The temp this morning was 48. But with a 30mph wind, it felt like 12. All this cold weather; and it is almost May. When is it going to warm up? With all of my riding in Bermuda, I thought I was halfway decent at biking in hot, humid weather. However, after biking in the freezing cold, snow and sleet, I've come to realize something altogether different. I'm really, really good at the PlayStation. What the hell am I doing out here?!
Our route today took us south back into town, straight into the headwind. We left sort of as a group - but some of the faster riders got a jump. I took off to catch up with them. I wanted to get back into the pack. There's safety in numbers. Big ones look after little ones. And... to avoid confusion... in this case, I'm a little one.
Randy was also a little late leaving and I hopped onto his wheel. The trip back into town was only 3 miles, but it was a long, cold three miles. Especially when you're all in shorts. We caught the group at a stop light where we turned east. The blasting headwind became a blasting crosswind. We biked out of town at a pretty reasonable pace and eventually formed into a traditional paceline. That is basically a single file with the rider at the front doing the brunt of the work. When he get's tired, he peels back and rejoins at the end of the line. It is then the next rider's turn. There were seven of us. One rider before it is my turn, we form the circular rotating paceline again. We were making good time at an average speed of 22mph. Very good considering the blasting crosswinds.
We continued like that until wind and steep hills separated us slightly. We all made it to the first SAG at mile 33 effectively together. We left a little more spread out, but hooked up again to form a paceline to the lunch SAG at mile 66. Texas gave us a nice parting gift in the form of the smoothest road we've riden to date. It was like silk and made riding so much better. The pace got a little tough, and I dropped off. But several of us met up at the OK state line, which was just about 5 miles from lunch.
"Hey dude. You gonna live?"
"Probably ...[gasp]... not"
As we came into Elk City, I manage to catch the group due to traffic lights. Once again, we met up with Route 66. In fact, Elk City has a large Route 66 museum that I'd like to see some day. Brian actually peeled off to take a look. I'm comfortable running into a convenience store or fast food restaurant in Lycra, but walking around a museum in skin tight clothes is where I draw the line. So I took a pass.
Scenery today was farmland. Some of it even looked a little like south Georgia in places. We hit another cattle feed lot and the smell was enough to knock me off of the bike. The sky was clear and blue, but the real story was the wind. The word all the cyclists use to describe it is "relentless". It was coming from the south and we were heading east. So that meant that it was in the right ear and out the left for most of the day. Except when the road made a slight deviation north or south. Then it was either a slight tailwind or a partial headwind.
I'm feeling pretty good these days. My left thigh is sore when I push it... and that's what it takes to keep up with the front pack. In the evenings, I'm exhausted and ache... but I've made it a point to go out to dinner with whatever group is headed out. It is one of the best parts of the trip. We got quite a group.
Tomorrow is 125 miles through the farmlands of OK. It will be a lot of turns and navigation. Then, on Sunday is our longest day... 145 miles. That has got several of us worried. We have another tough one on Monday, then a rest day on Tuesday.
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