I Ride for Cancer

During day 6, I rode from St. Francisville, LA to Franklinton, LA. The morning started nicely with some pretty big hills heading through the first few towns. I was averaging around 14 mph with the hills. I also started to notice a slight headwind – maybe around 3mph. No big deal, just enough to slow me down a bit.

The first few towns I went through seemed very nice and for all of my badmouthing of Louisiana roads, the roads on this stretch were actually quite nice and smooth.

Right outside of Greensburg (about 50 miles into the ride), I was unfortunate however to get a flat. I’m not sure what I ran over that caused it, but sure enough – there’s another 30 minutes wasted on fixing another flat.

During this morning, Vince headed down to Baton Rouge to Mid City Cycles to get the spoke on the wheel fixed from yesterday. Great guys. If you are in Baton Rouge and need help, we highly recommend them!

Fortunately Vince had planned to meet me for lunch close to I55 and Greensburg is just a few miles outside of it. We ended up meeting at the Greensburg Truckstop and Grill. I got to talking with a lady who was making a sandwich for me and then talked with a few of the other people there. They ended up giving me my sandwich and signed my jersey.

You know what happened next? The manager came out while I was eating and gave a donation and signed my jersey. What great ladies! I’m so surprised at people’s generosity and willingness to help out. What a blessing.

So I continued on riding to Franklinton and as the day got warmer, it started blowing harder. I also noticed some thunderstorms moving in to the east of me. I don’t mind rain, but lightning on the other hand is another story.

So it became a race. Could I make it to the camp site that Vince had set all set up at the Bogue Chitto State Park before the storm rolled in?

It was close. Vince actually met me close to Franklinton and picked me up so I didn’t get caught in the storm. And sure enough, as soon as we pulled into the camp sight, it started poring!

That’s about it. It ended up being a 90 mile day with lots of hills and headwinds! After a good night sleep it was on to Day 7!

Best Church Sign of the Day

God will provide for all of your needs.

Until tomorrow, I’ll be riding the white line! See ya!

Chris over the Mississippi River

Whew! Today was a doozie! The ride today was scheduled to be a very short day – only 64 miles. However due to the technical difficulties we faced it took a LOT longer to get to our destination – St. Francisville.

I started out the day at 7 am – right on time and rode out with high spirits thinking it was going to be an easy day. However, I knew I was riding into a headwind after my first turn north. The first I’ve faced on the trip so far. It was coming out of the North West – exactly the direction I would be going for over half of this day.

The other issue I faced out of the gates were the roads – AGAIN! Right outside of Opelousas I crossed a bridge that had a pothole in the middle of the road! I couldn’t avoid it due to the traffic. How in the world do you have a pothole in the middle of a bridge??

Anyways, my back tire hit it hard and I just KNEW it did something to it. I looked back as I was riding and it seemed a little out of round but was also holding up. However, about 30 miles down the road, I turn into a gas station right before this big bridge to refill on fluids and happen to check that tire. It was not only out of round, it had a broken spoke!!

So I call Vince and tell him my predicament. He happens to be only about 10 minutes behind me with the RV. So he pulls in and we switch out the tire – again –  and hope for the best. We’ll fix the spoke that night.

We also had another problem. The RV park we had planned on staying at is all full up. One of the oil plants around the area there is in shut down, which means that the plant is flying in people to work around the clock to get it back running, which means that those people have to stay somewhere. That also means we needed to find somewhere to stay – quick!

Bruised Ego

After the tire was fixed I crossed the bridge of the Atchafalaya River – it was HUGE! The grade had to have been 10%! And it went up at least 100-200 feet! So I got out of the seat and just climbed and climbed and climbed. I was thinking about stopping at the top to take a picture, but decided to just keep on trucking (or biking really).

Now about 20 miles down the road was my first turn off to take me to the Mississippi River – the Mississippi River Trail Road. At that intersection – I hit a yellow light and decided to stop. Well I stopped and couldn’t unclip my left foot. I ended up falling and hurting my hand and bending my brake a bit. I felt completely stupid as I fell in front of a full intersection of cars.

SO after I picked myself up and checked myself out – nothing was hurt too badly except my pride – I started rolling again. I make it all the way up to a major turn off and there was Vince, waiting for me at a Subway. So we had lunch there and it completely hit the spot.

During lunch we decided to stay at the Best Western in St. Francisville – and we were lucky to get in there! Otherwise I’d have to keep on riding for at least another 30 miles – and at that point, I wasn’t so sure about that.

Crossing of the Mississippi

After lunch I headed out – only 18 more miles to the Mississippi River crossing!

Crossing the Mississippi River was an emotional moment for me and I took a while on the bridge and took a few snapshots and did some reflecting. The thing I focused on was how extremely cool it was to be standing above the Mississipi – and I got there on a bike from Texas. Who would have ever thought? Definitely not me a year ago – that’s for sure.

After the Mississipi it was a “short” 18 miles to the Best Western – straight into the wind. It took me a while, but I made it – just in time. Because not 30 minutes after I get into the room, it started raining. In fact that night, 30 miles south of us in Baton Rouge, it rained 8 inches! Good thing it didn’t rain that much where we were!

Broken Spoke Issue

That evening Vince and I tried to work on the broken spoke. The problem that we ran into was the spoke was on the side of the cassette (what the chain turns) and we needed to remove the cassette. The tool that he has to remove the cassette didn’t work on this one – it was a size too big.

So that meant one thing – we needed to find a bike shop. Only problem is – there are no bike shops in St. Francisville. The closest one was 30 miles away in Baton Rouge. Which also meant that Vince needed to run down there while I rode on my own the opposite direction the next day.

Best Church Sign Quote of the Day

“Shine your light Jesus and show us the path for our life’s journey.”

Or something similar to that –  I need to stop and take pictures of the ones I like!

And that brings us to Day 6 – which I’ll post tomorrow probably! Until then – I’ll be riding the white line!

Sabine River Crossing out of Texas

Day 3 of the I Ride for Cancer 2012 Ride started out very well. I was able to get on the road at 7:30 (I keep shooting for 7 or earlier) which just allows for me to get more miles in before the heat of the day.

So the ride today was from Silsbee, TX to DeRidder, LA – about 76 miles. So a shorter day again, but that’s great for this first week. No need to burn out my legs (and bottom) on 100 mile days starting out.

I had a tailwind. I felt strong. I rode hard for the first 40 miles. My average during that time was around 19mph, which is amazing as I’ve been averaging 16mph lately.

The reason I was making such good time was the tailwind, but also a very nice road with wide shoulders and nice smooth pavement. My first turn however took me onto a very bumpy road with no shoulder that was trafficked by huge logger trucks. Thankfully that stretch was only about 17 miles. By the end of that stretch my arms and shoulders just plain hurt.

The next stretch was again on a nice wide road with smooth pavement and a tailwind again. Plus I got to stop at the Sabine river and take a quick video and a few pictures. Into Cajun Country I go! (That’s Louisiana if you didn’t know)

About three miles from the river, I stopped at what I thought was a convenience store, but was actually a small tractor and lawn mower store. I walked in and immediately knew I wasn’t where I expected to be. Three elderly gentlemen who were sitting around talking looked at me and I said “I don’t think this is a convenience store.”

They all laughed and said, “NO that’s down the road.” As I stated to turn around they asked what I needed and I said “Gatorade”. They said that they had Powerade. I figured that was close enough.

They of course asked where I was heading and I told them to Baltimore. All three of their jaws dropped to the floor. One old guy said, “Well I ride my bike to the river ever once in a while, but that takes me 45 minutes.”

Another old guy said, “I figure I’d just fly there.”

“I’d probably drive – I don’t like to fly.” said Old guy 3.

“You know, my son used to work for continental and he tried to get me to fly for years, but I never would. He’s now an insurance salesman”, said Old Guy 1.

And that’s how my next 15 minutes went until I could eventually get out of there. It was pretty humorous actually how their conversation just went from one thing to another without even notice that I was standing in the room.

So on the bike I went and headed for the next stretch of 19 miles. The rest of the ride was great. With a tailwind still, I made good time. The heat of the day was coming on at around noon, but really not too bad. I made it into the Pleasantville RV Park at around 12:45 where Vince and I met our host and delightful lady – known as the cyclist angel. But that’s going to be the next blog probably tomorrow.

Here’s the best church sign quote of the day: “Disclaimer (or Warning, I can’t remember) – exposure to the son will prevent burning.”

Tomorrow’s ride is 91 miles from DeRidder, LA to Washington, LA. It’s supposed to rain in the afternoon so I’m trying to get an even earlier start to maybe avoid that. Wish me luck and a tail wind!