Day 20: Friday, May 6 - Brinkley, AR to Senatobia, MS, only did 73 of the route's 112 miles for the day, route called for 1665' up, 1612' down

My goal today was to complete the entire route. I started out sluggish, however, and fell behind the others further than was good. Then, after the lunch SAG at 70.9, I took a telephone call from the reporter for the Ann Arbor News, and had to stop riding to finish the call. It took longer than expected, and that really put me behind.

\

Pam came along and picked me up. She appropriately chastised me for allowing the gap between me at the end of the front of the group as it made it difficult for the crew to appropriately support everyone. With the heat and the need to keep everyone with water, she was right. Nonetheless, I was glad I took the call, as a major part of my motivation for doing this ride is to inspire others to recover from setbacks and move on with their lives, and that is hard to do if others don't know about my story. So, I gracefully accepted her message but was happy I made the choice.

Since I was now about 20 miles away from the front of the pack, Pam drove me mile after mile forward. When we reached the 3rd SAG, she asked me if I wanted to ride more. Well, doing a century was no longer possible, and looking at the route profile, I saw a LOT of climbing ahead, so opted just to ride the van to the motel.

With seven days of riding left after today, and having long past let go the idea that I would ride the entire way across the country, I was now just thinking about how I can maximize the rest of the trip in terms of improving my conditioning. Completely exhausting myself each day would neither make it enjoyable nor do much for my conditioning, so making this a light training day sounded good. Pretty good rationalization, huh? :)

To tell the truth, I am beginning to look forward to finishing this adventure. Talking with a few others, they too are ready for us to be done, as their tired bodies rebel as the guys push ahead with the full routes day after day. But, I have 7 more training days ahead of me to take advantage of. :)

Life is full of choices, and the results we have in our lives are primarily determined by the choices we make, not luck or lack thereof. And sometimes, our choices involve tradeoffs, good and bad.

While Judy was giving me the bump up, she asked me, "Why did you choose to ride this ride?" Well, I responded, "The number of days fit my schedule, when I committed to do this last May, I had 10 months to train, I read that a 76 year old had done it a few years before, so I should be able to do it, and it sounded like a great challenge. Easy goals are not motivating and I thought I could do it, being an optimist."

I recalled listening to a audio tape years ago which reported the results of an extensive survey which found that high achievers liked to accept challenges with the odds slightly against them, if they think their personal efforts can allow them to succeed anyway. High achievers do not like "sure things" or "slam dunks". Well, in many of my past efforts, that formula had worked for me, so accepting this challenge appeared to make sense. I haven't done as well as I expected, but I don't regard this effort as a failure at all, as I have described before.

“Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.” 

― Viktor E. Frankl, Man's Search for Meaning 

(a Holocaust surviver)

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

Day 19: Thursday, May 5 - Conway, AR to Brinkley, AR 104 miles for the day, 1879' up, 2006' down

Today was a relatively easy day, although not as easy a 102 mile day today as expected with the wind as much a hindrance as a help. Nonetheless, another century down.We had little climbing and mild temperatures.

Corn field

Rice field

I got a little early start on the others to help keep us closer together for the crew to support and ended up not needing to be bumped ahead at all, and didn't feel the need for one either. I felt good to the first SAG and pushed it a bit. Then I pretty much dogged it the rest of the route, just getting it done. I can feel the improvement in conditioning since the beginning of the trip. Feels good!

What? Me ahead of them?

Ah, they were just catching up with me from an early start.

Tomorrow we cross the Mississippi River and get into Mississippi and will officially be in the South. 112 miles are on the agenda tomorrow on what appears to be an easy route with favorable winds.

Bonus photo.

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

Day 18: Wednesday, May 4 - Ft. Smith, AR to Conway, AR 124 miles for the day, 3560' up, 3679' down

For photos of the 2nd leg of the trip, go to http://www.bamacyclist.com/BAMA/Section_2.html


The wind is my friend (well, at least it was today). We had mostly tailwinds throughout the day, making the 122 mile route pretty easy. I rode 124 so perhaps an over achiever? (Nah, just missed a turn again today and got a couple of bonus miles).

We followed Hwy. 22 east out of Fort Smith, Arkansas, then 7N and finally Hwy 64 into Conway. The shoulder was generally good, so made for good traveling, especially with the tail wind. I started out with my riding tights, windbreaker and balaclava and each came off at different times throughout the day as temperatures rose in the wonderful sunlight with clear blue skies.

The ride was rather unremarkable, as we got to the first SAG at mile 38. lunch SAG at 73 and the 3rd SAG at 103 without incident and without much strain. We had no dog encounters and I had no mechanical difficulties.The hills were all gradual. The miles just flowed by.

Why does the armadillo cross the road? Darn if I know why they even try, as based on the number of carcasses we see on the roads, the survival rate of armadillos crossing the road must be minuscule. Here, they are also known as "possum on the half shell". They have been rated "delicious" by all of the turkey vultures that I have interrupted dining.

We have a series of days ahead with not much over 100 miles per day, so I am hoping to be able to complete the full routes most of the days, with the likely exception of the 138 mile day with a fair amount of climbing. Although this is not a competition, and I pretty much ride alone and at my pace, I still don't want to feel like a slacker among the group. In part, everyone is supportive because they see I am out there doing what I can. If it appears that I am just sloughing off, their attitudes could very well change.

It looks like we will have another easy day tomorrow with it being a short day (only 102 miles), little climbing, favorable winds, and temperatures starting about 54 and rising to 70 - Day 19: Thursday, May 5 - Conway, AR to Brinkley, AR 102 miles for the day, 1,900' of climbing.

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

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!

Next page

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

Day 15: Sunday, May 1 - Chickasha, OK to McAlester, OK 144 miles for the day, 5389' up, 5789' down

We started out with another cool morning.We were soon greeted by roller after roller, one after another after another, up and down, up and down. 

I came upon a set of four good size rollers stretched out over about a mile, with the crest of each higher than the one before. 

This was NOT an easy route today, and the wind was pretty much a cross wind all day, not much help, but not a hindrance either. 

I arrived at the first SAG stop (support and gear) at mile 36.7 where I refilled my water bottles and ate a banana and some Fig Newtons, then back in the saddle. My goal for the day was to ride 100 of the 144 miles planned, and to do that, I needed to avoid falling too far behind and being bumped when I did not want to be bumped ahead. My plan was to ride near each SAG stop before being bumped to that SAG. I accomplished this by riding to the 60.3 mile spot, where I saw the mechanic's van parked, so I got in to ride to the lunch SAG at mile 76.3.

Lunch on the road

From there, I rode another 28 miles, then got bumped up to the 3rd SAG at mile 110.7. Then I rode again, looking to get at least another 12 miles, but after I had done that, I didn't see the van again until I had ridden 17 miles, bringing my day's total to 105 miles. After that 3rd SAG, I wondered whether I should ride all the way to the finish, which would have put my day's total at 118, but decided that it would be better to call it a day at 105, and stay relatively fresh for tomorrow. 

Ouch!

The other guys finished the 144 miles, and finished tired. It was a pretty tough day for them with all of the up and down, and no help from the wind, but made easier than it would otherwise have been by the unplanned day off and a pretty easy day yesterday.

We don't have RAP (when we get our instructions and cue sheets for the day's ride) until 8:00 a.m. tomorrow morning. There I plan to thank the other riders for being so supportive of me on this trip. It would be so easy for them to diss me for not being in the same league as them, but I have received a lot of encouragement and "at a boys". 

This reminds me of a lady Kiwanian in Wenatchee, Washington who went to visit another club, where they were eulogizing a member who had just died. She gave a speech to our club entitled "Give them the flowers while they are still here", which basically encouraged us to give the recognition to those who serve well while they are still alive when they can appreciate the recognition. Well, the corollary now is for me to show my appreciation to the other riders while we still are together for 12 more days, rather than wait until the banquet the last day in Savannah, Georgia.

This also reminds me of a concept I learned in another training program in Washington, in which we were encouraged to be "positive wizards". The analogy was to the wizard in "The Wizard of Oz", where the wizard made the characters become brave, or other personal characteristic, simply by telling them they were that. 

We all have great power to affect others' self image by paying compliments to them, attributing positive characteristics to them when witnessing actions the show some sign of that characteristic. 

Case in point: when I was perhaps 7 or 8, I was sitting on a log while my oldest brother Al was cutting the log into stove lengths with a saw. Sitting on the log helped hold it still, making it easier to cut. My uncle came by and said, "You are quite a helper." That stuck with me, and I repeated that to myself many times, and I believe that is the basis for my customer service attitude at work and my wanting to be "of service" to others. Such "self talk" is a very powerful influence, and so, why not seed such positive thoughts in others, simply by giving sincere compliments when you see commendable behavior? What can you do to be a positive wizard, especially to young people who are still impressionable?

OK, enough philosophizing again. :) See, my mind does wander while pedaling mile after mile. :)

Oh, by the way, Eric successfully got his bike repaired yesterday, and rejoined us on our ride today. Unfortunately, he saw a big black snake on the road ahead of him, and while trying to avoid it, fell and hit his shoulder. Apparently, it is OK and while a bit sore, will not prevent him from continuing. Man, snakes and dogs! Who would have thought they would be the biggest hazards on this trip?

Tomorrow is planned to be a "short day" (105 miles) with an easier course with little climbing. The other guys will need it, and it looks like I should be able to complete the entire ride without being bumped up at all. Day 16: Monday, May 2 - McAlester, OK to Ft. Smith, AR 105 miles for the day, 1,900' of climbing. 

Next page

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