Today Ed W and I rolled out together as Ed was not
working. We got a good start as we were
on the road by 6:45 and with the route being mostly downhill and with a slight
tail wind we were averaging close to 25 mph. However it was too good to last
and at the 18 mile mark Ed got a flat.
Ed tried to blame me as he hit a bit of trash I failed to point out
until I was right beside it. However it looked like a seam failure as the hole
was right on the gusset where the stem is jointed to the tube and the flat was
several miles later.
After the course went from downhill to somewhat rolling and
the slight tail wind shifted around and turned into a head wind. This dropped the rolling average quite
considerably and we took turns pulling into the wind.
Picnic came up at the 42 mile mark. It was at a very nice
rest area with a great view of the rolling hills and valley. Shuli’s tomato soup was a real winner and
after a couple of bowls of soup and a big sandwich we rolled on.
I was feeling pretty strong and was pulling into the wind which
had picked up considerably. Ed and I
caught and passed several riders. Finally I caught Ron and Graeme on a hill and
as they are really good in a pace line Ed and I formed up with them. The four of us were able to average close to
16 mph into the wind which was far better than we could do on our own. The four of us cruised from about the 48 mile
mark all the way to 69 mile mark were we turned off the main highway and went
down a back road.
We could see huge thunder clouds and big rain storms in the
hills to south and west. The wind was
now very strong and by the time we got into town the wind was whipping so hard
I could hardly steer my bike. I was
forced to make a left turn and thought I was going to be blown over. As we had only a couple of miles to go we
made it into camp with that vicious wind storm which precedes a thunder storm.
I had a heck of a struggle putting up my tent in the
wind. It took a lot of peg pounding and
resetting but I did get it up. The storm
seems to have blown over but the wind is still howling.
Ed and I had a good day covering the 81.8 miles in excellent
time. The route had a total climb of only 1360 feet but a net down of 1825 feet.
Terry
Great day of riding. Sounds lime you got your rhythm just knocking out the 80 milers every day. Nice going.
ReplyDeleteNice to catch up on your blog Terry as I'm back in NZ after a great holiday and business trip. It's bringing back all sorts of memories from 4 years ago. Despite the wind, weather, punctures and rotten roads, you still manage to have fun and it's the people and the places that make it so. Like boating, any day upright on the bike is a good day!
ReplyDeleteThe GSR (good shower ratio) is a bit of a pain, but it's got to be hugely better than that on Orient Express!
Enjoy 4 July and say Hi to Greg, ED, Matt, Shuli, Ken, Tom & Aussie Bob for me!
Keep the rubber side down and rolling - happy and safe riding!
I think it's great that there are a lot of "old riding buddies" also virtually riding along with you - Jim, Earnie, Canada Ken etc. to name but a few...(and not to forget Sag Driver Extraordinaire Agnes) .... that's the magic of your fabulous blogs!
Thanks for sharing all the great pictures and descriptions of your adventures!
Jos
You are a beast!
ReplyDeleteIt just keeps getting better!
ReplyDelete