148 Hills
Saturday June 8, 2019. Chillicothe, MO to Kirksville, MO. 75 miles
Ascent/Descent= Approx. 4,500 feet/4,300 feet. Cumulative= 2,015 miles
I sat with Rick Wardell, Pharmacist and CrossRoads Cycling Adventures Master Bike Mechanic, at breakfast this morning. Rick is a remarkable fellow and the nicest guy you would ever want to meet, and he has been on this tour annually for almost 25 years, riding his bike cross country many times. He was not going to be able to ride today, but he called this his favorite day of the tour. He has counted the number of hills between Chillicothe and Kirksville multiple times, initially coming up with slightly different totals, but then counted 148 hills on 4 consecutive years, and this is now the official total.
Needless to say Rick likes climbing hills and especially these particular hills. He explained his criteria for what counts as a hill and what doesn't, and his strategy for handling this type of hill, which are again referred to as rollers, although many are something considerably greater. My strategy for these hills is pretty similar to Rick's, I'm just not as strong a biker as he is. He describes hammering downhill leading into the next ascent, when the terrain allows, and then riding the momemetum to the top of next hill.
This worked for me on occasion, but frequently I didn't make it to the top and had to grind it out, sometimes for a considerable distance. This is pretty much how the day went yesterday's as well, particularly after our parade. This is fun at time, but exhausting over the course of a day or two.
Anyway, it was a beautiful day with cloudless blue sky, perfect except for a slight headwind all day.
The big excitement today was that a small bridge was out on our route, and so the road was officially closed for a few miles on either side. There was in fact a gap of several feet, but we were able to MacGyver our way around this obstruction with the help of a 10 foot ladder that Tom Akins of CrossRoads was able to borrow from a neighboring cyclist. As the bikers climbed the ladder, our bikes were handed up to the far side of the bridge by our young fireman/ bike mechanic, Peyton. The road closure gave us a few miles of no traffic, so it was a nice little diversion, all part of the Adventure.
Eventually we all made it to our hotel, and had a very nice dinner at a local steak house. This was Barry's final day on the tour. He is a retired Family Practicioner who along with Howard the retired colo-rectal surgeon, has been tending to all of the saddle sores that have been plaguing several of the riders. As someone observed, Howard and Barry have literally saved their asses.
My legs have remarkably not been that sore on the tour, but after 2 days and 160 miles of "poppers", they are tonight, so I'm stretching and then off to bed.
Ascent/Descent= Approx. 4,500 feet/4,300 feet. Cumulative= 2,015 miles
I sat with Rick Wardell, Pharmacist and CrossRoads Cycling Adventures Master Bike Mechanic, at breakfast this morning. Rick is a remarkable fellow and the nicest guy you would ever want to meet, and he has been on this tour annually for almost 25 years, riding his bike cross country many times. He was not going to be able to ride today, but he called this his favorite day of the tour. He has counted the number of hills between Chillicothe and Kirksville multiple times, initially coming up with slightly different totals, but then counted 148 hills on 4 consecutive years, and this is now the official total.
Needless to say Rick likes climbing hills and especially these particular hills. He explained his criteria for what counts as a hill and what doesn't, and his strategy for handling this type of hill, which are again referred to as rollers, although many are something considerably greater. My strategy for these hills is pretty similar to Rick's, I'm just not as strong a biker as he is. He describes hammering downhill leading into the next ascent, when the terrain allows, and then riding the momemetum to the top of next hill.
This worked for me on occasion, but frequently I didn't make it to the top and had to grind it out, sometimes for a considerable distance. This is pretty much how the day went yesterday's as well, particularly after our parade. This is fun at time, but exhausting over the course of a day or two.
Anyway, it was a beautiful day with cloudless blue sky, perfect except for a slight headwind all day.
The big excitement today was that a small bridge was out on our route, and so the road was officially closed for a few miles on either side. There was in fact a gap of several feet, but we were able to MacGyver our way around this obstruction with the help of a 10 foot ladder that Tom Akins of CrossRoads was able to borrow from a neighboring cyclist. As the bikers climbed the ladder, our bikes were handed up to the far side of the bridge by our young fireman/ bike mechanic, Peyton. The road closure gave us a few miles of no traffic, so it was a nice little diversion, all part of the Adventure.
Eventually we all made it to our hotel, and had a very nice dinner at a local steak house. This was Barry's final day on the tour. He is a retired Family Practicioner who along with Howard the retired colo-rectal surgeon, has been tending to all of the saddle sores that have been plaguing several of the riders. As someone observed, Howard and Barry have literally saved their asses.
My legs have remarkably not been that sore on the tour, but after 2 days and 160 miles of "poppers", they are tonight, so I'm stretching and then off to bed.
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