Who would have thunk?

Very Appropriate for our group

I believe he died in a plane crash

Cyclists will like this – thanks Amelia!

Good evening all,

Once again thanks for reading my blog – I hope that you are enjoying it as much as I am enjoying the ride.

Seeing the country this way is special, you can see gradual changes, get to meet the local people and have time to contemplate a lot of things. The time does tend to fly by even when we are counting the miles and peddle strokes. We start out and the morning is cool and refreshing and end with the day being hot and humid. Today was a tough day. If you look at the Garmin readout, it was climb after climb and much of that was with a headwind. I wanted some of the other riders that Missouri had some tough hills, but seeing is often comprehending.

We left St. Joseph in the cool of the morning and started climbing right away. The thing about this part of Missouri is that there are vey few flat stretches – it is either up or down. Sometimes you can look at the horizon and see the road going up and down endlessly and it can be disheartening. The first SAg was at mile 32 or so and the fast riders had already caught  up with the slower group at the SAG or before. The SAG was in the little town of Maysville and many of the town folks cheered us on as we rode or came to the SAG (at a local store) to chat. You can’y beat small town America for hospitality.

As we rode out of the first SAg, the weather began to warm and the climbing seemed to get worse. I one point, a few of us actually missed turn and rode a couple of extra miles. I would later wish that i had those miles back. The second SAG was actually in someones yard on the route and their dog came over to greet the riders as they came in. We had pickles (these are great when riding), fresh fruit, energy bars and gels and other assorted goodies. We always refill our camel backs and water bottles with gatorade and water.

After the second SAG, the climbing actually got worse. We had about 25 miles to finish but some of the ascents were 15% grade. At one point as I was riding with Rich we came to the top of a huge hill and just saw endless hills in front of us as the road snaked over them. Rich let out a groan and I said, “It’s not as bad as it looks….. It is worse”. That got a laugh from him and we pushed on. Many of the riders have taken to calling Missouri, the state of Misery. I take some pride in the fact that my home state is providing a real challenge to this seasoned group.

As we came up to Chillicothe, Carol stopped us to tell us that the hotel had been changed and that was actually a blessing. The new hotel (a Comfort Inn) is awesome. Tracey had seen the rooms in the other hotel and didn’t think they would meet our standards so she changed it. I assume she had to eat some costs but I appreciate her focus on her clients.  CrossRoadCycling is a great outfit and I give them high marks if you are considering a cross country ride.

My little ride stopped at DQ right before checking in. It was Rich, John F and myself. Mike F had blazed the course and beat us in – Mike had been hurting and we were all glad to see him have an awesome ride today. Barry and Wendy made it past the point that Barry had “crashed and burned” in 2005 and had a little ceremony there. We had dinner at Applebees again and they seem to do a good job. I was told that Chillicothe is the place that first invented sliced bread. Quite an achievement fro a small town of 9000.

Tomorrow promises more of the same but apparently the hills are a little more rolling so that your momentum down one can take you one the next one. It is 75 miles but only 1 SAG at mile 50. Will have to stop for snacks at some point…

Tailwinds

Chuck