Day 16: Monday, May 2 - McAlester, OK to Ft. Smith, AR 106 miles for the day, 2543' up, 2820' down

Our suite view for two nights :)

That is my roommate from Winona, MN

Yesterday (Monday, May 2), we got a late start due to our having a short day (only 105 miles) ahead of us. For the first 70-80 miles, neither the wind nor hills were a factor, with the roads and/or shoulders fairly smooth. The route was along Highway 270, then between the Jack Fork Mountains to the south and the Sansbois Mountains to the north as we rode to Poteau, Oklahoma.  But even though we could see mountains all day, the terrain was really gentle where we were riding as we stayed pretty much in the valley all day. But, as nice as that may sound, the route was rather boring, with the view pretty much obscured by the trees which now are as abundant as they are in Minnesota. Nonetheless, it made for a route that the miles rolled by pretty quickly. Somewhere along the way, we entered Arkansas.

A quick rest stop for construction.

Some very strong riders: Tom, Chris and Brett.

The tailender.

My body was feeling pretty good, and my average speed was above previous days'. Our first SAG was at mile 30 and I almost missed it, thinking it was another 5 miles down the road. I had failed to set my Garmin properly at the start, and I had neither navigation or mileage to match up with my cue sheet. That town 5 miles back must have been pretty little, as I did not see it at all. 

Our lunch SAG stop at mile 72 was at the community center in Poteau and I was still feeling good. Then began a complex series of twists and turns on the cue sheet, and I missed a turn. The Garmin simply said "Off Course". Hmm, thankfully Google Maps on my phone showed I was only one block off course, so no problem.

The last 20-30 miles were not especially hard, but really not that much fun. There for awhile I thought I was back in Michigan, with the potholed roads. Then as we turned a bit north, we got some headwinds. In the last 10 miles we hit some hills, one especially steep, that required the granny gear and was long enough to make me happy when I reached the crest of the hill. Then we had 5 miles or more of city streets with quite heavy traffic. I still felt OK when I reached the motel, but it was a welcome sight.

Phil (my roommate) and I went for a walk after dinner at The Outback to look for a mall the motel staff said was just a little way north of us. Phil was looking for some long pants, as the weather had been cool enough all day that I kept my riding tights (yes, those sexy black ones) on all day, along with my windbreaker and skull cap. We never reached the mall, but unsuccessfully looked in a Burlington Coat Factory. Maybe he will not need the long pants, as we expect to be in warmer weather soon.

In the morning, Jeff (a doctor from Bloomington, MN who had just retired) rode by and asked me, "I can understand The United Methodists, but what's with the First Babtists? We see many of them, but they can't all be First, can they?"

That led to a discussion of how people have an apparent genetic disposition to want to feel superior to someone or something. It does not seem to matter what the context is. I recall when serving as President of ValAdCo raising swine breeding stock, we had a barn manager who supervised 10 others who had a supersized ego. Wow! He was a quite good barn manager, but big deal. And even in the ghettos, we have one ghetto gang thinking they are better than the other ghetto gangs. Earlier in the US, we had the Wops, the Spicks, etc,, each looked down upon by others as inferior. Even now, one religion thinks they are better than the others. As "evolved" as we as a species have become, this need to feel superior is retained as a part of our human condition.

Now, it is great to feel proud of one's own accomplishments, and to have school or community pride in what the school or community has achieved together, but, hey, to generalize that into thinking I am or we are better than others goes a bit too far. If someone or some school or some community (or even country or some religiion) feels they are better than others, the best way to demonstrate that is through good works, not just words.

What is nice about my riding partners is the lack of their feeling superior to me (or at least not showing it), despite their obvious greater ability to ride. My thanking them in the morning apparently was well received. One guy jokingly said, "Gosh, now I guess we have to be nice to him the rest of the way." Me, master of the quick comeback, about 30 miles down the road realized I should have responded, "That is the hope. There is a method to my madness." but, as usual, the opportunity was lost. :)

OK, off the soapbox for now.

Today, Day 17: Tuesday, May 3 - Ft. Smith, Arkansas is a rest day. We have 15 days of riding (minus one due to bad weather) behind us and 10 more to go without any more rest days before we reach our destination in Savannah, Georgia.We have laundry to do, some catch up on work back home, and basically rest for the days ahead. 
 
Tomorrow: Day 18: Wednesday, May 4 - Ft. Smith, AR to Conway, AR 122 miles for the day. We received our cue sheets last night, and while there will be some up an down, the size of the rises and falls should be very manageable. Hopefully I can build on the last three days riding more than 100 miles a day to be able to continue to ride centuries and complete the days' routes. 

Days ahead: At our RAP, our ride leader talked a lot about the dogs we would be encountering in the Alabama, especially, where we will be on rural roads with almost every house having a dog. He said if the dog was behind us, we should outrun it. But, if it was ahead of us, we need to slow down, stop if necessary, and keep the bike between us and the dog. He said most will be dogs just being dogs, but that we needed to protect ourselves against the 1%. Oh, joy! After those two close encounters I had earlier in the trip, I am not looking forward to Close Encounters with the Canine Kind.

Thanks for reading!

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For the ride leader's take on today with photos, go here.