Taking the Ozarks one roller at a time!

this was a big day of climbing in the Ozarks. Getting out of Branson was a little tougher than expected as the morning traffic was the heaviest we had to contend with so far. Coupled with a pretty dense fog and roads without shoulders made for some tight moments. Once we got out into the countryside the traffic thinned and shortyly thereafter the fog did too, but not before we had to stop and wipe are sunglasses dry. We needed wiper blades today!

The climbing started almost immediately which was not fun considering the lack of warm-up riding and the traffic conditions. Overall my Garmin report 7,658' of climbing today; our route guide proclaimed 9,200+' whatever the distance it was the most since the Rockies.

We passed through more of the Mark Twain National Forest as it surrounded Bull Shoals Lake and Norfolk Lake. The route took us to the waters edge of these lakes several times (Bull Shoals being the largest). The recent hurricanes have swollen these lakes considerably. Our lunch astop was at a public marina on Bull Shoals that was predominately under water. At another bridge crossing we found a rodeo center completely underwater.

Other than the lakes and surrounding scenery, the ride was pretty uneventful. "Big Wave" Dave, one of our guides had the only flats of the day (2 of them). He rode with the Colorado trio today as Greg got back in the saddle finally. He is sporting a new nickname tonight as the group has renamed him "Half Day" Dave since he rode only up to lunch today. Tara, our masseuse, wanted to ride some miles today so Dave switched places with her as she normally drives one of the road support vehicles. Needless to say, we spun the story the other way to justify his new moniker, since something like this happened in Oklahoma.

My riding buddies had some bad luck today. First, Archie missed the turn at mile 71 and rode about three miles out of the way before turning around to rejoin us. Matt went to fetch him pack to our group. Then at the end of the day, Matt missed the final turn to the hotel. He too rode about three extra miles before deciding something was wrong and turned around.

Dinner was at a really nice retaurant in West Plains, a college town - home to Missouri State University. A great Spinach salad with feta cheese, pine nuts and strawberries preceded a nice salmon dinner with pasta and peas. Most of the group opted to pass on dessert.

Tomorrow we have breakfast at a Huddle House restaurant as the Best Western we're at only serves continental breakfast. The Trek guides have provided us with some great lunches, excellent dinners (rare exceptions - Golden Corral fir instance) and have made sure we get hot breakfasts.

Todays key stats:
101 miles
3,500 kcals burned!
7,658' of climbing
53.1 mph top speed ( I let it fly going down one of the longer descents - FUN!)

Pictures will be posted tomorrow as i'm out of time tonight!