Pedalling up the off ramp

Day 56, Stage 37 - Weatherford to Oklahoma City
66 miles in 4hrs 35mins (incl. half a foot of Sub and muffin stop)
Total Distance - 3,168 miles
I'm tired.

Some 560 miles in six days has left me even more in need of a rest that this little feline I passed on the way to dinner this evening.

Mentally it was definitely a much tougher day than the stats suggest as I had an ongoing battle to stop myself from switching off early, thinking this 900 miles along and on the interstate was at an end. It was, finally, after a fast 45 miles as I took the exit ramp off the I40, almost four weeks since I first passed the start of it way back in Barstow, California.

Meanwhile, I'm sure the humble armadillo must be becoming an endangered species in these parts as there were even more of the poor critters squashed on the road today leading to a disturbing aroma of death to linger in the hot and humid air. It's an unpleasant enough smell at the best of times but when your gasping for breath pushing the pedals round...yeah, you can imagine.

I've managed to track down the bike shop where my broken machine should have been but, alas it's still in the FedEx depot here in Oklahoma City, due to get delivered on Monday which means two days rest here - which I was planning. However, it's two days out in the northern suburbs - which I wasn't planning.

Still, I'm sure I'll find some place where I can sit in the sun.

Oklahoma!

Day 55, Stage 36 - Shamrock to Weatherford
101 miles in 7hrs 5mins (incl. two short snack stops)
Total Distance - 3,102 miles
(Damn mail just crashed when I was about to send this so apologies for the short blog today).

It was another day of flat roads under blue skies with the temperature just the right side of too hot.

I was 170 miles from Oklahoma city when I set off from Shamrock early this morning and I was thinking that, if the wind turned my way, then I might just be able to get there in one long stint.

The first two hours to my morning pizza at Sayre, after 36 miles, went well bringing me into Oklahoma, the ninth state of the trip. Here I stumbled across the sculpture in the pic. Apparently it represents 'the spirit of the wild west'. And who says the Americans can't do art?! The next stop was the 'official' Route 66 museum at Elk City (as opposed to the dozen-or-so unofficial ones I've seen along the road). Here I bought what, I've just realised, is my first trinket of the trip; a Route 66 wristband - it's all about the weight.

As I left Elk City I realised the wind had turned, but had turned the wrong way as it was a NE'erly and I was heading east. Ok City was not going to happen so I continued a forgettable 40miles down the interstate to stop next to the legendary, but frankly disappointing, Lucille's diner (the 'mother of the mother road').

In the meantime, armadillo has come from nowhere to top the unofficial roadkill tally that I've been mentally keeping. The list is something like; 1) armadillo, 2) cat, 3) skunk, 4) snake, 5) coyote, 6) tortoise, 7) deer, 8) squirrel, 9) dog . Well, I did say things have been a bit boring as of late!

Forecast looking good for tomorrow's short 65 mile stint into OC where my broken Cannondale should be waiting for me in one if the local bike shops to see if it can be warrantied. Here's hoping.

Plain Sailing

Day 54, Stage 35 - Amarillo to Shamrock
91 miles in 6hrs 10mins (incl. two muffin, Nesquik & Doritos stops)
Total Distance - 3,001 miles (I think, network stuffed again so can't check yesterday's total)
It's flat round here. Very, very flat.

It turned out that yesterday's six hour sprint had left me more tired this morning than I thought I'd be (though it might also have had something to do with that extra stein of the local brew).

Conditions were perfect (25C, clear skies and only a light northerly wind) as I set out at 10.30 with no real idea where I was going to finish tonight. It was just going to be one of those days of spinning the pedals, seeing how I felt and how far I got.

There really was absolutely nothing of note for pretty much the whole day on a practically straight road. Just the occasional little windpump, numerous vast grain stores, and cows, cows and more cows. Not an unpleasant part of the world at all, especially given the weather, but not exactly inspiring either.

Today's stage also saw my altitude descent of recent days continue as I dropped a further 1,200ft to 2,300ft into the thicker air by the time I stopped in the town of Shamrock, 10 miles short of the Oklahoma state line. And the air's thicker in more ways than one as the humidity is notably creeping up. It's at a fairly pleasant level now compared to the harsh, desiccating high desert air but it's likely to be the next big challenge I'll face as I head off further into the deep south in a few days.

With little else of note today I thought I'd briefly touch on the campervan culture here. The size of some of these machines are really astonishing and I reckon nothing else I've seen symbolizes the stereotype of American over-consumption as these things. While I'm used to seeing them now, it took me at least a month before I stopped thinking they were tour buses coming along the road until I saw the boat/golf buggy, 4x4 being towed along on the back. What I still haven't got used to, though, are some of the names for these vehicles; Explorer - fine, Dolphin - a bit weird, but ok, and of course Winnebago. However, 'Cougar' is a little puzzling but not half as worrying as 'Prowler' or, worse still, 'Intruder'. Or is it just in my mind that those are disturbing?

Mr Kaye got it wrong

Day 53, Stage 34 - San Jon to Amarillo
102 miles in 6hrs 59mins (incl. pancakes at halfway house)
Total Distance - 2,910 miles
It wasn't til about 40 miles down the road today that it dawned on me that what had woken me at five this morning had been someone trying to get into my motel room. With no car parked outside the guy walking around the car park looking in the bins had, obviously, also been trying the room doors. Well, the noise had woken me only 5 mins before my alarm was due to go off as I got up in time to set off at 6.06am in the hope of reaching Amarillo, 95 miles down the road, before 1pm when the Man U vs Barca game was kicking off. It was a big ask but I was feeling confident (about the trip, not the game).

After three hours on the road, having crossed into Texas, I took the slip road off into Adrian in search of the numerically-significant mid-point cafe where today's pic was taken. The best pancakes of the trip (and possibly even best welcome) set me up well for the 50 miles into Amarillo. This stint was quicker than I thought it would be as, for the first time all trip, the wind forecast was wrong in my favour being NNW instead of the forecast NNE. While it sounds a trivial difference, as I was heading due east it was enough to add a significant few mph to my speed.

I hit the east of Amarillo after 82 miles at 11.50, in plenty of time to find a motel before the game started. And then the problems started - after 8 miles and 40 mins of cycling round the downtown city centre and I hadn't seen a single motel/hotel and only a handful of bars. Now I challenge anyone to show me a town where you can travel that far without finding suitable, or any, lodging. More like 'Show me the way IN Amarillo', Peter. I decided to head for the legendary Big Texan inn on the far side of town, home of the '72oz eat it all and get it for free' steak. I finally found it just after one and it was showing the football, though I now wish it hadn't been. I opted for the 21oz steak which was more than ample for me but I'm about to pop back in for dinner and watch the challengers take on the beast (there's a webcam of it as well which is actually more compulsive viewing than it sounds).

There's a reality tv film crew here at the restaurant filming a Route 66 roadtrip mockumentary. It's been amusing talking to the tv crew telling them that I'm cycling most of what they're filming.

One very good point raised on the menu here though - who the hell tried the first mountain oyster?

Meanwhile, I'm feeling good and the weather, wind and topography are all looking promising for tomorrow. I've got that calm excited feeling I had on the beach at Santa Monica again.

66, a highway speaks...

Day 52, Stage - Santa Rosa to San Jon
84 miles in 5hrs 35mins (no punctures and only a v. quick food stop)
Total Distance - 2,808 miles
With a cold front due in this afternoon bringing with it some likely significant storms there was no way I was letting sleep win the argument as the alarm went off at 6am this morning. Last night the folk on the Weather Channel had even been getting excited that their 'TorCon' readings were going to be climbing from their recent unusual lows. Now I had no idea what 'TorCon' was until I got here, but I know now, it's tornadic conditions, and given it's the height of tornado season and I'm just about to go into 'The Alley', it's something I really need to know. So at 7.30 I set off with only the faintest clouds on the horizon from where the front was coming in.

Despite expecting to spend most if the day on the interstate I was delighted to find that Route 66 was in a good enough state to ride along for well over half of today's 80 miles. While it's undoubtedly a driving road rather than a cycling one, I'm actually finding it an interesting and fairly emotive road to be on. So many of the places that are still open on it try, desperately to cling to the nostalgia of the 50's good times of motoring. However, the really striking thing to me is just how much utter desolation can be seen at so many of the small communities (even some of the bigger towns) along the way that the interstate now avoids. Lots of these places have just been wiped out, completely abandoned, leaving only silent, crumbling walls, such as the place in the pic. It's not hard to understand why, though, given that on one of the stretches of 66 I was on today I rode along for 15 miles without a single car passing me in either direction. I guess that, in a way, it also shows what's partly great about this country - people don't linger around waiting and hoping for things to get better, they get up, go somewhere else and try and make things better for themselves. A very admirable attitude.

As I trundled along the last two miles into San Jon (speaking of dying towns) it was only one o'clock and the temptation to continue on twenty miles or so further down the road was definitely there. The clouds were gathering but the storms were still some way behind me, though. A piece of dried grass blew up into the air just off to my left ...

...then it was suddenly joined by much bigger bits of vegetation and they started spinning, fast around me. I slammed on the brakes and jumped off the bike which was getting buffeted violently under me. For one brief moment I panicked as it dawned on me that I'd been closely watching every storm and cloud around me but not the one right above me. I very nervously looked up with a horrible feeling that I was about to see a grey finger of cloud coming out the sky pointing at me. Thankfully not, and I watched the rotating collection of plant life move on into a field. It had made my mind up for me - I was finding a motel there and then! And as I sit here listening to the wind, rain and thunder getting stronger, I'm delighted I did. However the storms are playing havoc with the tv reception so I've currently got the choice of some shopping channels, God Channels or The Cattle Channel. I didn't appreciate how much there was to know about our bovine friends.

Looking to tomorrow, another early start tomorrow in the hope of finishing in time to watch the Champions League final at 1 o'clock.

iPhone still stuffed at the moment so no signal or wifi working. Hence
the delaying in posting these.

Bridging the gap

Day 51, Stage 32 - Albuquerque to Santa Rosa
114 miles in 6hrs 35 mins (incl. guess, what? Yup, another foot of Subway and one slow puncture at the end of the day)
Total distance - 2,724 miles
Well, I'm back on track, in more ways than one.

Last night I was both nervous and excited ahead of this stage. Nervous principally because there appeared to be nothing on the route between Clines Corner at the 50 mile mark and Santa Rosa at over 110 miles. But there was excitement as well as the forecast was looking perfect - dry, 25C, and with a tailwind. The topography also looked good on my last day of big climbs before hitting the flat open expanses of Texas and Oklahoma with a 2,000ft climb in the early miles before a gradual, +2000ft descent over the last 60 miles.

Yet again, sleep won the argument with the alarm this morning so the day started two hours later than I'd planned. I set off in the sunshine, filled with muffins on the 2,000ft climb up to just over 7,000ft again, savouring the moment as I knew it would be the last time on the trip I would be up at these altitudes in the thin air. The route then took me quickly down into Motiarty where I turned onto what, on the map at least, looked like a near enough dead straight 75 mile stretch of interstate - a stint I hadn't been looking forward to. It turned out to be a lot more interesting than it looked, but still only one photo moment today (that's only 4 in 450 miles!)

Heading out along this straight, on the climb up to Clines, I saw my first bit of tumbleweed which skipped across the highway and came worryingly close to lodging in my back spokes. At Clines, yet another Subway was consumed. I've lost count of how many that is now.

Knowing it was all downhill from there and with the wind at my back I was trying to estimate how long I thought it would take me to cover the 58 miles into Santa Rosa. It was twenty past one so I thought, optimistically, just before five would be good going. Wrong again Fraser. The first hour took me 24.5 miles down the road, and I just kept pushing along. After an hour and a half I realised that a sub two-hour half century could be on the cards if I upped the pace. It was a struggle, especially when the back tyre started squirming on it's way down (very slowly) again. It would survive though, and the 50 miles clocked over at 1hr 57mins 24secs. Now admittedly that was with a 10 mph tailwind and a descent of 1,800ft, so not a 'true' half-century time but it was also on a fully-laden machine, so I'm taking it.

I arrived into Santa Rosa at 3.30pm and, after a near on two week 'detour' because of my broken bike, I've finally bridged the gap and rejoined my original route.

Speaking of bridges, and in the absence of anything worth snapping today, here's a pic from the Natural Bridges National Park I visited last week. It's big - those are fully grown trees underneath it.

Coasting along under your own steam

...and just briefly following on on the Lemond story yesterday, I
stumbled across this forum. Definitely one for cyclists with a
schoolboy sense of humour.
Me? it had me near ending myself.

http://www.bikeforums.net/archive/index.php/t-40291.html.

Rest day Subway

Day 50 - Rest day
Just discovered there's an even bigger option than the Footlong Subway
sandwiches.

Delighted.

If you pedal without rhythm, you won't attract the worm

Day 49, Stage 31 - Grants to Albuquerque
83 miles in 7hrs 45mins (incl. no food stops, 2 punctures and one unplanned cow-herding detour)
With it being the memorial day holiday weekend over here I thought it best I set off bright and early this morning in case the motels all filled up. So, at 6.30am my alarm went off, and then went off, until half an hour later when it went off again, then off. This cycle continued until 9.20am when I finally dragged myself out of bed still exhausted and really feeling the muscular effects from pushing into the headwind all yesterday. I finally set out onto Route 66 at 10.30 bathed in sunshine but with ominous clouds gathering around.

It was a real struggle to keep my eyes open in those early miles but after a few miles the road began to wind and roll and the scenery began to actually be worth looking at for the first time since leaving Flagstaff on Wednesday. In fact it was really quite interesting as the road went along a bed of a broken and twisted lava field.

Then, in the distance I could see the clouds begin to fall to earth. Little did I know it but the fun for the day had begun. Unlike the past three days when the road had frequently turned to send me straight into the path of storms today I could see that, judging by the wind and road direction, if I was fast enough I could avoid these ones. And I'm not talking about a sprint of a mile or two. This marvellous game continued driving me on for some thirty miles almost non-stop, during which time I had the fun dilemma of either stopping for breakfast or staying dry. I chose dry and was repeatedly spurred on by looking round to see the road I'd just come along be engulfed in sheets of grey.

Though one irritation during this chase came when I passed a 40 miles to Albuquerque sign, then 6 miles later I caught sight of a sign on the interstate boldly stating 'Albuquerque 40 miles'. Not particularly amused. Now six miles may be a fairly trivial distance in a car but on a bike that sort of difference matters.

Then the day all got a bit farcically comical as all of a sudden I realised that I was in serious danger of having an incident similar to Greg Lemond's infamous Tour de France moment. And I'm not talking about his 8 second victory over Laurent Fignon, it's probably his next most well known Tour moment. I won't elaborate here but suffice to say no-one wanted to ride behind him after it. Basically while last night's buffet had disappeared remarkably quickly it was now making a bid to reappear at an even quicker rate. The gps showed a reasonable sized settlement a couple of miles up the road and I figured I'd be able to make it that far. I did, but once there I found it was an Indian reservation that was not particularly keen on encouraging outsiders with a sign asking 'No Cameras. No tape recording. No filming', I think even something like 'Please do not speak to the residents unless necessary'. I respected every one of those requests but perhaps didn't quite respect the surrounding environment as I pedalled down a dead quiet road seeking a secluded spot. I found one, with about 8 seconds to spare.

I got back on the bike and with the appropriate pill out the first aid kit having been consumed and continued down the 'road' which then deteriorated into a near dust track lined with cattle who didn't seem to take too well to my presence running en masse down the road ahead of me for half a mile. Rather than continue down this track I figured trying to join the interstate would be the best option so I decided to head up the the next road the gps was showing. This one was even worse, just a rough dirt track (see pic). Still, it gave me a chance to test out how good a cyclocross bike the new machine is. Not too bad actually. Then, the surface deteriorated further into a strange, dry but sticky mud which collected on the tyres, spun round under the mudguards to jam the wheels. Pedalling through this was near impossible as I became, quite literally, stuck in the mud. After frequent stops to unclog things I eventually made the steep climb up the embankment onto the interstate, probably much to the bemusement of those passing. It was a great smooth road surface and I sped along until I realised why it was so good as the roadworks signs appeared and the two lanes plus an 8ft wide shoulder lane for me quickly became one lane and about a 16"-20" lane for me. The traffic, including the trucks persistently droned past at about 50 while I pedalled straight on furiously; mercifully grateful for the fact that the handling of the new bike is about as quick as to make the erosion of the pyramids seem like it's happening at pace so staying on that narrow strip of grey was a lot easier and less stressful than it sounds. Still, there was a definite sigh of relief when 'my lane' reappeared after some 6 miles.

With 30 miles to go I could see another large storm was breaking just behind me to my right - this one would be with me until the end of the day as I went through the a fantastic game of cat and mouse with it as the light rain would just catch me on the long climbs but I'd be able to speed on and punch through into dryness on the descents. I'd managed to build up a good lead ahead of the final long climb but then came my first puncture. A pretty manic quick tube change and I was off on a lactic-acid-burn-filled 'sprint' up the remainder of the climb and onto the long, downhill run into Albuquerque. My lead was down to almost nothing but I felt confident in victory, until puncture two came along. Another rapid change was just not quick enough as the rain began to fall meaningfully as I was putting the wheel back in the frame. To be honest, I didn't really mind, I felt that the storm had earned the right to rain on me. Then, what had been a wall of rain only minutes previously suddenly stopped after only a couple of miles. My rain gear could just as well have stayed in the bag, but I didn't care either way.

It was a fast descent into the city of Albuquerque and through the Downtown district where I planned to stay for the night. However, I saw little in the way of what looked civilised civilisation to me so I pressed on up the hill towards the university district which looks like it's a good place for tomorrow's rest day, particularly cause I found another microbrewery just nearby.

...and if you're wondering about the title - Dune - I am in the desert after all.

It's all downhill from here :)

Day 48, Stage 30 - Gallup to Grants
68 miles in 8hrs 45mins (incl. another Subway stop, one food stop where the pic was taken and NO PUNCTURES!!!)
Total distance - 2,521 miles
After yesterday's hellishly frustrating and boring day, surely today couldn't be any worse.

Well, to start with it did try. Having 'lost' an hour having crossed into New Mexico and with fixing the punctured tubes this morning it wasn't until shortly before 11am that I set out on the wet roads in full wet kit again. After yesterday's wind forecast having turned out to be a NNE headwind instead of the SSW forecast tailwind I was hoping that today's might be wrong as well and not be delivering the 5-10mph SE headwind that was forecast. It was wrong again, probably nearer 15mph but definitely SE'erly. I was very wet even after only 7 miles when I stopped for a morning Subway. Thankfully the rain eased up during that time but when I got back outside I realised I was cold. It was only 10C excluding the wind-chill. I thought this was meant to be the desert and am beginning to think I may have been a bit premature in sending home so much of my warm weather kit last week. The relentless headwind combined with a gradual 800ft climb on rough road surfaces made for a painfully slow 30 miles up to the continental divide - taking me nigh on 4 hours. Crossing this 'tipping point' gave me a real lift, which I was really in need of given the past few days. Then came the 'descent' which felt like anything but with the wind continuing to claw at me and the final 8 miles were a full out 12mph 'sprint' to get to the motel before the the downpour that was racing towards me reached it. I made it by only a couple of minutes, but my legs are paying for it now.

As for the scenery today, it was a touch better than yesterday but I think I've only taken about 3 or 4 pictures since I left Flagstaff on Wednesday and I now understand why the US Government chose Los Alamos for doing so much of it's nuclear testing. I also think that they, perhaps, should have used a bigger bomb.

Regarding the new bike, I did get your comment, Pete, asking about it. Well It's a Specialized Tricross Comp. I'll give a more detailed review once I've done a few more miles on it but my first impressions are - I really miss my Cannondale!

On a brighter note I was ecstatic to see a large 'Asian Buffet' sign next to the motel. $9.95 for eat all you can which was just what I needed. Now I may have looked fairly slim and healthy when I walked in but little did they know my capacity for the stealthy destruction of the buffet bar. I am The Ninja Buffet Eater!