Opal Fleener: Sun don’t shine on the same dog’s ass everyday, but, mister you ain’t seen a ray of light since you got here. – Hoosiers

I guess today was a major turning point for me or at least I hope it was and we can say the sun shined on the same dog’s ass….

The ride today was almost 82 miles with 3000 feet of climbing most of it in the first half. It was mainly on dirt roads with a littler pavement. From the start, I felt good and thought that I would press the pace to lunch the half way point and then see how it went from there. I was in the group of leaders and for about 20 miles or so, I was out front. Then the class of the field showed its hand and I was passed by Pir, Wallace, Simo, Peter and Steve, I stayed close though and made it to lunch shortly after the first group.

Just before lunch, we had a tough climb and some of us walked parts of it. When I speed drops below 4 MPH, I often walk the hill. The terrain was not too tough though and I averaged almost 15mph for the first 30 miles but dipping when the climbing started. The day was clear but the horizon and mountains were obscured by the ever-present smoke haze that seems to follow us across the state.

After lunch, I left just before most of the other riders and quickly found a good rhythm on the Missouri-like rollers. Suddenly, I entered a canyon that seemed like a 20 miles descent. It was cool riding through mountains on both sides of me. The terrain dropped consistently through the canyon and I made very good time with speeds over 20 mph in many places.

Suddenly, I entered an area with a lot of road work. Heavy machinery and trucks were adding gravel and dirt to the road. I hit a loose patch of dirt and crashed again going at a good clip. No real harm done, but the palm of my hand is a little swollen and hurt while I cycled. The pain was tempered by the beauty of the canyon and we often rode along a small stream.

There were a couple of things about this last part of the canyon that was less than pleasant. The heavy trucks kept passing to and for and although they slowed for me, they were always accompanied by large clouds of choking dust and limited visibility. The other aspect was that the road became was boarded and the cycling was very bumpy. It happens per Forrest Gump.

Finally, I emerged on a paved road and was about 10 miles from Lima. I fought a tough headwind and made it to Lima. Unfortunately, I made a miscalculation and road an extra 8 miles and had to battle the headwind for 4 extra miles.

Leonardo from Italy told me that he was very impressed with my ride and was very nice, Wallace congratulated me on leading the pack through the first 20 miles. The miscalculation caused me to miss being first in camp but that is ok.

I really needed a good day like this and feel that my off-road ability has approved in the first 3 weeks even though it was not difficult terrain.

Tomorrow we ride to Idaho…

Thanks for Reading!

Tailwinds

Chuck – Riding for Backstoppers.org