Internet and phone service is available again! Here is the second journal that I have written for the group journal page. Full blog posts are still hard to do, so don't forget to check out my twitter page for mini-posts that are posted whenever I have phone service.
The morning started out once again at 4:30am as we woke up in the town of Page, AZ. This was our last host site before three full days of camping, and it seemed as though we were moving just a little bit slower that morning in order to savor having a roof over our heads. As part of the breakfast crew chore group for that week (yea, Flock of Seagulls!), I helped prepare the 60(!) eggs that St. David’s Episcopal Church had provided for us to go along with all the delicious dinner leftovers that we would be having with our standard breakfast foods of cereal and oatmeal.
After breakfast and the host had been cleaned up, I headed out for the day with Rebecca Bainbridge. The elevation began at 4300 feet, and we began our slow climb towards the first mountain of the day, which peaked at 5800 feet. Along the way, we met up with Laurel, Ashley, and Emily B. Halfway to the mountain, we saw the van approaching behind us. As it passed, Nate honked at us as the van driver usually does, but then to our surprise, Kerri poked her head out the passenger side door. “Ice cream!” she yelled, while waving two ice cream bars out the window. As the van pulled over, I felt like a little kid chasing an ice cream truck, except we were adult bicyclists screaming after a 16-person van with trailer. We had a lot of ice cream bars left over from dinner, and they were very well served as a mid-morning snack. Adam was so excited with his sundae cone that he powered up the next hill holding it triumphantly in the air like an Olympic torch.
Ice cream break over, we started to slowly, slowly, slowly climb the mountain. There was a brief pause as we reached the top where the road seems to disappear over the edge, and then we crested it and let gravity take over. All of sudden, the valley was visible beneath us, and it was breath-taking as it seemed to stretch out endlessly into the distance. We zipped down that road and almost flew to first lunch, descending at over 30mph. Unfortunately for me, my cheap little bike computer has difficulties reading speeds over 26-30mph, at which point it gives up and reads “0mph”, so I never know quite what my max speed is, only that it is more than 30mph.
After lunch, we rode along Marble Canyon and the Vermilion Cliffs, enjoying the sights but also being fully aware of the fact that the road could be as much as 30 miles shorter had it cut straight through the canyon instead of the taking the scenic route alongside it. We certainly didn’t mind it that much since it was a scenic route, but it did remind us of the sort of things people take for granted in a car: taking winding roads with ease, motoring up hills, and being unfazed by intense wind.
The above is also a fairly accurate summary of that afternoon: blistering headwinds and crosswinds, no shoulder, and a very long, slow climb out of the valley. Becca and I averaged about 5 miles per hour for a long time and got super excited whenever we would briefly reach 7 or 8 miles per hour. When we finally climbed over another hill and saw the trailer about two miles away, it felt like it was both really close and really far at the same time, since we could see it, but it still took almost half an hour to get there. Stopping for second lunch was a welcome and much needed break.
As we were about the leave, Becca discovered that she had a flat, so Konrad and Max stayed with us as we changed the flat while Ashley, Laurel, and Emily went on. Just as they started to leave, the wind picked up even more, and we watched as a dust storm began to gather in the distance. Konrad tied a handkerchief around his face, and we all turned away from the wind as the sand hit the backs of our legs at ridiculous speeds. Even just standing there, the sand stung as it hit us, and we hoped that the riders who were riding through it would be okay. “Eventful day” would be an understatement.
Dust storm passed, tire changed, we set out to climb one last mountain before we reached our campsite at Jacob Lake. This mountain lasted for several miles, but by then, the wind had died down, so it was actually easier to climb the steeper hills than it was plowing through the headwind earlier. When we reached camp, we did what was most important first, which was getting milkshakes at the Jacob Lake Inn, of course! While there, some people saw our trailer and asked what we were doing. Upon hearing that we had come all the way from Florida and raised about $150,000 for affordable housing, they gave us a $100 donation! Thank you again to the Walkers and the Koons!
After milkshakes, it was time to eat dinner and go to bed. Showers were $2.50, so a number of people did not shower, since we would be smelly the next day anyway. Plus, it’s Bike and Build; we’re smelly all the time anyway, hehe.
Showing posts with label headwind. Show all posts
Showing posts with label headwind. Show all posts
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Sunday, July 12, 2009
Wichita Falls, TX to Altus, OK
This is the journal that I was assigned to write for the group journal page.
It was another early morning for the Bike and Build crew as we woke up at 4:30am in the Wichita Falls YMCA. Breakfast was the usual simple Bike and Build meal: cereal, bananas, oranges, and coffee. You’d think it’d be easy enough to make it through the morning uneventfully, but some people (or maybe just this person, heh) tried to refill the industrial sized coffee maker and instead managed to get coffee everywhere because she couldn’t figure out how to stop the water from pouring through the filter even though the coffee maker was off. Hm . . .
As people started heading out that morning towards our next new state (Oklahoma), I discovered one of the more unpleasant things of a typical Bike and Build day: the dreaded flat tire in the morning. With the wear and tear of each day’s biking, it usually happens at least once a week to somebody on the trip, but each time, it never fails to be a surprise. Becca Bainbridge waited for me to change my tire, and we finally headed out as the last people before sweep, who are the two riders that are assigned to ride in the back for the day.
Along the way, we turned onto a new road that we would to be riding on for nine miles and promptly encountered a bright orange sign that said, “ROAD WORK: NEXT 8 MILES.” As we bumped along, we exchanged stories to pass the time and distract ourselves from the “mildly uncomfortable” butt massagers that our bikes had become. When the road work ended, we started riding a lot faster since the road was nicer, but we had only gone a few miles before Becca yelled, “Stop! Camels!” As confused as I was, I stopped anyway and saw Becca pointing at the small herd of camels that were grazing on the other side of the road. We took some pictures, and I chalked the road with “Camels! <=,” so that the riders behind us would see the chalk and the camels. (They did indeed stop and ended up crossing the street and seeing the camels up close. Some of the camels even walked up to the fence so that the riders could pet them.)
Usually chalk is used to indicate which direction to turn on a confusing street or whether we should turn off for lunch, but sometimes it can really be used for anything, like when we chalked that there were camels. Riding along, we saw lots of random, fun things like “=),” “I wish I were on a boat right now,” and my favorite, “STOP: Hammer time.”
After lunch, we encountered some serious, 15-20 mile headwind that did not let up for basically the whole 50 miles we were on that road. We usually try to take breaks every 15 miles or so on a normal ride day, but that day, we stopped after 2 miles to go to the bathroom and then 8 miles after that because we were exerting so much energy. As we approached the only shade we had seen for the past ten miles (a barn by someone’s house), we could see a convertible in the driveway with two curiously unmoving people sitting on the back of it. As we got closer, we realized that it was two mannequins dressed in bikinis sitting on top of this classic style convertible just hanging out on the front lawn. It was certainly . . . unique. We weren’t the only ones to think that either. While we sat in the shade of the barn, we watched as a random SUV stopped in front of the house. A woman came running out of it to pose in front of the convertible while her husband took a picture. She then ran back into the car, and it just drove off, perhaps not even seeing the tired bikers huddling in the shade nearby. We took some of our own pictures before leaving, hoping that the owners didn’t mind too much that we enjoyed their little oasis of shade in the endless road of powerful headwind.
Becca and I toiled on for many more miles before we finally turned onto a new road away from the wind so that it became a tailwind. We zipped along the smooth flat road, thoroughly enjoying the fact that we could actually coast downhill without coming to an abrupt stop because of the wind working against us. We crossed the border into Oklahoma (and took pictures with the state sign) and made it to the host with a few minutes to spare. It was a long, hot day, but it was definitely a boost each time we saw something unexpected on the road, be it silly chalk or bikini-clad mannequins on someone’s front lawn. The things you see on the road in a day of Bike and Build . . .
It was another early morning for the Bike and Build crew as we woke up at 4:30am in the Wichita Falls YMCA. Breakfast was the usual simple Bike and Build meal: cereal, bananas, oranges, and coffee. You’d think it’d be easy enough to make it through the morning uneventfully, but some people (or maybe just this person, heh) tried to refill the industrial sized coffee maker and instead managed to get coffee everywhere because she couldn’t figure out how to stop the water from pouring through the filter even though the coffee maker was off. Hm . . .
As people started heading out that morning towards our next new state (Oklahoma), I discovered one of the more unpleasant things of a typical Bike and Build day: the dreaded flat tire in the morning. With the wear and tear of each day’s biking, it usually happens at least once a week to somebody on the trip, but each time, it never fails to be a surprise. Becca Bainbridge waited for me to change my tire, and we finally headed out as the last people before sweep, who are the two riders that are assigned to ride in the back for the day.
Along the way, we turned onto a new road that we would to be riding on for nine miles and promptly encountered a bright orange sign that said, “ROAD WORK: NEXT 8 MILES.” As we bumped along, we exchanged stories to pass the time and distract ourselves from the “mildly uncomfortable” butt massagers that our bikes had become. When the road work ended, we started riding a lot faster since the road was nicer, but we had only gone a few miles before Becca yelled, “Stop! Camels!” As confused as I was, I stopped anyway and saw Becca pointing at the small herd of camels that were grazing on the other side of the road. We took some pictures, and I chalked the road with “Camels! <=,” so that the riders behind us would see the chalk and the camels. (They did indeed stop and ended up crossing the street and seeing the camels up close. Some of the camels even walked up to the fence so that the riders could pet them.)
Usually chalk is used to indicate which direction to turn on a confusing street or whether we should turn off for lunch, but sometimes it can really be used for anything, like when we chalked that there were camels. Riding along, we saw lots of random, fun things like “=),” “I wish I were on a boat right now,” and my favorite, “STOP: Hammer time.”
After lunch, we encountered some serious, 15-20 mile headwind that did not let up for basically the whole 50 miles we were on that road. We usually try to take breaks every 15 miles or so on a normal ride day, but that day, we stopped after 2 miles to go to the bathroom and then 8 miles after that because we were exerting so much energy. As we approached the only shade we had seen for the past ten miles (a barn by someone’s house), we could see a convertible in the driveway with two curiously unmoving people sitting on the back of it. As we got closer, we realized that it was two mannequins dressed in bikinis sitting on top of this classic style convertible just hanging out on the front lawn. It was certainly . . . unique. We weren’t the only ones to think that either. While we sat in the shade of the barn, we watched as a random SUV stopped in front of the house. A woman came running out of it to pose in front of the convertible while her husband took a picture. She then ran back into the car, and it just drove off, perhaps not even seeing the tired bikers huddling in the shade nearby. We took some of our own pictures before leaving, hoping that the owners didn’t mind too much that we enjoyed their little oasis of shade in the endless road of powerful headwind.
Becca and I toiled on for many more miles before we finally turned onto a new road away from the wind so that it became a tailwind. We zipped along the smooth flat road, thoroughly enjoying the fact that we could actually coast downhill without coming to an abrupt stop because of the wind working against us. We crossed the border into Oklahoma (and took pictures with the state sign) and made it to the host with a few minutes to spare. It was a long, hot day, but it was definitely a boost each time we saw something unexpected on the road, be it silly chalk or bikini-clad mannequins on someone’s front lawn. The things you see on the road in a day of Bike and Build . . .
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