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I've Got Something to Say
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| Ride Stats |
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Time: 06:25:50
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Distance:
103.06 miles
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Max Speed:
35.10 mph
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Avg Speed:
16.00 mph
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Altitude Gain:
0 ft
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Route:
MS Bike 2009 Day 2
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Weight:
0
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Category: training: general -
solo
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Terrain: Road: Hills
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Bike: Fuji Roubaix RC Road
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Club: None |
| Weather Conditions: started in the low 60's up to the upper 70's.
Wind was mostly out of the east 8=10 mph
mostly sunny |
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There is always a sharp contrast between the start of the ride on day 1 and day 2. On day 1, teams get together for pictures, and then teams are ‘released’ in waves onto the route starting with the sponsor’s team (Express Scripts), followed in order by the teams that raised the most money last year. Needless to say, it is pretty much wall to wall cyclists up to the first rest stop (10-12 miles), then it thins out. There is also a lot of chatter between the cyclists – I think most of it just stems from the energy produced by all the hype leading up to the event. On day 2, its lower key – no big team gatherings, just folks who have chosen to ride in small groups of friends – new or old. Compared to the hundreds of cyclists on day one, its just dozens of cyclists at the start of day 2 – and the chat pretty much non-existent.
Today’s route heads south from the fairgrounds, and we end up going east on the outer road of I-70. Before reaching that point, an ambulance passed and then about half mile later, I caught up to it and other service vehicles as there were attending to an injured cyclist. It didn’t look like that this was automobile induced. At dinner last night I sat with a motorcyclist that provided support. He said there were four major accidents – a broken collar bone, a broken femur and I don’t remember the other two. Today’s not starting on a better note – this ambulance was around mile #7. After the first rest stop (right by the Pet Kennel just east of Columbia on the outer road) we went a few more miles east before turning north on Hwy DD. There was another downed cyclist around mile 19 – less than a mile before the second rest stop, and a third cyclist down before the 30 mile marker. To get to the 30-mile point, I had to endure a 3-mile stretch into the wind coming out of the east. Then, in order to complete 100 miles on the day, I turned right to head south - back to the outer road of I-70. The nice part was that upon reaching the outer road, we headed west, being assisted by that wind out of the east. We then turned north on the same road as before (Hwy DD) – to repeat that stretch and the stretch into the wind.
Having completed the bonus loop, I turned north to start making my way to Mexico, MO where lunch would be served. While eating lunch I saw several cyclists & support volunteers getting their picture taken with Miss Missouri. I had read something that she’d be there; I just had to get my picture taken with her, too! She was very cordial, as one might expect, and stated she was from St Charles, MO while answering a few questions from another cyclist.
The terrain after lunch was more of the rolling hills one normally expects of MO’s terrain. As a cyclist, you learn to take the momentum gained going downhill and finding (guessing) the gear to pedal yourself over the next rise. It’s a lot of up & down – just like a rollercoaster. Today’s route had more hills than yesterday, and I probably did most of the early ones a litter harder than I should have, at the expense of having strength & stamina for these hills late in the day, but I managed to keep on rolling! It was especially encouraging to see the sign indicating I-70 was just 16 miles away – the start/finish at the fairgrounds is about 3 miles north of I-70, therefore not very far left to go. Using some of the same roads used yesterday to get to Centralia, some so newly paved they didn’t have lines painted on them, but oh so smooth, we made our way back to the Boone County Fairgrounds. And finally the route dumps us back to the fairgrounds where all finishers are greeted with cheers of congratulations of finishing and gratitude for the effort put out for such a great cause.
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