Pikes Peak to O.K. City

Wow is really all I can say… the last week was much more difficult than anticipated. I knew that the ride to Denver would be a challenge but planned on tail winds and easy going after that.  That was not to be, the wind was present and accounted for nearly every day, however it was generally hurting rather than helping.  Not quite sure why I am surprised by this, I have been fighting the wind for the majority of the trip, I should be used to it by now right?  Well, I’m not. 

(One last look at the mountains)

We took the only rest day that I had allotted, to run errands and re-supply before heading out from Colorado Springs.  So I was left with about 600 miles to our stopping point outside of Oklahoma City, and 6 days to get there.  Not fun, and not a lot of time to do anything except eat, sleep, and ride. 

It wasn’t a very pleasant section of the ride, the fly’s (due to massive amount of cattle in the area) were absolutely out of control.  I also have to admit that it was much hillier than I expected, not bad, they were just rollers, but I was expecting pancake flat and winds at my back.  To make matters worse on the fourth day I broke the crank on my road bike.  I tried to fix it, but quickly realized there was nothing I could do. 

I had no choice but to go to my back up and ride the cross bike in.  The cross bike is great in mud and great for climbing but isn’t exactly set up for centuries.  None the less, I had to get it done because Azure’s family was waiting for us in Noble and I knew she was anxious to get there.

Getting on the bike on Sunday I was done before I even started, but knew that I had a little over a hundred to get to our stopping point outside of town.  Lucky for me I was contacted by a local rider out of Oklahoma City that volunteered to ride out to meet me and pull me in.  Sure enough Tom showed up and he really couldn’t have come at a better time, I was at about 90 miles for the day and had hit the preverbal wall.  He managed to pull me up and over the wall and we road the last 20 or so miles in half the time it would have taken me solo.  He was also able to warn me about a very large and more importantly very fast pit bull that was loose, as he had found on the way out to meet up with me. 

Tom, thanks for the support and company, it was great.

We arrived at Azure’s parents’ late on Sunday night. Azure’s Mom had made a huge batch of stew, which I devoured.  We spent Monday night at a local restaurant that hosted a fundraiser for us.  Azure’s Dad had been working relentlessly organizing and promoting the event for us.  We end up with a pretty good turn out just under 100 people and got a great meal out of the deal as well.  So a huge thanks to Bob, Kristy, and Kendall’s, as well as the Kendall’s staff for working on what should have been their day off.

I know that this post is more than a little lack luster, I will try to do better but their isn’t a whole lot of time to write between the time I get off the bike and my head hits the pillow.

We are getting closer every day and I have a bunch of big mileage days ahead of me so that I can hit Palm Bay on time.  I am wishing myself luck…I’m gonna need it!

I have to throw and extra thank you in here to Tom!  After we rode in, he offered to take my bike into his in Schelgel Bicycles Oklahoma City, to save us the trip.  I took him up on his offer, What I didn’t expect however, was what happened when I went to pick up the bike today.  Tom had already picked up the bill.  I am still kind of in disbelief but, greatly appreciative. While everyday we see the bad in people on the news and in T.V. this trip has really reminded both Azure and I how amazing kind and generous people can be.  Thank You for that!

10-5 (cross wind)

109.58 miles

16.8 mph average

36.9 mph max

6:29:34 ride time

10-6 (tail wind early, no wind in the afternoon)

102.76

18.4 mph average

29.8 mph max

5:35:09 ride time

10-7 (head wind)

108.5 miles

16.2 mph average

30 mph max

6:44:58 ride time

10-8 (broken crank)

54.09 miles

15.7 mph average

31.5 mph max

3:25:59 ride time

10-9 (head wind)

100.72 miles

15.5 mph average

31.9 mph max

6:26:41 ride time

10-10

107.72 miles

15.7 mph average

35.4 mph max

6:49:50 ride time