Kharma

We left an hour later today as we had a relatively short biking day. I am not sure which way the wind blew, but we started out at a leisurely pace. We cannot check into the motel any earlier than they have rooms available so on days like today it is best to take your time and enjoy the vast scenery that Kansas offers to the bicyclist.

We stopped at the SAG at the 31 mile mark and Margaret had prepared a very nice fruit cup for each of us. Thank you Margaret. You should see this person when she power walks. As we relaxed at the SAG stop, Mac pulled in with Mike. Apparently, one of his spokes had broken and he could no longer bicycle. I offered one of mine to him and he installed it and was able to continue. This is the same Mike who lent me his front wheel so that I could continue to Tucumcari. Below is a picture of that tire.

The circle was now complete as we had each helped each so we would not have to stop bicycling.

We left the SAG and we decided that we wanted to catch up to some of the group that had left prior to us, but that had arrived earlier than us at SAG. Eventually we did catch and pass some fellow cyclists

and arrived in town where we had some lunch. We met some people and one of the persons worked for the local newspaper. They asked us some questions about the tour and took our picture. They told us we would be in the next day's newspaper.

For those of you who work with me, the pronunciation of this town is different than the person that works at ABC.

Apparently the hotel was glad to see us as well.

Great Bend, KS - McPherson, KS

Miles 64.236

Ave MPH 15.8

Actual bike time 4:04:03

Left Hotel 8:20
Arrive Hotel 1:59

Let's get the flock out of Dodge

Since we have been together. when we leave our SAG stops Harry has been saying let's get the flock out of Dodge. Today that finally had some meaning.

We departed from the hotel and were pleasantly surprised with a wind behind our backs. We were moving at quite a good pace. We even passed Jim who was stopped by the roadside and were pleased that we had finally been able to pass him However, about 5 minutes later he is on our tails. Now we must have been doing around 24 MPH so Jim must have been doing around 30 MPH. Soon he passed us and was gone.

We arrived at around 60 miles and ate some lunch. After we continued to Pawnee State Park which is where the trail that ends at Santa Fe, NM. I took some pictures from the top, but they do not do justice to the vast scenery of cornfields and open fields

We arrived at the hotel and I went to a bike shop that Tracy had recommended I visit as my back brakes were still damaged from my fall three weeks ago. This place even had a tire that was the size I needed in stock so this will replace the tire that blew up on me a few days back. The roads are really hard on tires. Harry bought new tires as well.

The owner of the shop is Doug and he worked for a large company that wanted to transfer him. At that time he decided that he liked Great Bend and he did not want to transfer. He sold his house, moved into a smaller one and started this bicycle shop.

Doug and Todd looking at my bike solving the problem. He normally closes at 3:00, but he worked on my bike until 4:00. I really appreciated the fact that he took his time and solved my problem. However, his wife called and I am not too sure that she
felt the same way.

Outside the shop



Dodge City, KS - Great Bend, KS
Miles 88.356
Ave. MPG 20.0
Actual bike time 4:25:21
Left Hotel 7:20
Arrive Hotel 2:05 (includes Pawnee and lunch stops)

The importance of Drinking

No this will not be about the merits of Gatorade, electrolytes and water. This is about the consumption of alcohol. All names with the exception of me will be changed to protect the innocent.

Last night I was feeling a little down due to the continued problems with my tubes and tires. After my roommate, Peter helped me with inflating my back tire and installing I went outside to the back cleaning my cogs and chain ring, "Lord" is calling out to me Hey, "FAAN", "FAAN". After I confirm that it is me and not "FAAN", with "Lord" he tells me that after visiting Dorothy's House, "Sacramento Queen" and "CIA operative" have been at the bar since 4:00 PM. He goes and gets "FAAN" and tells me that I should come along. I decide to go. We meet some truck drivers and one of them buys us a round of Mean Joe Greens. We also have some Jello shots and some beer. Suddenly, my tires problems do not seem to be so insurmountable. "FAAN" and I decide to leave. He gives me the best advice: Drink a lot of water and take 2 Advil before I go to sleep. I take his advice and I wake up feeling fine. However, "Lord", "Sacramento Queen" and "CIA operative" are not feeling so fine.

As we bike out of town a fond farewell to our drinking hole.

At the 23.9 mile mark, Tracy comes up to us and tells us that the Hangover
Gang is falling behind and that if we do not speed up we will lose SAG support. After hearing this we pick up the pace (around 20 MPH) and ride like the Dalton Gang into Meade, KS.

We caught the SAG and are now within the support area. A special thanks to Rich for the cookies that were at SAG. They were a welcome addition. Also, Mack, thanks for the Payday.

We left the SAG and at the 53 mile mark, Alec gets a flat tire. We fix it and are on our way until Dodge City.

Everyone retreats to their room for rest and relaxation.

Liberal, KS - Dodge City, KS

Miles 84.065

Ave MPH 15.9

Actual bike time 5:17:11

Left hotel 7:30

Arrive hotel 2:35

P.S. Barbie - All of the Musketeers say hello to you.

Dorothy's House

Today was an easy day. The road was flat and there was very little wind. We passed through the town of Hooker, Oklahoma on our way out of Texas and entered Kansas.

We continued into the town of Liberal, Kansas. We went to lunch and while sitting down I had another flat. This time in my back tube. We changed tubes and pedaled back to the hotel. My back tire wire bead came out of the tire. I now have no new tires and have 1 new tube and 3 repaired tubes. However, the problem exists as to why I had this flat. We think it may be the spokes, but Tracy checked the wheel rim and while she thinks it is not a problem she is going to sand down the rim. Hopefully there will be no flats. I have ordered new tubes from Performance and they will be in Abilene for me at the hotel on Monday.

We walked over to Dorothy's house (or at least a replica of the house). No pictures as it was not the original which I believe was in Culver City, CA and has been destroyed. Below a picture of us on the Yellow Brick Road.

Guymon, OK - Liberal, KS

Miles 41.307

Ave. MPH 13.5

Actual bike time 3:02:03

Left Hotel: 9:25

Arrive Hotel :1:50

Thanks, Jim

Today started out with Karen getting the dreaded flat tube in the room. This is a mysterious tube disease that has happened to me twice and a few others. You wake up,check your tires and while you were sleeping you have had a flat.

The breakfast at The Sands was good and plentiful. We were ready for the day. The only problem was that I had not seen Harry. I knocked on his door. Apparently he had overslept. We ended up leaving about 15 minutes later than any other biker.

Jim also had a flat and he joined us for the first 19 miles. We usually start with a warm-up, but because Jim was riding with us, Harry decided to go out at 17 mph. At the 19 mile mark, we met this big cowboy.

Jim left us and joined another group in front of us. He did not even thank us for pulling him through the first 19. Harry pointed out that we should thank Jim for leaving us as we could slow down the pace. After that we slowed down and biked at a much more leisurely pace.

We then proceeded to the SAG. As Harry had only eaten a peanut bar, he ate 2 chicken sandwiches at the Dairy Queen (DQ). We spent about 45 minutes at DQ and then left for Oklahoma, our fifth state crossing. A few pictures of the crossing:

The first picture is the sign and second picture is Alec, Karen, Harry and myself . The next picture is the pretty Welcome to Oklahoma sign.

It was windy, but not as windy as yesterday so it was not that difficult. There is a lot of road kill (skunks, antelopes, gophers) and not that many truck tires. The truckers are considerate and when they pass us they try to move to the opposite lane. When the trucks pass us on our side there is a nice wind that helps us. When they pass on the opposite side (heading towards us) the wind after they pass pushes you pretty hard. The road itself was pretty flat as well.

Dalhart, TX - Guymon, OK

Miles 72.855

Ave. Mph 14.7

Actual bike time 4:45:00

Left hotel: 8:30

Arrive hotel 2:50

The Importance of breakfast

The importance of breakfast cannot be understated on this trip. Apparently we could not eat breakfast at the chosen place so we were left to the motel morning food as well as some food that CrossRoads provided. As soon as I saw what purported to be orange juice (water which looked more yellow than orange) I guessed I was in trouble. The only breakfast item that tasted or looked good was the waffles. I am becoming an expert on the use of this machine. 2:30 and you have perfectly cooked waffles.

After breakfast Alec and I installed a new tire as well as a new tube on the bike. During my inspection of the lining I saw that one of the spoke eyelits was not fully covered. I took some tape and covered it and hoped for the best. Jim also gave invaluable advice on how to blow up the tire and then let the air out.

Our foursome took off from the hotel and proceeded to Route 54. A special thanks to Mack as we would have went straight at Main Street instead of making a right and would have gotten lost. On this day that would not have been good.

The trip took us from New Mexico and we were either against the wind or there were strong cross winds blowing. This is where the importance of breakfast took on added meeting. It was much more difficult to pedal as I did not eat that much. The SAG at 29 miles did not have Payday. Hey CrossRoads, us riders love Payday. After the SAG we pedaled into our fourth state, Texas at the 54 miles mark. We are riding in the panhandle section of Texas.


The road into Texas was nice for about the first 11 miles which is when we stopped at the final SAG of the day at about 66 miles. Peanut, Butter and Jelly (PBJ) sandwiches, bananas and oreo cookies fueled me. However, after the SAG the road we bicycled was much worse.

The one thing that I have learned from this trip is that the amount of time we bike in a day and the different roads cannot really be trained for and it is difficult to anticipate and plan for this in your training. I have had 6 flats. I know that everyone with the exception of George has had a flat. Hank had his first 3 flats today. Everyday you pass someone who is fixing a flat, but what is nice is that everyone helps everyone else in fixing the flats.

At about the 77 mile mark there was an unscheduled SAG. I got a refill of water and drank 1/2 of my 6 hour Extreme Super Shot and ate another PBJ sandwich. Also, Al decided to join us for the final 20 or so miles. I do not know what they put into that super shot (I guess I should read the label), but it really works. The miles were much easier to pedal and it got me through the wind.

I would guess that we bicycled around 80-90% of the time either against the wind or in cross winds. It was by far the most challenging day of bicycling. From what I understand the next 7 days will be similar so it will be a grind, but our group does well and we should be fine.

We arrived in our destination city.

Tucumcari, NM - Dalhart, TX

Miles 100.22
Ave MPH 12.6
Total bicycle time 7:56:21
Left hotel :7:25
Arrive hotel: 4:25 (5:25 local time as the clocks changed again).

1000 miles and tire troubles

Before we started today, Rick who is the mechanic told me he admired me. I was riding the heaviest bike by far and he was impressed. He told me that his shoulder hurt this morning and it was probably because he hurt it when he lifted my bike. My bike is at least 5 pounds heavier than any other bike (Rick thinks it is more).

Up to this point I have ridden one day with limited front break (yesterday), one day with limited back breaks and about 40 miles with a broken spoke in the back. Luckily, I had taken Tracy's advice and I had brought 4 spare spokes.

We started out from the hotel and the CrossRoads team placed a 1000 mile mark in the road. A message from me:

The route was mostly flat and downhill at times. The view was beautiful and we arrived at the first SAG which was located at a closed Texaco station.

The route was off the highway, but it was very pretty.

At about the 67 mile mark, we climbed something called "The Wall". It was a .7 climb. It was the most difficult climb of the trip. I made it to the top safe and sound and waited for my team.

At the 76 mile mark, we stopped at the SAG for about 30 minutes. After the SAG, we came to another "mini wall". At this point I started to think if my bicycle would hold up I might be able to complete this trip. I should not have started to think about that as at the 98 mile mark I had some tire and tube issues. My front tire exploded and had 3 blisters on the tire. It was un-rideable. Fortunately, Mack of CrossRoads passed me along with Mike who is also riding. Mike was SAGing in which means he would not be completing his ride. We asked him if we could borrow his front tire and put on my bike and he said it was ok. Everyone was very amused and had never seen a tire in that condition and started to take pictures. Everyone, but me. As we were fixing that condition we heard my back tire starting to hiss. That tire had gone flat and we had to fix that as well. Thanks to Harry, Karen and Alec for their help, as well as Mack and Mike (who should probably get credit for the last 10 miles, but for which a beer will have to suffice).

Below are pictures of the new front tire and a picture of the front tire on the map at the end of the day.


We finally arrived at the destination city.

Las Vegas, NV - Tucumcari, NM

As my front tire has the first 3 items of information and it was kaput at mile 98, below is information provided by Karen:

Miles 108.9

Avg. MPH 16.0

Actual bike time 6:46

Left Hotel: 7:25

Arrive Hotel 5:00

Little Indy 500

Today is the Indianapolis 500 car race. A little story related to that is the Little Indy 500. One of my favorite movies growing up was "Breaking Away". In the movie, there is a bike race called the Little Indy 500. I was talking with Fred who is biking from LA to Indianapolis with us and I mentioned that race to him. I expected him to tell me it was only a movie plot, but much to my surprise it is a real race.

Before we left, Jim (one of our strongest riders along with Peter and Fred) introduced me to his son who is presently doing some movie work in New Mexico.

Today was some moderate uphill climbs and downhills. Al joined our group today.

We rode along the Santa Fe Trail which seems to run parallel to I-25.

We biked on I-25 for about 5 miles and it was not bad compared to the other interstates.

At about the 22 mile mark we stopped at a store. The note below was posted outside:

After we left the store it proceeded to get very cold. I put on my rain gear and rode the next 5 miles in it. After that I took it off as the sun came out and I took it off again.

We again were on route 66, so a picture of Karen in front of a stone sign

We then pedaled into the historic city of Las Vegas, New Mexico and ate lunch at the Landmark Grille located in the Historic Plaza hotel.

In an homage to Al and his blog:

Number of times that Ira passed Al on an uphill 17

Number of times Al passed Ira on a downhill 17

Average Speed - The same

Santa Fe, NM - Las Vegas, NM

Miles 73.440

Ave Speed 14.8

Actual bike time 4:58:36

Left Hotel: 7:40

Arrive hotel 3:00

Resting in Santa Fe

We will be riding 9 straight days until we get to Abeliene, KS.

Below is the map and you can see the black line as to how far we traveled. As I was taking this someone walked up to me and congratulated me for taking part in the trip. The genuine interest of persons in the trip is surprising, but it is gratifying as well.

Today I will go into Santa Fe (still rainy and cold),walk around town and wash my bike.

My weekly message

P.S. - Willie - You should have stayed up and watched the end of the bb game last night. Lebron James is indeed the chosen one. Willie and family below.

Wet and Windy

Today weather called for a chance of showers. At the start it was windy and at around the 9.3 mile mark we started to climb against the wind. At about the 15 mile mark Al (Michigan man) joined us. His wife flew into town and she drove along the route.

It was a pretty strong wind and we reached the SAG at around 3o mile mark. Right after the SAG a dog started running towards us. Although there was a fence the dog went under and chased Harry before giving up and returning home. It chased no other rider. It started to rain for about 6-7 miles. Fortunately I had my rain gear so I was pretty warm. We passed by the town of Madrid and continued on to the San Marcos cafe at the 54 mile mark(below is Harry leaving the restaurant. I ordered the red chili stew which warmed me up.

After that we continued to Santa Fe

Albuquerque, NM - Santa Fe, NW

Mileage 67.581

Ave. MPH 12.5

Actual bike time 5:25:12

Left hotel 7:25

Arrive hotel 2:50

Jack's last day

Today was Jack R last day with us. Good luck. You will be missed. Below a message from Jack.

EFI, not

We started out in our rain gear today as it rained for about an hour. Sometimes a little hard, but not that bad. We also took the wrong turn so we ended up pedaling about 2.5 miles additional miles. We pedaled around 30 miles on the road below.

There is a term called Every Freaking Inch (EFI) which means that you biked the whole trip, start to finish from LA to Boston. . Due to circumstances beyond our control, we will not be able to do that. Apparently, road construction is the culprit. We will have our bikes transported from one place to another place due to safety reasons for about 16 miles. I guess we will have to be satisfied with EFAI with the A standing for availability of the road.

Entering Alberquerque.

After the SAG, I ran over a piece of glass and had my 4TH flat tire of the trip. The repair was fixed and we continued on to Albuquerque. Some pictures of the Rio Grande below.

As we had not done the total mileage, we bicycled around town , passed through the University of New Mexico and rode some of the bike trails (they are pretty extensive and well developed). We stopped for a quick cup of coffee at a place located off of Bicycle Blvd. We then returned to the hotel. So we did do the mileage listed on the cue sheet.

Grants, NM - Albuquerque, NM

Mileage 75.655
Ave. MPH 13.5

Actual bike time 5:35:12

Left hotel: 7:25

Arrive hotel 4:55

Today was the last day for the Albuquerque group. A fun bunch of people. We will miss you !!! We will take your flags all the way to Boston. A message from each of them.

Barbie (never had a flat until Harry let out air pressure from her front tire)

Mark (whose wife Melissa accompanied and provided SAG support through the dessert)

Jack W (Harry's drinking buddy)

Your taxpayer dollars at work

This morning we left at 8:15, but before we had enough time to go to a local restaurant for breakfast. George, Mike, Tom and I went. Everyone else decided to eat at the motel.

The waitress proceeded to get most of our orders wrong, but the food was actually pretty good.

Before starting I checked my tires and found 3 wires imbedded in the tires. I removed them and had no flats. Barbie and Nancy joined our foursome. We started out on route 66. At around mile 23 we returned to I-40. This was by far the worst stretch of paved road we have travelled on during the trip. Our new stimulus package tax dollars hard at work. It was about 2-3 miles of pebbles, gravel, bumps and holes. Look what I found on the road.

A 9 mm undischarged bullet.

We finally made it to our SAG stop which was at 7.254 elevation at the Continental Divide.

I imagined a beautiful mountain scenario, but it was right next I-40. Not at all as I envisioned. A nice photo of the group)

Top l to R)Jack W, Mark. me, Karen)

Bottom (l to r) Jack R, Willie, Chris,Al, Barbie)

Lyinbg down - Harry

We then pedaled to a Dairy Queen about 24 miles down the road. Almost the whole bicycle group seemed to eventually stop there. I had a double cheeseburger, fries and a chocolate shake. Apparently, a few others in the group had the same idea.

After that a quick 10 mile ride to the hotel with the wind at our back. It was almost as if we were not pedaling. It rained for the last 2 miles, but we made it safe and sound to the hotel.

Gallup, NM - Grants, NM

Mileage 68.266

Ave MPH 15.9

Actual bicycle time 4:18:26

Left hotel 8:15

Arrive hotel 2:30

I think its a pretty good photo, actually

Chris L has had some feet issues and decided to make some improvements to his shoes prior to the start today:

As we started off from the hotel and as we were going to lose an hour my words to the group were "let's not waste anytime today". We then biked 2 minutes and Karen, Harry and I spent 10 minutes taking a similar picture below. I do not believe that any person would believe that we were being chased by dinosaurs. I asked Karen to take my picture and after taking it she murmured something to the effect I think its a pretty good photo, actually. Maybe, but maybe not.

Today's ride was about getting from one hotel to another hotel. There was not much going on. We traveled on I-40 today. Sometimes the scenery was vast and beautiful, some times not. Mike J had a flat tire about 10 miles in and he was attempting to fix the flat when we passed him. I got a hot foot at the 50 mile mark and Karen lent me her water bottle which helped immensely. We stopped at the 62 mile SAG and Alec and I each had a soft taco. Barbie, Nancy and Champ joined us and we continued until we entered our third state, New Mexico at about mile 71.

We continued on to our hotel.

Holbrook, AZ Gallup, NM

Total Mileage 87.856

Ave MPH 15.9

Actual bike time 5:31:21Left hotel 7:15

Arrive hotel; 3:10 (actually we arrived at 2:10 as we lost an hour)

Tomorrow we will leave at 8:15 so we can "sleep-in late". I am sure that everyone will be ready by 7:15. Tom D (a Denver Nuggets fan) and I will watch the game together tonight.

Rich who started with us from LA and had the infamous Manhattan Beach accident with Willie left the tour today, He is going to meet up with us in Albuquerque. Rich added much levity to the day. You will be missed. Parting words from Rich:

Tracy's mom and dad are helping with the trip this year. Tracy's mom, Sally suffered the first injury of the tour, a sprained ankle. Tracy has an unnatural affinity to Dairy Queen (DQ). She marks each Dairy Queen on the cue sheets (these are the directional sheets that she gives us to navigate each day). I asked Tracy's dad, Fred if he was a fan of DQ