Steve's TransAm Adventure

67 miles, 6:33 riding time, average 10.2 mph, 1614 ft ascent We got an early start today, leaving the city park in Eureka at 0600.  It was a nice park with a municipal pool, so we really enjoyed swimming and relaxing at the pool after yesterday’s ride.  Today our goal was to go off-route to Duane’s Aunt and Uncle’s house in Valley Center.  Duane is planning a rest day, and as I mentioned in yesterday’s post, I will end Part 2 there.   The route out of Eureka was on Highway 54, which I described in my last post.  There wasn’t much traffic early in the morning, but the wind was blowing at about 20 mph from the SW with gusts of up to 30 mph.      There wasn’t anything to block the wind; this is wide-open country. This is a PANO photo from my iPhone. A disadvantage of front panniers is that gusting wind creates a force that turns the front wheel and causes me to swerve slightly.   When big semi’s pass they also create gusts that have the same effect.  The road was long and straight, so I c

62 miles, 5:00 riding time, 12.4 mph average, 1257 feet ascent Riding in the hot sun all day yesterday was too much. The plan today is to finish the ride by 1300. Eureka is 63 miles and I averaged about 13 mph yesterday, so that is 5 hours saddle time. Allowing 2 hours for breaks and water stops means I must roll out at 0600. First light is 0545, so this is a realistic plan. I set my alarm for 0415 and bought food for breakfast at Walmart last night.  Everything went according to plan.  I left Chanute at 0600 with my front headlight and read blinky lights.  Soon after I saw the sunrise. This part of Kansas is not actually flat.  It is rolling hills.  The grades are not bad (5%), but the climbs are long.   On my way to Toronto Reservior I was riding down a paved road and came to an intersection where the road I was on continued as gravel into some trees, or turned left onto a paved road.  Just as I made the left a couple dogs came running out of the woods from the gravel road.  They wer

91 miles in 6:42 with an average speed of 13.6 mph and 1654 ft of ascent You will notice that my average speed has gone up and my ascent has gone down...so you guessed it, I have left the Ozarks!  Today we were at Cooky’s Cafe in Golden City when they opened at 0600 for breakfast.  Cooky’s is popular among TransAm cyclists for their hone made pies.  Even though it was breakfast I had to try the Strawberry Rhubarb, and it was served hot out of the oven...mmm, mmm GOOO! The terrain was gently rolling hills with shallow grades.   While it was still true that every stream crossing was proceeded by a descent and followed by an ascent, the grades were no where near as steep as the Ozarks.  On the way from Golden City to Pittsburg KS I came across this sign. Cyclists know that doesn’t apply to them, so I proceeded to this sign. Still undeterred I forged ahead.  Lucky for me I was able to cross a condemned bridge.  Soon after I crossed into my fifth state of the tour, the dreaded Kansas. Weste

82 miles, 6:10 riding time, 13.2 mph average, 3809 ft ascent Duane and i stayed at the Holiday Inn Express in Marshfield last night.  We were concerned about the forecast of rain overnight so we didn’t want to camp out, and sure enough, we awoke to rain.  We decided to sleep in (0545), enjoy the hotel continental breakfast, and get a leisurely start.  I was apprehensive about starting the day in rain, but also didn’t want to hang around the hotel all day.  I brought a rain jacket, helmet cover and shoe covers and have hauled them up and down numerous mountains, so by golly, I better use them, which I did.  I rolled out at about 0930 in the rain, which takes some getting used to.  I don’t have photos for the first part of the day due to the rain.  Hurricane Barrry gave us another day of tailwinds, so I made good time (13.3 mph avg) over rolling terrain.  But, the Ozarks were not done with us yet.  About 30 miles into the ride I entered into a section of about 25 miles with numerous stre

107 miles, 8:17 riding time, about 13 hours clock time, 12.95 mph average, 40.8 mph max speeed, 5945 ft ascent The Arrowhead  was not a particularly nice campground.  It was crowded and there was only one washroom and a separate coin-op shower hut with no sinks or toilets.  One nice thing, it was right on a bend in the river.  Duane and I went for a swim before going to dinner last night.  This section of the river is popular for floating (beer drinking). The day started with a steep climb right out ot the campground, followed by a descent back down to the river!  The river is windy and the valley is narrow, so we had to ride up and over the ridge between the two sides of the bend in the river.  If we had a raft we could have paddled around and avoided that climb.  Once we crossed the river we had another long, steep climb up into the “high country”.  What a way to start the day!  We stopped at a small cafe for breakfast and I had the best western omelette I have ever had!  The ride af

88 miles, 6:58 riding time, 12.6 mph average, max speed 43.4 mph, 4971 feet of ascent  Got an early start today, rolling out of Als Bike Hostel at 0600.  The temperature was a cool 64, which was below the dew point, so I got wet just riding through the air.    On the way out of Farmington I came across this intersection. Someone in the roads Dept does not know their left from their right! That could get real interesting when some good ol boy has had a few.  I seems that everyone in farm country has a pickup and a tractor, or several. Generations of retired tractors are often seen rusting by the old barn. This person clearly takes pride in his old tractors.  There is an ongoing debate among TransAm cyclists about which is worse, the Ozarks or the Appalachia’s. It may be too soon to say, but so far the Appalachia’s are worse.  Today I have been riding grades that are mostly 5% or less. It is not hard to gear down and just spin up those, even when they are long.  Grades above 10% are dif

48 miles, 3:50 riding time, 12.4 mph avg, 2593 ft ascent You will notice that my daily mileage has been decreasing steadily.  I have found that I am not getting enough sleep to fully recover, so the next day my legs get fatigued faster.  Maybe tonight I will get more rest.   Touring hard on a bike because there is lots of shifting. Most downhills are followed by uphill (what goes down must come up!) so shifting quickly from highest to lowest, or nearly lowest, with each hill. It is amazing how quickly gravity pulls on a loaded touring bike and sucks away all momentum!!   There was no welcome sign when we crossed from KY to IL on the ferry so we got the obligatory photo on the way out of IL Third state of tour. Here is the Chester bridge over the mighty Mississippi  There was traffic and no shoulder so I couldn’t take a photo, but the view of the river was impressive. On the other side of the bridge is Missouri.  State 4.  We left the Mississippi River valley and headed up into the Oza

64 miles, 5:25 riding time, don,t know clock time today, 11.6 mph avg, 1329 ft ascent We got a late start today from Jack’s house.  I think we got started around 10:00. Our first task was to find a grocery store to reprovisiom.  Bike touring is all about managing hydration and calorie intake. Today our route would take us through a 38 mile stretch with no services. We chose to take the Mississippi levee alternate route which would take us into the River valley. I was surprised at the amount of water; there’s a lot of flooding. Farming in a food plain is full of risk.  The white mound between the silos are sand bags. About 20 miles in we came across an intersection with 3 road closed signs.  We decided to proceed and found out the signs were not kidding...nowhere to go but back.  We backtracked 3 miles to the Bottoms Up bar and grill to get advice from a local. Cristy told us the water was only 6 inches deep on one road, so we backtracked again and decided to go through the water; Crist

67 miles, 5:47 riding time, 9.5 hrs clock time, 11.6 mph average, 3527 ft of ascent On our way into Golconda last night we went down a big hill, so you guessed it, the day started going back up that hill.  There were three big climbs before we reached our breakfast stop in Eddyville, which was only about 12 miles but it was hot, sunny and very humid.   The rest of the ride today was brutally hot.  People kept telling us about their is a heat advisory in place.  Hydration management was a real challenge.  I usually drink one bottle of water per hour, which at my current pace is about 12 miles.  Every ounce of water I carry on the bike I have to haul up and down all the hills, so you can see the dilemma.  Dehydration is very dangerous, so when in doubt I carried more water.  There are sections along the route where there are no services for 10 or more miles.  After breakfast the terrain was a mixture of rolling hills and wide open valleys.  There weren’t any more big climbs, but there we

79.9 miles, 6:13 riding time, about 12 hrs clock time, 12.8 mph average, 3865 ft ascent We left Sebree at about 0615 this morning.  Out goal was 0600, so not too bad.  We rode the 20 miles to Clay KY before breakfast in order to take advantage of the cooler temperature.  The terrain was generally gently rolling. On the way to Clay I came across this sign.  IQ discrimination, smart people are allowed?  Would a “stupid” person know they were stupid? The ride to the Ohio river got gradually flatter with gentle grades.  You may wonder what cows do on a hot summer day, why of course, they go to the pool for a dip.   When we got to the ferry that would take us across the Ohio River into Illinois I saw the effect of the very wet spring that KY has had.  Lot’s of acres with no crops. We crossed the river into the town of Cave-in-Rock IL where I was lots of painted bicycles around the town.  I was not able to find a local to get the story.  We stopped there for lunch and a long siesta while try

76 miles, 6:10 riding time, about 10.5 hrs clock time, 12.3 mph average, 3465 ft of ascent It had just rained before we came to the Axtel campground last night, so everything was wet and the air was sticky humid.  We had eaten dinner on the way to the campground, so we only had to set up camp and get cleaned up.  Luckily it did not rain overnight, although nothing dried in the humid air.  I did laundry in the washroom sink and set up my “rolling clothesline”, which is a mesh bag attached to the back of my bike.   We managed to get an earlier start today, at 0615.  We decided to get 22 miles behind us before we stopped for breakfast at a diner in Fordsville.  On the way there I saw another variation on the traditional barn quilt. I also saw more of the “Just be kind” signs. There was a similar initiative in Columbia Maryland where I used to live where they gave out “Choose Civility” car trunk magnets.  This was not a fund raiser, but an effort to promote better interactions between peop