Ride reports:
Day 1 - Platte City to Tilden - 66 miles, mostly flat with a slight tailwind, 19.1 mph average speed. Extremely easy day. Rode most of the day with Bill G., John M., and Daniel R. (who is David R.'s son), but occasionally joined up with others as well.
Day 2 - Tilden to Bloomfield - 65 miles, flat until the last twelve miles. Started with a tailwind, then a slight crosswind. The last 12 miles were rollers on steroids - think the same slope (or a little steeper) as the hill outside of Denton, but twice as high. 18.2 mph avg. Easy day except for the hills at the end of the ride. Bill G., Bruce and Alisa, and David R. added 35 more miles on this day to do a century on Bill's birthday. I decided to stick to the planned route, so I let them go after about 30 miles and rode the rest of the way with John and Daniel, among others.
Day 3 - Bloomfield to Ponca - 67 miles, rolling hills the whole way - not quite as big as day 2, but lots of hills. Nice weather until after we stopped for lunch - steady rain for the last 12 miles. Average speed 17.6 mph. Rode with David R., Bruce and Alisa, Daniel R., and Bill G. most of the day.
Day 4 - Ponca to West Point - 76 miles, big rolling hills for about 60 miles, then a nice flat stretch to finish. Very light headwind all day. 16.9 mph avg. Only bad stretch was an 8 mile section of really rough shoulder towards the end of the ride. Otherwise, it was an easier day than expected. Rode with Alisa, Bruce, Daniel, and Bill all day.
Day 5 - West Point to Platte Center - 62 miles, rolling hills and a steady mist for the first 40 miles, then a long gradual incline with a few risers into a moderate headwind for the last 22 miles. Average speed was 16.2 mph. That last stretch was the toughest of the week because of deep expansion cracks about every 30 yards or so - 20+ miles of constant bumps at the end of a five day ride is not good for the butt. Rode for a while with the same folks, but Alisa and Bill were struggling with the hills early, so we all kind of broke up and rode our own pace. We regrouped in Madison and did the last 22 miles in a paceline with Dave, Daniel, Alisa, and Bruce, until I fell off at about mile 60 so I could stand up over every expansion crack without slowing down the line.
Pics to come soon.
5 comments:
Good recap Bob. Sounds like you had minimal wind to contend with. Did you ride with Jordan/Angie at all?
They were unable to come - but the big news is that they are or have already moved to Lincoln, so we will have the chance to ride and hang out soon.
Really!? Man, that is great news.
Sounds like good mileage and a great trip overall. I want to see pics!
We really enjoyed riding with you on TDN this year. The fact that your recap shows slower averages each day confirms what my body was telling me - the days got harder as the ride progressed. We look forward to seeing pictures when you have a chance to get them posted!
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