Cottonwood to Gallup to Albequerque and a Rest Day!

Today is day our first rest day. I've got a massage scheduled for 10am about 2 miles from the hotel. Will probably ride the bike over there. Mike Munk says its very important to get on the bike a spin for maybe an hour today to keep the muscles limber.

I haven't blogged for past couple of days because they have been long days; 135+ miles each day. And we lost an hour when we crossed into New Mexico. What a bummer to loose an hour. The schedule is already really packed.

The tour team runs this tour like a tight ship with military precision. Not surprising since Mike Munk is a retired Air Force Colnel.

Cottonwood to Gallup was about 130 miles of riding on Interstate 40. After a while the sound of wind and traffic in your ears gets to be a bit overwhelming. But, the temperatures were very good. We ran across a dead carcas on the rode that several riders concluded must have been a mountain lion. There was some road construction for 3 miles on I-40 so we all had to be shuttled about 8 miles up the road to get around it. Here is a video of the load up. Jim, the tour mechanic, says that no one should worry about loosing those 8 miles because in the EFI rule book, shuttling around interstate road construction is ok. What is the EFI rule book you ask? It is for those who demand to ride "Every F---ing Inch" of the tour ;) I asked for a copy of the EFI rule book but haven't recieved my copy yet.

Don't Ignore Small Things!

When you are out in the hot sun, wind, elevation and dry air 10 hours a day, day after day, you learn that small things can become really, really big, ride-breaking problems very quickly! Anything that is going on you have to jump on immediately or you risk having to leave the tour. I had a sore on my bottom starting to develop because I was an idiot and wore some very old, very crappily padded riding shorts (which I've since thrown in the trash). I have been nursing that sore back to health since Day 2. I've had to adjust my riding position on the saddle a bit to help it along. I felt my lips drying at one point going to Blythe and kept forgetting to apply my lip screen at each stop. But, I corrected that before any sores started developing. Several other riders are having problems on their lips.

Deyhdration is of course a real big problem. Honestly, although its still a bit of a blur, I can't believe that day to Blythe in the hot sun (107 temps), high winds, horrendous road surface and 130 mile segment. I was lucky to hitch up with Tim and Barry on the last 20 miles of that segment because it really was not that pleasant. Several riders felt pretty bad at the end of that day and one was hospitalized for deyhdration though he is doing great now.

Sandy got me some really excellent clothing for protection from the sun. One is a sort of full face head and neck cover and it has been a godsend to have it. I used it in training Jan-Mar and got an extra one for the tour and it has been great at keeping sun of my head, face and neck.

A product a friend of ours gave me two days before leaving was also a godsend in the heat. It was sort of a do-rag with a spung built into it. I would soak it in freezing water in the ice chest and then put it over my head and under my helmet before leaving SAG stops and it would keep me cool for more than an hour.

SAG Vans

There are two vans. The main van, Silver, pulls the trailer with all the luggage and food for SAG stops. The other van, White, has all the mechanics equipment, extra food and water. Silver moves forward up the road while White moves back and forth. As vans pass a rider, riders are asked to give a hand signal to a) indicate the see the van and b) indicate if they are ok or need assistance. A flat wave to the side is the 'ok' sign. A slap on the helmet is the 'need assistance' sign. On hot days and long climbs, White moves ahead and waits at various places to refill water bottles or take extra clothing that riders don't need as the temps rise (or return extra clothing as the temps). Silver moves ahead to set up each SAG stop. A few riders (my roomate amoung them) are often strong enough to arrive at SAG stops before Silver gets there. So, they have to wait until Silver arrives so the can at least check in before continuing on.

At each stop, the routine is to remove your gloves, clean your hands with sanitary whipes and then purell and sign in. Then, you can sit and eat and drink as much as you like. At these higher elevations, I have found it very difficult for my body to warm up after sitting for a while. So, I am trying to keep my stops very short while we move through the high desert in AZ and NM.

Mechanicals

One rider had two spoke breaks in two days. He has got wheels with a very low spoke count, 24 I think. My roomate and I think that when the first spoke broke, it put so much stress on the remaining spokes that he will continue to experience breaks until all the spokes are replaced (e.g. the wheel is rebuilt). I have kinda heavy wheels with 36 spokes in rear and 32 in front.

I have not had a single flat yet. Jim Benson, the mechanic, promised me I would have a flat before I got to Winslow. He owes me a free repair now.  I am using Specialized Armadillo all-condition road tires. They are more expensive then my car tires. At home, I have put more than 5000 miles on a pair of these tires without a single flat. However, the roads I ride on at home are a lot better than we're seeing on this tour. The interstate is full of debris on the shoulder. I have to pay a lot of attention to avoid it and sometimes, you just cannot avoid it. Several riders have had multiple flats on one day. Mike Munk said that last year, they had one record setting day of 147 flat tires among the 50 riders they had. I have two new extra Armadillo tires and an extra chain that I will likely have to replace mid-way through this ride.

Riding in Pacelines

A paceline is when a group of riders rides in a tight formation together. I myself am by no means an expert at it. But, I have done it on plenty of double century rides when it has made sense to do so and I have some experience and opinions on how best to ride in pacelines.

I have done a lot of riding alone. That doesn't mean I am totally out of contact with everyone else. There are typically some riders several minutes behind me and more riders several minutes ahead of me. It is good to ride in pacelines when it makes sense to. Riding in pacelines helps in a couple of ways. First and foremost, it reduces the work for the folks at the back. For example, I was in a 4-man group yesterday that worked really well together. When I was at the front pulling, my heart rate was 135-145. When I was back in line is was 115-125. And, we were keeping about 18-20 mph. So, thats a huge advantage. Also, its good to have people you can talk to and who can encourage you along. Thats the good stuff about riding in pacelines.

Now for the bad stuff....Often, you cannot see the road ahead. If there is debris you can easily get flatted. Now, the folks ahead of you are supposed to point out debris with a hand signal. But, that means taking a hand off the handlebar. Some people can do this well without wavering their bike around and others cannot. Some riders have more experience riding in pacelines and do a better job at maintaining their line of track and maintaining a constant speed. Other riders are wavering all over the place and on and off the brakes accelerating and decelerating. Worse, as the day wears on, fatige sets in and riding habits and abilities get even worse.

Next, you have to pay a lot of attention while in pacelines. You need to keep you eyes on the guy in front of you, often his rear wheel and you can be looking around and the beautiful views around you. You really should not take drinks or eat food except when you are at the very back of a paceline. Thats because you shouldn't be taking your hands of the handle bars and you could drop your bottle causing a rider behind you to crash. Finally, when you are in a apaceline, you move as a group. If one person has a problem, like a flat, you'd be a bit of an asshole if you just continued riding on leaving them behind. The more riders there are in a line, the more likely someone will flat. I have made it to several SAG stops ahead of much stronger riders because I passed their groups while they were stopped fixing flats.

Another reason to avoid pacelines is that you don't have total control over your own effort. You kinda sort have to do what the group wants. If their effort is harder than yours, you are doing a lot of work for not a lot of reward. Finally, because there are varying styles, skills and abilities in riding together, it is often a much better choice for me to ride alone. So, I have riden alone probably 70% of the time. More recently, I am finding a few riders whose styles and skills seem to be a good match with mine. We did maybe 40 miles together yesterday and we really worked well together.

My Roomate

Richard is a great guy and a very strong cyclist. Probably the strongest cyclist on this tour. Richard has done the Mt. Diablo challeng in under 55 minutes at an average power output of 350 watts. My fastest climb up Diablo I think is 80 minutes. He is also very knowledgeable about all things cycling and is a systems engineer. So, it turns our we have a lot in common. We like Big Bang theory, history, various engineering challenges, etc. He knows a lot about nutrition, training, recovery, workload etc. He got his hands on a massage roller we both used to rub out our leg muscles and I felt a ton better the next day after using it. Richard is very focused on what he wants to do with each day of the ride and usually starts later than everyone else and finishes sooner -- boy wouldn't it be nice to have those legs? He is riding with a rider from Britain named George. Both Richard and George like to talk cycling; about nutrition, about using power, about fast twich vs. slow twich muscles, about cardiac output vs. musculo-skeletal strength, about high cadence (spinning) vs. low cadence (grinding) styles, about climbing and being in or out of the saddle, etc. I have enjoyed my converstaions over breakfast or dinner with them. Though the seem to have a lot more energy for that than I do ;)

All the riders on this tour are really, really strong and insipiring. They all have different stories why they are here and why they are doing this.