DAY 20 MORE HILLS

HARTVILLE TO ?

I was up before the sun and Mike and set out for the day. The picnic tabletop sleep was not very comfortable and I hand't slept very well. Pedaled up hill to the gas stations and found some breakfast. Looking at my map, I knew I had some crazy hills up head. But first I need to go the wrong way for five miles or so -- Back to the point of the flat tire. My wheel had remained inflated through the night. That's good news, as I had no replacement tube and the next town that could possibly have one was 30 miles away in Houston. How I was functioning on barely five hours of sleep for so many days surprised me. I like to sleep and an eight hour night is my normal. I would have many questions today?

After biking about four miles Westward, I turned around and returned to Hartville to really start my day. I knew if I didn't do this and just skipped those miles I would regret it for a long time. And also, my DOT was out there for everybody to see and I'm sure a few DOT watchers notice that my bike speed peaking to 40 miles or so the night before.

Now, back in Hartville, I grabbed some more food at the same gas station and headed out of town East bound on my iffy tire. I was becoming this gas staton regular, with three visits in less than 12 hours. I was loosing time and it was bothering me. Mike was already 12 miles ahead of me and I would never catch up to him again. Most climbs today would only be about 200', but they would be very steep. My Cassette was 11-32 and I should have had at least a 34. My pal, Mark Croker was enjoying his 36 somewhere up ahead. When I was planning the trip I was even considering having a 11-28 waiting for me at Newton's bike shop. Glad my buddies Jimmy and Jannie talked me out of that mistake.

BUT FIRST ANOTHER FLAT

Another flat on the same tube no less and on the inside by the valve stem.. How do you get a flat by the valve stem? As I'm repairing the tube a highway patrol stops by and starts chatting me up. The usual questions about the race... yada yada yada . Im not that interested in talking. I'm falling behind by the minute here. With my little unsuccessful, tube shopping spree at Walmart, I would probably lose half a day -- And I did.

OZARK's

As you approach the Ozarks the scenery gets real nice. At the bottom of many steep climbs would be a beautiful stream. I contemplating swimming in several, but they were too far down and steep off the road.

You can see from those clouds that there was some weather brewing and it would have some impact on my day and delay me even further. The Ozarks (see elevation pic) are pretty and pretty awful. One steep hill after another. I would try to charge up in one go and catch my breath and stop the pain at the top. As you come down from the last climb you raise your eyes and see the next monster appear. After about four big Ozark climbs I just got off my bike and walked up. I was tired of playing by the hill's rules. It was my only way of taking charge of the situation. My cleats where further wrecked as I had to walk in the gravel to stop from slipping, the hill was so steep.

READ THE SMALL PRINT

As I was eating a large dinner at the Mexican place (Checo's) in Ellington, three touring bikers came in a wanted to chat with me. They obviously understood that I was a TABR racer and seemed to be excited to be talking to one. They asked me if I was staying at the hostel with them. My answer was "what hostel?" "the one indicated in the maps" she replied. WOW, I'm on day 20 of this crazy thing and just now finding out that on the back of the maps was useful information on the hundreds of town I would cross. For christ sake's JJ read the small print.

There was still an hour or two of daylight, but the sky decided to open up and a torrential downpour began flooding the streets. With no dry shelter and only camp grounds for the next 30 miles, I decided to settle for the recently remodeled Scenic River Motel across the street. I was not in the mood to tackle any more hills, wet and in the dark. As I was checking in, the kind lady explained that they had just opened after the repairs from the last flood that had swept through this town a year or so ago. The place was very nice.

When she realized that I was a TABR biker, she explained that the leader of the race had stayed there about 10 days prior. She was talking about Evans of course who had already finished (1st). She went on to say that he was a little incoherent when he arrived around midnight and just plopped his ID and money down on the counter and simply repeated the words "One Hour". She said that he couldn't fill out the registration form because he didn't remember his phone number and his fingers weren't working very well.

Ok, that's crazy and I admired his capacity to push so hard, for so long. How do you survive on so little sleep for over two weeks? How do you push yourself out of a comfy bed with only a one hour nap when your body is screaming for more?

This day had been a tough one but, I was going to sleep in warm dry sheets in a freshly renovated and friendly motel. I might even be lying on the same bed as Evan. If Evan could sleep one hour I can tough it out on five hours or less. It was time to start thinking of the finish line and finding some biker mojo for the next week or so. This was probably my shortest ride day with only 108.7 miles of race distance but, we all know I did an extra nine or so miles early that morning. As an aside, I would finish the race on that double punctured tire and ride many months afterwards on it with no issues.