poo. When I went to flush nothing happened. Great no water. It’s no problem for me but I feel sorry for the maid… if there is one for this seedy motel.
Now because I had no water, and no water in my water bottles so I was forced to buy water for the first time of the trip. When I went to the gas station I found out from a drunk man (at 6am) that the water main broke and the entire town had no water. I took that as my cue to get the heck out of dodge.
Now I was made aware by a local that I was going to encounter one small climb before I hit the plains to make my way to my first big city in New Mexico. Well that small hill turned out to be 2 extended 7-mile climbs. Luckily I was feeling good and had no wind, which meant good things for my moral. After 35 miles I hit the flats. It was amazing I had a tailwind and never once got below 30km/h. I watched the miles tick by. I passed the white sands missile range at roughly the speed of a missile. I would have to say the speed was caused by the smell of radiation in the morning.
Now I had planned to stop at this homestead to pick up some water but this town of 50 people only had one shop and oddly enough it sold rocks. Now in the land of rocks and sand a rock shop seems an odd thing to have.
I hit Socorro (120km down the road) by 11am. I was over the moon, but needed some food and water to top up the tanks. I was lucky because I ran into the first grocery store I have seen in New Mexico so it was a good time to top up the stocks. I missed one crucial thing… water. I was making my way out of town and the last building in eyesight was the goodwill centre. I walked in the doors expecting a receptionist of some sort; instead I was greeted by a group of women in wheelchairs. It was an old folks home. Now I wanted to ask permission to get some water but no one was around to ask so I just had to stroll in and use the resident’s washroom. The washroom was something else fully decked out with rails, lifts and everything else you could imagine. When I left I almost felt bad to walk out the doors on two legs. It gave me one of those profound moments. I felt lucky to have my health and to have lasted 100 days of hard riding on the road.
When I left the adult community I had a gradual climb ahead for roughly the next 20km. That would not be a problem if I did not have a 15-mile an hour wind in my face the entire time. That 20km took 2 hours of hard pedaling.
Luckily I made it to Magdalene in one piece. But tomorrow is going to be rough. I have 140mile gap with 2 small homesteads in between that apparently have nothing. So I have to go into the day knowing that I am going to run out of water, and know that I am going to get stranded in the middle of nowhere. If all goes well I will be staying in Springerville Arizona tomorrow.
I must say the best thing about touring is the people you meet. Today I got the privilege to meet mike the owner of the motel here in Magdalena. When I walk in I have a sensor overload. I am not sure to be in aww of this mans awesome beard or start a conversation about the campy hat he had on. Mike is one of the most welcoming men I have met on this trip. We saw that I was bagged and immediately offered me a cool glass of ice tea, then proceeded to ask if I needed anything else. This is really the last thing I expected from a local motel because usually the people are just happy to take your money and could care less about the adventure.
Trip Distance: 142km
Ride Time: 6:35hr
Avg. Speed: 21.67km/h
Total Distance: 15050km
Total Ride Time: 697hr
Destination: Magdalena, New Mexico
I achieved a major goal today 15000km in 100 days.
When my alarm went off I raced to get ready and out the door. I went to fill my pot with 3cm’s or water to cook my oatmeal. When I turned the tap on it came out slowly, but no worries I got my water and was set. While the water was boiling I went to take my morning poo. When I went to flush nothing happened. Great no water. It’s no problem for me but I feel sorry for the maid… if there is one for this seedy motel.
Now because I had no water, and no water in my water bottles so I was forced to buy water for the first time of the trip. When I went to the gas station I found out from a drunk man (at 6am) that the water main broke and the entire town had no water. I took that as my cue to get the heck out of dodge.
Now I was made aware by a local that I was going to encounter one small climb before I hit the plains to make my way to my first big city in New Mexico. Well that small hill turned out to be 2 extended 7-mile climbs. Luckily I was feeling good and had no wind, which meant good things for my moral. After 35 miles I hit the flats. It was amazing I had a tailwind and never once got below 30km/h. I watched the miles tick by. I passed the white sands missile range at roughly the speed of a missile. I would have to say the speed was caused by the smell of radiation in the morning.
Now I had planned to stop at this homestead to pick up some water but this town of 50 people only had one shop and oddly enough it sold rocks. Now in the land of rocks and sand a rock shop seems an odd thing to have.
I hit Socorro (120km down the road) by 11am. I was over the moon, but needed some food and water to top up the tanks. I was lucky because I ran into the first grocery store I have seen in New Mexico so it was a good time to top up the stocks. I missed one crucial thing… water. I was making my way out of town and the last building in eyesight was the goodwill centre. I walked in the doors expecting a receptionist of some sort; instead I was greeted by a group of women in wheelchairs. It was an old folks home. Now I wanted to ask permission to get some water but no one was around to ask so I just had to stroll in and use the resident’s washroom. The washroom was something else fully decked out with rails, lifts and everything else you could imagine. When I left I almost felt bad to walk out the doors on two legs. It gave me one of those profound moments. I felt lucky to have my health and to have lasted 100 days of hard riding on the road.
When I left the adult community I had a gradual climb ahead for roughly the next 20km. That would not be a problem if I did not have a 15-mile an hour wind in my face the entire time. That 20km took 2 hours of hard pedaling.
Luckily I made it to Magdalene in one piece. But tomorrow is going to be rough. I have 140mile gap with 2 small homesteads in between that apparently have nothing. So I have to go into the day knowing that I am going to run out of water, and know that I am going to get stranded in the middle of nowhere. If all goes well I will be staying in Springerville Arizona tomorrow.
I must say the best thing about touring is the people you meet. Today I got the privilege to meet mike the owner of the motel here in Magdalena. When I walk in I have a sensor overload. I am not sure to be in aww of this mans awesome beard or start a conversation about the campy hat he had on. Mike is one of the most welcoming men I have met on this trip. We saw that I was bagged and immediately offered me a cool glass of ice tea, then proceeded to ask if I needed anything else. This is really the last thing I expected from a local motel because usually the people are just happy to take your money and could care less about the adventure.
Trip Distance: 142km
Ride Time: 6:35hr
Avg. Speed: 21.67km/h
Total Distance: 15050km
Total Ride Time: 697hr
Destination: Magdalena, New Mexico
I achieved a major goal today 15000km in 100 days.
Saturday, October 2, 2010
Tour Day 99 Look Maaa No Flats Oct 2 2010
I am going to be honest I woke up this morning and was expecting things to go bad. I mean they have been for the past couple weeks. Every mile has been a struggle, and every mile as made me more and more upset. To those people who say that they wish they were me during these couple weeks I do not think you would want to.
When I started riding I was looking for excuses to get upset, and I got them. Within seconds my rear fender starting acting up. It started with a high pitch whining noise, then that developed into a full-fledged rub. I stopped and yanked on it a few times which helped for 10 miles then the rubbing started again. Now this is all happening while im getting pumbled with hills getting out of Roswell. Thinking on my toes I pulled out the tape again and put together a sling to keep the fender ridged. I have to say it was my best jimmy job to date.
After getting my fender sort of fixed I was rolling with a little less resistance. On my map the day’s ride seemed simple. The first 47 miles was flat’ish then I got into the dotted bit of my map that was set to be 40 miles. That sounded good in theory but in practice that was not the case. The first 47 miles were hilly as heck, and the last 40 miles were rolling.
I was still a little rattled by the fender thing when I stopped for a snack. I don’t know what happened but all of a sudden a switched turned on and my misery was whipped away. I think it must have been the scenery because once you are in the mountains it is magnificent, that behind said pretty much any mountain range is beautiful.
The kilometres ticked by faster then I thought, and I watched my average speed pick up. My mood was improving. I forgot that I actually don’t mind hills. They give you short-term goals that are going to be achieved. Even better usually the winds die down when you are climbing.
I was summating a hill on this side road that had no traffic and I see this figure coming up the other side. Another cyclist. I panic and start yelling at this other guy and even drop the odd curse word just to spice things up. We both stopped in the middle of the road and have a nice short conversation. This solidified the mood change. I was at that point enjoying the day’s ride. I even had a smile for the first time in a while.
Lunch came at exactly 12 noon. I had 20 miles left in the day and was ready for a quick gas station sandwich. The fact that I managed to pace myself properly for a town that actually had something in it was amazing.
Now the last 20 miles I anticipated to take an hour and a half if I was lucky. After climbing for a little bit and getting my legs warmed up I hit an extended downhill. I watched 40km/h pass, then hit 60km/h for the first time in a long time. This downhill did not stop. For close to 30 minutes I did not drop below 40km/h. I watched the mile markers count down. I saw the town and kicked up the speed. I was crushing grasshoppers like it was my job taking no prisoners. As a side note the grasshoppers here are pretty big. One was so large that when it jumped into my leg it left a bright red mark.
When I hit the town I was elated and let out a large yell of joy. I needed this. I needed a day without a flat. Now don’t get me wrong the day had its faults but it was the first day that I can remember that I had more positives then negatives.
Tomorrow has me a little nervous though because it have a 65 mile gap, and I hit a flat section about halfway through which is going to mean I will get beat up by the wind from the mountains.
Trip Distance: 147km
Ride Time: 6:58hr
Avg. Speed: 21.12km/h
Total Distance: 14907km
Total Ride Time: 690hr
Destination: Carrizozo, New Mexico
P.S. The weather is a little messed here went from 90 degree heat to thunder showers in the space of 5 minutes. As well today is interesting because 40 miles away from here is the trinity site (the site of the first atomic bomb explosion). Today is one of only two days a year they open it to the public. Now I would not recommend going because the area has 10 times the radioactivity.
When I started riding I was looking for excuses to get upset, and I got them. Within seconds my rear fender starting acting up. It started with a high pitch whining noise, then that developed into a full-fledged rub. I stopped and yanked on it a few times which helped for 10 miles then the rubbing started again. Now this is all happening while im getting pumbled with hills getting out of Roswell. Thinking on my toes I pulled out the tape again and put together a sling to keep the fender ridged. I have to say it was my best jimmy job to date.
After getting my fender sort of fixed I was rolling with a little less resistance. On my map the day’s ride seemed simple. The first 47 miles was flat’ish then I got into the dotted bit of my map that was set to be 40 miles. That sounded good in theory but in practice that was not the case. The first 47 miles were hilly as heck, and the last 40 miles were rolling.
I was still a little rattled by the fender thing when I stopped for a snack. I don’t know what happened but all of a sudden a switched turned on and my misery was whipped away. I think it must have been the scenery because once you are in the mountains it is magnificent, that behind said pretty much any mountain range is beautiful.
The kilometres ticked by faster then I thought, and I watched my average speed pick up. My mood was improving. I forgot that I actually don’t mind hills. They give you short-term goals that are going to be achieved. Even better usually the winds die down when you are climbing.
I was summating a hill on this side road that had no traffic and I see this figure coming up the other side. Another cyclist. I panic and start yelling at this other guy and even drop the odd curse word just to spice things up. We both stopped in the middle of the road and have a nice short conversation. This solidified the mood change. I was at that point enjoying the day’s ride. I even had a smile for the first time in a while.
Lunch came at exactly 12 noon. I had 20 miles left in the day and was ready for a quick gas station sandwich. The fact that I managed to pace myself properly for a town that actually had something in it was amazing.
Now the last 20 miles I anticipated to take an hour and a half if I was lucky. After climbing for a little bit and getting my legs warmed up I hit an extended downhill. I watched 40km/h pass, then hit 60km/h for the first time in a long time. This downhill did not stop. For close to 30 minutes I did not drop below 40km/h. I watched the mile markers count down. I saw the town and kicked up the speed. I was crushing grasshoppers like it was my job taking no prisoners. As a side note the grasshoppers here are pretty big. One was so large that when it jumped into my leg it left a bright red mark.
When I hit the town I was elated and let out a large yell of joy. I needed this. I needed a day without a flat. Now don’t get me wrong the day had its faults but it was the first day that I can remember that I had more positives then negatives.
Tomorrow has me a little nervous though because it have a 65 mile gap, and I hit a flat section about halfway through which is going to mean I will get beat up by the wind from the mountains.
Trip Distance: 147km
Ride Time: 6:58hr
Avg. Speed: 21.12km/h
Total Distance: 14907km
Total Ride Time: 690hr
Destination: Carrizozo, New Mexico
P.S. The weather is a little messed here went from 90 degree heat to thunder showers in the space of 5 minutes. As well today is interesting because 40 miles away from here is the trinity site (the site of the first atomic bomb explosion). Today is one of only two days a year they open it to the public. Now I would not recommend going because the area has 10 times the radioactivity.
Friday, October 1, 2010
Tour Day 98 Puching My Luck To New Limits Oct 1 2010
My first day without a flat, and an all around solid day left me with a good feeling in my stomach last night. As much as Texas and west Texas has been a pain in the butt it has been worth it. The winds of change are blowing and I hope they are in my direction.
When I got on the road today I was smiling for a change. I was actually happy to be out riding. The road was not chip seal and there was no wind to speak of. Really I had no complaints. For the first time in a long time my legs felt above 70% and my eyes were not tempted to shut until about halfway through the ride which is odd.
Things kept getting better because the wind was behind me. I had to stop because I thought I was loosing my mind. This was the first tailwind I have had since Mississippi about 1000 miles away. The miles were ticking by and I paced my rest stop with easy so I pushed back where I was going to snack to the next town.
When I got to said town I decided to take a few back roads because a stranger gave me a tip it would be faster. I took the tips and was spat out on the road I wanted to be on, but I got on the road past all the shops so I could not top up water or food. I had a tailwind though nothing could stop me I was simply going to push it off to the homestead 15 miles away.
Well you guessed it no water or food in this place. Oddly though it had a school. This school was new and fairly big but was surrounded by nothing. Within eyesight there was not a building. This did not bode well for me because I was out of water and the next town which was supposed to be my rest stop for the day (now my lunch stop) was 20 miles away.
I had a tailwind nothing could stop me I was making it to my lunch stop no questions asked. I made it in good time because I kicked up my pace and was stoked when I completed 132km before noon. Now in Brownfield I was on the hunt for food. This was a more difficult then anticipated challenge because the only place around was in an unmarked building. They offered a special of catfish or fried chicken. I figured that if they could not afford letters for the exterior of the building they probably could not afford good catfish, so chicken was the choice.
After a quick bite I was on the road and now traveling west. This meant one thing a wicked crosswind. My sleep point was 20 miles away and it was slow going. Then it happened. My front tire, which is one day old started to act up. 1 flat, checked the running surface nothing. 2nd flat, again nothing upon detailed inspection and checking of the rim. 3rd flat, threw my bike on the ground and used my last tube. When that went flat I was stranded again. Texas was not letting me leave without getting one last kick at the can. Luckily my eyes didn’t start to act up because this all happened in the middle of cotton fields.
Within 15 mins a nice man by the of Charles Rhodes who is a law enforcement officer for the u.s.d.a. stopped. I asked to get taken to the next town and he gladly obliged and we were off down the road. We get to the town and it is a ghost town. 90% of the building were boarded up and abandoned. He asked if I wanted to go to the next town and I said “sure”. The next town was more of the same. This meant that my rest stop for the day was going to be in Roswell, which is actually good because it meant that I could get a few new tubes.
It was very pleasant getting to know Charles. I find it amazing how open people are to strangers. I find it amazing that someone you have known for 2 minutes you feel comfortable telling you life story to. It is actually an honour to hear these stories because it takes your mind off of whatever is bothering you.
That distraction cant last forever. I was brought back to reality when I had to spend another 30 mins checkin my tire and still nothing. Feeling confident I am not going tog et a flat for at least another 70 miles I looked at my map. This is when my frustration turned to depression. Looking at the map the next rides are just going to be ruthless. I have a 100 mile mountain range tomorrow, then 200 miles of flat, then another 200 mile mountain range that has a solid 100 mile gap with nothing. I thought Texas was going to be the hump state but the whole rest of the trip is going to be brutal. 1000 miles to go till I hit the ocean.
Roswell is a mess; all of New Mexico has been this way. There is 0 reason to ever come here for any reason whatsoever. It’s hot, bad looking, and has vast spaces of nothing.
Trip Distance: 151km
Ride Time: 6:38hr
Avg. Speed: 22:75km/h
Total Distance: 14760km
Total Ride Time: 683hr
Destination: Roswell, New Mexico
This has to be one of the lowest points of the trip I am struggling.
When I got on the road today I was smiling for a change. I was actually happy to be out riding. The road was not chip seal and there was no wind to speak of. Really I had no complaints. For the first time in a long time my legs felt above 70% and my eyes were not tempted to shut until about halfway through the ride which is odd.
Things kept getting better because the wind was behind me. I had to stop because I thought I was loosing my mind. This was the first tailwind I have had since Mississippi about 1000 miles away. The miles were ticking by and I paced my rest stop with easy so I pushed back where I was going to snack to the next town.
When I got to said town I decided to take a few back roads because a stranger gave me a tip it would be faster. I took the tips and was spat out on the road I wanted to be on, but I got on the road past all the shops so I could not top up water or food. I had a tailwind though nothing could stop me I was simply going to push it off to the homestead 15 miles away.
Well you guessed it no water or food in this place. Oddly though it had a school. This school was new and fairly big but was surrounded by nothing. Within eyesight there was not a building. This did not bode well for me because I was out of water and the next town which was supposed to be my rest stop for the day (now my lunch stop) was 20 miles away.
I had a tailwind nothing could stop me I was making it to my lunch stop no questions asked. I made it in good time because I kicked up my pace and was stoked when I completed 132km before noon. Now in Brownfield I was on the hunt for food. This was a more difficult then anticipated challenge because the only place around was in an unmarked building. They offered a special of catfish or fried chicken. I figured that if they could not afford letters for the exterior of the building they probably could not afford good catfish, so chicken was the choice.
After a quick bite I was on the road and now traveling west. This meant one thing a wicked crosswind. My sleep point was 20 miles away and it was slow going. Then it happened. My front tire, which is one day old started to act up. 1 flat, checked the running surface nothing. 2nd flat, again nothing upon detailed inspection and checking of the rim. 3rd flat, threw my bike on the ground and used my last tube. When that went flat I was stranded again. Texas was not letting me leave without getting one last kick at the can. Luckily my eyes didn’t start to act up because this all happened in the middle of cotton fields.
Within 15 mins a nice man by the of Charles Rhodes who is a law enforcement officer for the u.s.d.a. stopped. I asked to get taken to the next town and he gladly obliged and we were off down the road. We get to the town and it is a ghost town. 90% of the building were boarded up and abandoned. He asked if I wanted to go to the next town and I said “sure”. The next town was more of the same. This meant that my rest stop for the day was going to be in Roswell, which is actually good because it meant that I could get a few new tubes.
It was very pleasant getting to know Charles. I find it amazing how open people are to strangers. I find it amazing that someone you have known for 2 minutes you feel comfortable telling you life story to. It is actually an honour to hear these stories because it takes your mind off of whatever is bothering you.
That distraction cant last forever. I was brought back to reality when I had to spend another 30 mins checkin my tire and still nothing. Feeling confident I am not going tog et a flat for at least another 70 miles I looked at my map. This is when my frustration turned to depression. Looking at the map the next rides are just going to be ruthless. I have a 100 mile mountain range tomorrow, then 200 miles of flat, then another 200 mile mountain range that has a solid 100 mile gap with nothing. I thought Texas was going to be the hump state but the whole rest of the trip is going to be brutal. 1000 miles to go till I hit the ocean.
Roswell is a mess; all of New Mexico has been this way. There is 0 reason to ever come here for any reason whatsoever. It’s hot, bad looking, and has vast spaces of nothing.
Trip Distance: 151km
Ride Time: 6:38hr
Avg. Speed: 22:75km/h
Total Distance: 14760km
Total Ride Time: 683hr
Destination: Roswell, New Mexico
This has to be one of the lowest points of the trip I am struggling.
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Tour Day 97 Oil, Wind, and Cinnamon. Its All Power Sept 30 2010
Last night before stopping I noticed my butt was starting to hurt. Thinking nothing of it I just went about things normally. Then I sat on the saddle today and it hurt even more… great another butt zit like in Newfoundland. They are just the worst I guess it’s from having a constantly sweaty butt, all I know is they blow rocks. And the fact you have to pop them is even worse.
Wow I managed to talk about butts, and zits within the first paragraph really no segway into that one sorry about that.
Today’s ride was tough from the get go. Mentally I have been having a tough time getting pumped up for the rides the past few days because I know they are going to be tough on a new level. When you only have one small town (if your lucky) and you know your going to spend 8 hours riding alone its hard. Adding to that you know that more then 70% of you day is going to be spent riding on chip seal pavement. Chip seal if you haven’t ridden on it is just the worst. It not only shakes the pee out of you, but it adds extra resistance so the ride even if you have a good wind feels like you have a head wind.
Now a favourable wind here is next to impossible to impossible to come by when your traveling west, and today was no exception. Luckily I was heading north as well so I was paralleling the wind, which was a nice change.
Things were going smooth and I have confidence back in my bike. The previous days I kept stopping to check tire pressure whenever I felt something weird but now I feel like I am set to roll for a while at least.
The road levels out today which makes long distance riding a lot more difficult because as much as hills are a pain to ride they give you short-term goals. When it’s flat your goals very quickly become long-distance goals.
About 40 miles into the ride after toping up with a truck stop sandwich and a cinnamon bun I saw something on the horizon. I could not figure it out at first but within minutes I saw that it was a wind turbine. Then I turned the corner and saw 100’s of wind turbines lined up. It was really a mesmerizing thing to watch because the whole structure is just designed so elegantly. Depending on the angle you look the machine looks as if it is functioning differently. Like the stars in the morning I just had to take a break in the middle of nowhere and watch for a minute.
The short break also had another purpose because I was broken. I was at the glasscock county line and wanted to give up. The days just are not getting easier and my body is aching. I know it will be with it, and I know my body will adapt but it is unspeakably hard when you are in the middle of nowhere. To put it in prospective 2 days ago in a 90-minute span 10 vehicles passed me. Even if you want to give up there is no one around to care so you just have to keep trucking.
After my short break I was back rolling and was hauling. I kept pacing myself to the next section of wind farm and before I knew it I saw a water tower on the horizon, which meant my rest stop, was literally in sight. But not before riding through an oil field. This was the strangest and the most unpleasant part of the day. It was the strangest because on one side of the road I had a wind farm, and on the other rested these industrial oilrigs. It was just a strange thing to think about. It was the most unpleasant part of the day because of the smell. It was a smell I have never experienced before but it almost instantly gave me a pounding headache. When I say I travel at the speed of smell I am not joking.
Trip Distance: 146km
Ride Time: 6:56hr
Avg. Speed: 21.16km/h
Total Distance: 14608km
Total Ride Time: 676hr
Destination: Big Spring, Texas
Wow I managed to talk about butts, and zits within the first paragraph really no segway into that one sorry about that.
Today’s ride was tough from the get go. Mentally I have been having a tough time getting pumped up for the rides the past few days because I know they are going to be tough on a new level. When you only have one small town (if your lucky) and you know your going to spend 8 hours riding alone its hard. Adding to that you know that more then 70% of you day is going to be spent riding on chip seal pavement. Chip seal if you haven’t ridden on it is just the worst. It not only shakes the pee out of you, but it adds extra resistance so the ride even if you have a good wind feels like you have a head wind.
Now a favourable wind here is next to impossible to impossible to come by when your traveling west, and today was no exception. Luckily I was heading north as well so I was paralleling the wind, which was a nice change.
Things were going smooth and I have confidence back in my bike. The previous days I kept stopping to check tire pressure whenever I felt something weird but now I feel like I am set to roll for a while at least.
The road levels out today which makes long distance riding a lot more difficult because as much as hills are a pain to ride they give you short-term goals. When it’s flat your goals very quickly become long-distance goals.
About 40 miles into the ride after toping up with a truck stop sandwich and a cinnamon bun I saw something on the horizon. I could not figure it out at first but within minutes I saw that it was a wind turbine. Then I turned the corner and saw 100’s of wind turbines lined up. It was really a mesmerizing thing to watch because the whole structure is just designed so elegantly. Depending on the angle you look the machine looks as if it is functioning differently. Like the stars in the morning I just had to take a break in the middle of nowhere and watch for a minute.
The short break also had another purpose because I was broken. I was at the glasscock county line and wanted to give up. The days just are not getting easier and my body is aching. I know it will be with it, and I know my body will adapt but it is unspeakably hard when you are in the middle of nowhere. To put it in prospective 2 days ago in a 90-minute span 10 vehicles passed me. Even if you want to give up there is no one around to care so you just have to keep trucking.
After my short break I was back rolling and was hauling. I kept pacing myself to the next section of wind farm and before I knew it I saw a water tower on the horizon, which meant my rest stop, was literally in sight. But not before riding through an oil field. This was the strangest and the most unpleasant part of the day. It was the strangest because on one side of the road I had a wind farm, and on the other rested these industrial oilrigs. It was just a strange thing to think about. It was the most unpleasant part of the day because of the smell. It was a smell I have never experienced before but it almost instantly gave me a pounding headache. When I say I travel at the speed of smell I am not joking.
Trip Distance: 146km
Ride Time: 6:56hr
Avg. Speed: 21.16km/h
Total Distance: 14608km
Total Ride Time: 676hr
Destination: Big Spring, Texas
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Tour Day 96 Luck Is Getting More Flats Sept 29 2010
Ice cream never tasted so good last night. Buying said ice cream was funny. As I went to grab the jar I over hear this guy say, “you have to drink your vitamins”. So I hear this and look over; I then see in his hand a V8. Seeing that I put two and two together, then this guy grabbed a case of beer. I laughed and he said “I know im contradicting myself with the beer”. I did not respond to the statement because I didn’t want to antagonize this guy that was roughly 2.76 times as big as me.
With a bursting stomach of dairy (after drinking 2 litres of milk as well) I went to sleep. When I woke up I felt refreshed. I have made a conscious choice to eat healthier then I have been because I have found myself drinking more and more crap. Even in the two days that I have implemented the changes I can feel the difference. Now granted I burn everything off anyways so I still do treat myself at snack time.
Ready to ride this morning I started tarring up the rolling hills. I thought my legs would feel slow from being beaten up in the hills yesterday for the first time in a while but my body surprised me yet again. Now don’t get me wrong I was still slow because the bike is heavy as heck, but I can notice the 16-pound difference particularly in the back end where 14 of the pounds came from. It also meant that I could get the weight lower so the bike handles better. Really things were going smooth.
I was 40 miles into the ride and planned to stop for water in a little homestead town. Things looked promising because I saw 3 businesses like buildings. Well two of them were boarded up so I went to the door of the one that was in business still. On the door was a note “due to lack of business we will only be open from 3pm till 6pm”. Great im screwed again. Thankfully I anticipated my luck and conserved my water properly. But that business really bothered me. If I have a struggling business I am going to do whatever I can to make it money. Promote it more, be open more, and get more people in. It does not make sense to close the doors for such long periods of time.
I got to my first town at mile 65 and had my snack. I knew that the next stop was going to be my rest stop 47 miles away so I topped up on water and took a muffin for the road. I knew I could make it to San Angelo with no lunch because I was ahead of my timeline for the day.
Well I did not make it that far. I had three tubes on me and thought I could limp my wounded front tire to the shop in San Angelo. I was wrong. The tire almost literally blew up. The thread just shattered and punctured every tube even after taping the tire to the gills.
I was really miffed because I want to just have a few days of solid riding. My body is feeling good it’s just everything else that’s going wrong. So I had to flag someone down and catch a life to the shop. In the car I masked my frustration and told stories of the road for the 30-mile journey into San Angelo. That’s right 3 flats in 10 miles, just brutal.
Over the Gps navigator in the car I heard the name of the bike shop and burst out laughing. The shops name was Concho bikes. The reason I laugh at this is because of a story my friend Corey who toured in Japan told me. In Japan they play this game called concho. In this game they sneak up behind someone, put their hands in a gun shape, yell concho, and then poke them up the bum. This is no joke you can youtube it. I told the guy at the shop the story and he said “no you don’t understand we aren’t perverts, concho are pearls here”. Again I just left the conversation at that and went on my way with my new tire rolling smooth.
This is when I realized I had another bike issue. I have a stripped bolt in my front rack. Even better it’s stripped while it’s halfway loose so it makes this awful clunk when you go over a bump.
Another great day of touring. The next 5 are going to be pretty similar because the way the roads are laid out they are spaced in 40 mile gaps so its either do 80miles or 120miles and destroy myself in the hills. With my luck im going to choose the 80 mile days for a while.
Trip Distance: 122km
Ride Time: 5:53hr
Avg. Speed: 20.86km/h
Total Distance: 14461km
Total Ride Time: 669hr
Destination: San Angelo, Texas
With a bursting stomach of dairy (after drinking 2 litres of milk as well) I went to sleep. When I woke up I felt refreshed. I have made a conscious choice to eat healthier then I have been because I have found myself drinking more and more crap. Even in the two days that I have implemented the changes I can feel the difference. Now granted I burn everything off anyways so I still do treat myself at snack time.
Ready to ride this morning I started tarring up the rolling hills. I thought my legs would feel slow from being beaten up in the hills yesterday for the first time in a while but my body surprised me yet again. Now don’t get me wrong I was still slow because the bike is heavy as heck, but I can notice the 16-pound difference particularly in the back end where 14 of the pounds came from. It also meant that I could get the weight lower so the bike handles better. Really things were going smooth.
I was 40 miles into the ride and planned to stop for water in a little homestead town. Things looked promising because I saw 3 businesses like buildings. Well two of them were boarded up so I went to the door of the one that was in business still. On the door was a note “due to lack of business we will only be open from 3pm till 6pm”. Great im screwed again. Thankfully I anticipated my luck and conserved my water properly. But that business really bothered me. If I have a struggling business I am going to do whatever I can to make it money. Promote it more, be open more, and get more people in. It does not make sense to close the doors for such long periods of time.
I got to my first town at mile 65 and had my snack. I knew that the next stop was going to be my rest stop 47 miles away so I topped up on water and took a muffin for the road. I knew I could make it to San Angelo with no lunch because I was ahead of my timeline for the day.
Well I did not make it that far. I had three tubes on me and thought I could limp my wounded front tire to the shop in San Angelo. I was wrong. The tire almost literally blew up. The thread just shattered and punctured every tube even after taping the tire to the gills.
I was really miffed because I want to just have a few days of solid riding. My body is feeling good it’s just everything else that’s going wrong. So I had to flag someone down and catch a life to the shop. In the car I masked my frustration and told stories of the road for the 30-mile journey into San Angelo. That’s right 3 flats in 10 miles, just brutal.
Over the Gps navigator in the car I heard the name of the bike shop and burst out laughing. The shops name was Concho bikes. The reason I laugh at this is because of a story my friend Corey who toured in Japan told me. In Japan they play this game called concho. In this game they sneak up behind someone, put their hands in a gun shape, yell concho, and then poke them up the bum. This is no joke you can youtube it. I told the guy at the shop the story and he said “no you don’t understand we aren’t perverts, concho are pearls here”. Again I just left the conversation at that and went on my way with my new tire rolling smooth.
This is when I realized I had another bike issue. I have a stripped bolt in my front rack. Even better it’s stripped while it’s halfway loose so it makes this awful clunk when you go over a bump.
Another great day of touring. The next 5 are going to be pretty similar because the way the roads are laid out they are spaced in 40 mile gaps so its either do 80miles or 120miles and destroy myself in the hills. With my luck im going to choose the 80 mile days for a while.
Trip Distance: 122km
Ride Time: 5:53hr
Avg. Speed: 20.86km/h
Total Distance: 14461km
Total Ride Time: 669hr
Destination: San Angelo, Texas
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