A long ride, a broken rim, stranded
Friday July 25.
I knew todays ride was going to be hard rightfrom the start. The ride profile looked like the ekg of some poor soul whose heart was ready to explode and if I added correctly about 72 miles. In Missouri up to now the roads could be described as large rolling hills. Climbs up to about a 6% grade and 1/2 to 3/4 of a mile long, hard but ridable. The area is called the Ozark Plateau. Today I was entering the Ozark Mountains.
What a nice day to ride. Started in the low 60's, rising to the high 80's, not as hot as predicted. High thin clouds helped block the sun's harshest Ray's. The climbs steepened, lengthened and roads became narrower. Most of today's roads included a shoulder 6 inches wide and a rumble stripped white line. This forced me to ride in the travel lane. The steep rolling hills create hazardous riding conditions. Site lines are reduced to nothing. There are times when you will rise to the crest of the road and not know what is on the other side. Think of the vehicles on the road. Your approaching at 55 mph a cyclist traveling at 4 mph uphill near a blind rise... most will yield, slow to your speed until you can see over the top and then pass. Not the log trucks. The trucks themselves are nowhere near as big as the log trucks in Oregon and Montana, but they are much scarier. For the most part these guys are coming through. More then once I dived across the rumble strip off the road to get out of the way of these non yielding bemouths. Thankfully you can hear them coming and prepare.
Unlike Kansas the convience stores in the very small towns here in Missouri are not very well stocked. My staple, frozen burritos, have disappeared. After a while one grows tired of eating dried fruit, cliff bars and peanut butter. With my dietary restrictions those microwave burritos are life saving. Typically I can survive about 2 hours of riding by eating the bars and dried fruit after that I need to eat. That didn't happen today. I broke down and had a huge cinnamon fritter at the Sinclair station. Wow was it delicious. Not sure it helped with the caloric deficit or what the after effects will be, but damn I enjoyed it.
The reason I don't mind climbing is because there is no better feeling in the world then flying downhill. Desending steep curvey roads hitting that perfect apex and setting up for the next is so exhilarating it is almost beyond description. I was rewarded today. The descent from Summerville to Alley Spring through the Ozark National Scenic Waterway was one of those. Decreasing radius turns through the trees with limited sight lines might not thrill everyone, not me. Let the brakes go and lay her over here I come.
Alley Springs is the 7th largest spring in Missouri with a discharge of 81 million gallons of water a day. The impressive flow of water originates from more then 3000ft underground. In the 1800's an entire community thrived around the spring and the mill that was run by spring. Now the area is part of the Ozark National Scenic Waterway, the first national park to protect a wild river system.https://www.nps.gov/ozar/index.htm4
I knew todays ride was going to be hard rightfrom the start. The ride profile looked like the ekg of some poor soul whose heart was ready to explode and if I added correctly about 72 miles. In Missouri up to now the roads could be described as large rolling hills. Climbs up to about a 6% grade and 1/2 to 3/4 of a mile long, hard but ridable. The area is called the Ozark Plateau. Today I was entering the Ozark Mountains.
What a nice day to ride. Started in the low 60's, rising to the high 80's, not as hot as predicted. High thin clouds helped block the sun's harshest Ray's. The climbs steepened, lengthened and roads became narrower. Most of today's roads included a shoulder 6 inches wide and a rumble stripped white line. This forced me to ride in the travel lane. The steep rolling hills create hazardous riding conditions. Site lines are reduced to nothing. There are times when you will rise to the crest of the road and not know what is on the other side. Think of the vehicles on the road. Your approaching at 55 mph a cyclist traveling at 4 mph uphill near a blind rise... most will yield, slow to your speed until you can see over the top and then pass. Not the log trucks. The trucks themselves are nowhere near as big as the log trucks in Oregon and Montana, but they are much scarier. For the most part these guys are coming through. More then once I dived across the rumble strip off the road to get out of the way of these non yielding bemouths. Thankfully you can hear them coming and prepare.
Unlike Kansas the convience stores in the very small towns here in Missouri are not very well stocked. My staple, frozen burritos, have disappeared. After a while one grows tired of eating dried fruit, cliff bars and peanut butter. With my dietary restrictions those microwave burritos are life saving. Typically I can survive about 2 hours of riding by eating the bars and dried fruit after that I need to eat. That didn't happen today. I broke down and had a huge cinnamon fritter at the Sinclair station. Wow was it delicious. Not sure it helped with the caloric deficit or what the after effects will be, but damn I enjoyed it.
The reason I don't mind climbing is because there is no better feeling in the world then flying downhill. Desending steep curvey roads hitting that perfect apex and setting up for the next is so exhilarating it is almost beyond description. I was rewarded today. The descent from Summerville to Alley Spring through the Ozark National Scenic Waterway was one of those. Decreasing radius turns through the trees with limited sight lines might not thrill everyone, not me. Let the brakes go and lay her over here I come.
Alley Springs is the 7th largest spring in Missouri with a discharge of 81 million gallons of water a day. The impressive flow of water originates from more then 3000ft underground. In the 1800's an entire community thrived around the spring and the mill that was run by spring. Now the area is part of the Ozark National Scenic Waterway, the first national park to protect a wild river system.https://www.nps.gov/ozar/index.htm4
After too short a ride along the Jack Forks River it was as time to climb out of the valley and back into the Ozark Mountains torwards Eminence and then Ellington MO. The climbs here in the Ozarks are some of the biggest hills I have ever climbed. I saw gradient readings on my cycling computer of up to 17%. Sitting on the nose of the saddle in your lowest gear pushing as hard as you can just to stay upright at 3mph because if you stop it will be impossible to restart and walking and pushing your bike is harder. Hey what's that Turkey vulture hanging around for?
Atop many hills and in the valleys there are many old abandoned farms and stores Time forgotten.
Todays ride came in at 71.5 miles and 5318' of elevation gain and a max speed of 39.5mph. That is the most climbing I have done in one day. It was a long hard day of riding over 7 hours of peddling with an elapsed time of almost 9.5 hours. I was tired after the ride. The satisfaction after completing a ride like today's is indescribable. Tonight's destination was the Route 76 Hostel in Ellington MO. I settle in headed out to eat and relax. After dinner on the way back to the hostel I noticed my rear rim was out of true. After closer inspection I realized the rim was destroyed and I was alone in the middle of nowhere (sorry Ellington) with a busted bike. After a short conversation with Kathy it was time for bed. Tomorrow was another day and my broken bike will have to wait.
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