OK, fell a little behind on the blog after two very dramatic days both on and off the bike. To catch up, I’m going to post days 5 and 6 here.
We finally caught a bit of a break on day 5 as we hit Kansas and finally got a tail wind to go with a generally downhill profile. The downside was that we hit a massive record setting heat wave that engulfed the entire Great Plains and Midwest region. In fact, we cycled right through Hill City which had the highest temperature in the nation Thursday for the 5th consecutive day. Fortunately, our shift runs from 4AM to noon, so we miss the majority of the heat, but it was still cooking out there!!
The ride itself was fairly uneventful, and that’s the way we like it. With the wind and terrain on our side, we were able to keep a high average pace and finish over an hour early. This was critical since everyone was feeling the effects of the Utah and Colorado days. With the riding done, we hightailed it to Shawnee, KS to spend the night at our driver Larry’s house. Larry and Eileen (and daughter Noel) have been big supporters of Team Will over the years putting our team up for the night, doing our laundry and providing great home cooked food in 2008, 2010 and again this year. Thanks Larry and Eileen!! J
At 5PM Shift 2 headed over to Pizza West in Shawnee for a fundraising event. We had a chance to spend dinner with some of our supporters and families impacted with cancer. We also had the chance to meet 5 of our heroes (kids who have personally battled cancer) in person. Always nice to get their autograph on our cycling jersey. J
With the fundraiser done, it was back to Larry’s house for a rather early bedtime – 9PM. This gave me nearly 6 hours of sleep which has been much more than the previous two nights. That really helps the recovery for the next day on the bike.
Day 5 Summary – June 28th, 2012
Route – Colby, KS – Downs, KS
Miles – 141.3
Vertical – 3,039
Average Pace – 20.8
Events – Fundraiser at Pizza West in Shawnee, KS, 5PM
Weather (Hill City, KS) – Sunny, low 80F, high 108F, wind WSW 10 – 15 mph
Day 5 Profile – Colby, KS to Downs, KS
Luck was still on our side on day 6 (Friday) with another good tail wind. We had an extra early start as we needed to drive 45 minutes from Larry’s house to our start point in Independence, MO. Missouri is an interesting place to cycle. You never get very high, but with the constant up and down the rolling hills, you end up climbing quite a bit. With a relatively easy day in Kansas on Thursday though, the team has recovered it’s swagger and we were off and running covering the route with nearly a 19 MPH pace. I personally covered a shade over 100 miles giving me 575 miles for the trip so far. The legs are tired but still feel pretty solid.
At the 10AM mark, Flight A loaded their bikes and headed off for St. Louis Children’s hospital. This is our third hospital visit (forgot to mention our day 4 visit to Rocky Mountain Children’s Hospital in Denver – awesome time!!) of the trip. Tom, Larry, Amy and Ricky met many new heroes. There are pictures of the visit located on Team Will’s Facebook site (http://www.facebook.com/teamwillcycling).
Day 6 Summary - June 29th, 2012
Route – Independence, MO – Hallsville, MO
Miles – 140.8
Vertical – 8,339
Average Pace – 18.8
Events – St. Louis Children’s Hospital, 2PM
Weather (Independence, MO) – Sunny, low 75F, high 101F, wind WSW 10 – 15 mph
Day 6 Profile – Independence, MO to Hallsville, MO
Thanks for reading,
John
