Hottest Century…Ever

 OK, that was just stupid hot.  When we finished, the heat index was over 100 and the heat was just cooking off the asphalt in waves. But we made really good time.

The good news was that we started early, at 6:45, and had a big chunk of the ride in before it got really nasty. John and I led out for the first 12 or 13 miles, and the ride into the first sag was pretty relaxed.  We all grabbed calories and liquid as fast as possible to get more miles done before it got unbearable .

About 10 miles outside of the second sag, the Georgia boys caught up to John and I. And foolishly, we grabbed their wheel as they accelerated to something like 22 miles an hour up rollers.  We made quick work of those 10 miles but it was a bit of a white knuckle.

And then, because every good thing must be punished, we had a punchy steep climb leading up to the second sag. I got up out of my saddle and my front tire felt funny. I looked down and realized I was slowly losing air.  So I leaned way back in the saddle to put all of my weight over my rear tire and peddled as hard as I could to try and get up that hill, despite having a steadily shrinking front tire.  Peddling on a flat is not easy. Peddling up a steep incline on a flat is really hard.  But I wasn’t going to stop to fix the stupid thing half a mile from the sag.

Thankfully, when I got there, Fred took over and fixed it for me with the capable help of his new assistant Marie. When she isn’t fixing flats for me, Marie is a high ranking Canadian diplomat.  For his part, Fred and I discovered that we have in common growing up in northeastern Colorado. He’s from Eaton Colorado, just a couple miles from my hometown of Greeley.   Basically nobody’s from Eaton. Except Fred and a high school baseball team that can’t seem to lose.  (Sorry to all my Windsor relatives…)

The second SAG had some spectacular views.  Not sure my iPhone did it justice  

Maybe it looks better with a bunch of goofy cyclists standing in front of it.

Front:  Barb, Jens, Marie, Tanny, Carol, Stuart, Judd
Back:  Steve, Jeff, me, Alex, Terry, Odie, Jodie, Bill, Jim, John, Olaf, John, Maggie

With a proper functioning set of tires John and I made quick work of the 20 miles to the third sag.  Some fun views of the Mohawk River. 

 By then it was getting very hot. So we started dumping water on our heads, on our backs, on our sleeves. But it evaporated so quickly it didn’t do much good. Thankfully, and really I should say THANKFULLY…most  of the last 25 miles took place along a fantastic bike trail, the Mohawk Hudson Trail. Not only was it car free and flat, it had a good canopy over most of it to keep us out of the sun.  If we had done that mileage out in full sunshine, I’m not sure how it would’ve gone.  You could feel the sun like a physical force hammering at you every time you emerged from underneath the shade.

As soon as I got to the hotel, having consumed 7 liters of water and electrolyte drinks during the day, I bought a gigantic bag of lays potato chips and put my feet up the wall.

You know you’ve missed them….

Today reinforced an important lesson. Expectations matter. I was expecting this to be one of the hardest rides of my life. And it wasn’t fun with all of the heat, but it was better than I expected. The lesson, kids, is set your expectations incredibly low. Assume everything is going to completely suck. And then be pleasantly surprised!

With that in mind, I fully expect the next two days, our last two serious rides on this tour, to be the most difficult thing ever attempted by any human being.

188 miles to go

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And now for your 2024 Ride across America most valuable gear countdown.

#3 Camelbak!

Long time readers will remember that the Camelbak was a two-time daily MVG. And it stepped up again today, getting refilled three times and staying reasonably cool while my bottles were cooking liquid to about 146°. I suspect it will be in the running for most valuable gear tomorrow and the next day.  I like the slim profile of this one.  You don’t want too much of your back unventilated.  And is Judd points out, the bigger the bag the more unnecessary crap you put into it. Apart from the extra liquid capacity, and ease of access when you’re on rough roads, or in a pace line, it has two pretty cool features. The little zipper pocket holds all of my consumables… Chapstick, sunscreen, chamois butter, flat changing tools, a miniature bike lock.  Just big enough, not too big. For much of the tour, I kept an extra innertube in the bungee cord on the outside. You may also remember that you can fit a medium size pizza box on that Camelbak.  People asked me why? Leftovers of course.