Mountain Biking and more big rollers in the Ozarks

Eleven Point River Park: note tortoise on log!
Lunch setting today

After breakfast at the Huddle House, two eggs, country ham, hash browns, a waffle, OJ and a banana, we had only two miles of warm-up before starting the climbing and the rollers didn't relent until after mile 85. In between we got to experience some gravel and dirt roads - mountain biking with a road bike! Our guide said it was a little bit of the Paris-Roubaix (sp?) experience.

We had two sections of gravel today, 4 miles and later 1.6 miles of bone jarring and teeth rattling riding. The hairy parts were the downhill and uphill portions. Downhill because speed control was critical; too much brake and the bike goes crazy. Uphill because out of the seat pedaling results in reduced rear wheel traction if your not careful. Last night our guides warned us about these few miles; I played it conservative deciding to wear my leg and arm warmers and long fingered gloves just a little longer than usual after the morning chill dissipated just in case I hit the deck. Everyone made it safely and there were no flat tires to fix!

Lunch came at mile 49 at a riverside park that was a near perfect setting. The Colorado trio arrived last to lunch today - a rarity for these guys. They made a wrong turn after the first gravel section that cost them 6 extra miles. "Grateful" Dave, perhaps the 2nd strongest ride behind Ricky Bobby had mechanical issues early which put them way behind. He bent his small chainring on the first climb of the day. Matt, Archie and I stayed ahead of the trio until mile 86; these guys are strong riders!

Out of lunch, we had the biggest climb of the day, only 500 feet but at 10-12%! The rollers finally started to flatten out at mile 80 as we were leaving the Ozarks heading for the Mississippi valley. The last 8 miles were nearly flat today.

At the end of the day we stopped at the local Sonic for a Chocolate shake - a recovery drink!

The only flat came less than 3 miles from our hotel; Gary, a member of the Colorado trio had a wire pierce his rear tire.

Todays key stats:
109 miles
3,300 kcals burned (my jeans are loose)
14.6 mph ( takes to the last 20-30 miles or so)
6,515' of climbing (over 14,000+ the last two days)

Tomorrow: another century but my kind of riding - 100 miles with only 1,500' of climbing. A Florida Century! We cross the Mississippi Sunday, finishing in Tennessee at days end. We visit Kentucky for 7.7 miles.