2000 PAC Tour Central Transcontinental
Day 14, September 23
by Ken Bartholic, Cheryl McMurray, and Chuck Bramwell

Daily Map
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Lon's Description: The rest of Kansas is not flat. The hills and trees become more frequent. Rivers and valleys are common east of Winfield. This is the rural heart of America. Motorist wave with one thumb lifted lazily from the steering wheel. Everyone one wears baseball caps from their favorite seed corn supplier. People live in the same town where they were born. Corn on the cob is eaten everyday in season. High school sports are the favorite teams to watch.


Today we rode from Winfield Kansas to Pittsburgh Kansas. The weather was cold and damp, with temps about 60 degrees all day. The winds were from the Northeast and our route was either eastbound or northbound, so we had a partial headwind and a partial cross wind all day. Fortunately, the wind velocities were much lighter than the last 3 days, but it was still a difficult day because of the cold temperatures and the constant headwind. We were all grateful that we didn't get rained on. The terrain in this part of Kansas is more rolling hills, and there are many more trees and other vegetation than we saw in western Kansas, and it is much more scenic.
Ken


THE NUMBERS

Estimated Distance: 152 Miles
Actual Distance: 150.8 Miles
Cumulative Actual Distance: 1,794 Miles

This includes the following off course added miles:
San Diego - 2.0 Miles when Chuck and Bob Harting missed a turn

Winslow - 4.7 Miles when Chuck, Ken, and Les Drake went to the mural painting after the ride

Pagosa Springs - 3.1 Miles when Chuck missed Lunch

Alamosa - 11.2 Miles when Chuck missed the turn for Lunch

Estimated Feet of Climbing: 2,000 Feet
Actual Feet of Climbing: 2,760 Feet
Cumulative Feet of Climbing: 49,800 Feet
Elevation of Destination: 1,210 Feet
Average Speed on the Bike: 15.6 MPH
Maximum Speed on the Bike: 34.0 MPH
Chuck's Heart Rate Data:
Max Heart Rate was 196 BPM a few weeks ago before PAC Tour
Time above 150: 0:17
Time between 130-150: 7:18
Time below 130: 2:56
Dairy Queen Count: 1 Blythe, CA

2 Twister's Ice Cream in Williams, AZ

3 Dairy Queen in Cortez, Colorado was phenomenal

4 Dairy Queen in Monte Vista, Colorado
(PAC Tour Hot Fudge Banana Split:
Bananas, 3 Scoops Ice Cream, Hot Fudge on Side: Awesome!!)

5 Dairy Queen in Pratt, Kansas

6 Dairy Queen in Winfield, Kansas - PAC Tour Hot Fudge Banana Split


Chuck's Relatives Chuck had a great time going to dinner with his relatives from nearby Columbus, Kansas.


Checkout a larger version of this photo


OUR THOUGHTS

Highlights: Bob left after a great hot lunch and headed left down the road. Susan yelled out: "Bob, you're going the wrong way. We don't ever ride with a tailwind on PAC Tour!!" Bob turned right around and slowly powered into the headwind ... like each of us were facing again after the Hot Lunch that tasted good.

Out of the 150 miles today, we may have had 300 yards of tailwind today. The rest of the day was strong headwinds or crosswinds with no tailwind components. It was a tough day of testing. We knew it would be so we started off strong and hard. Cheryl and Chuck teamed up and rode the section after lunch together ... and we had some good talks. This PAC Tour is for sure harder than what we thought we were signing up for ... the heat, the wind, the weather, the miles, and the climbing are wearing us all out!!

At mile 140, Chuck had a slow leak front flat so he encouraged Cheryl to go forward to the finish. This was a true mystery flat ... Chuck hates flat tires but mystery flat tires drive him crazy.

Chuck received a very nice surprise shipment from his most supportive wife Carol at the finish line. Inside the box was a TwinLab Opti-Fuel jug. Inside the jug was a whole bunch of Homemade Chocolate Chip Cookies!! And what's really amazing is that these babies were all in one piece ... not broken into crumbs. A beautiful sight for sore eyes. Chuck went right to work on those babies. We talked a couple of days ago about how each of us only achieve things with the help of others. There are a million examples of this ... but those Chocolate Chip cookies tasted so good you couldn't believe it!! Carol, I Love You!!

Chuck was greeted at the Finish Line with visits from Uncle Bill and family ... it was great to see them from Columbus, Kansas. He went to dinner with Aunt Shirley and family also from Columbus which is a small town south of Pittsburg. Cousin Doug even took him for a quart of milk at the local Wal-Mart and so Ken and Chuck enjoyed Milk and Homemade Chocolate Chip Cookies in their room later that night.

Ken later diagnosed Chuck's mystery flat to be inside towards the rim strip tape so we decided to swap out the rim strip tape and eliminate that variable.

We continue to see what "Howling Winds" are all about here in Kansas.

Tomorrow has 140 miles but includes 6,300 Feet of Climbing. There will certainly be some howling wind added to this day. The weather forecast shows us just ahead of a cold arctic storm which could challenge us even further. We have concluded that this PAC Tour is becoming a very big challenge for sure and that we're going to have to dig very deep indeed.

Please send us some tailwinds ... seems like we've been fighting brutally hard 20+ MPH headwinds and sidewinds forever!!

Chuck
Memorable Scenery: Now we're seeing a lot more trees
Grey, cold skies
Howling winds
Mechanical Problems: At mile 140, Chuck had a slow leak front flat so he encouraged Cheryl to go forward to the finish. This was a true mystery flat ... Chuck hates flat tires but mystery flat tires drive him crazy.
Biomechanical (Engine)
Problems:
We were mighty tired today on the bike ... these winds are taking a big toll on us
What Worked: Not a whole lot
What Didn't Work: Cold and headwinds
Quote of the Day:

"Bob, you're going the wrong way.
We don't ever ride with a tailwind on PAC Tour!!"
Susan yelling out to Bob leaving from Lunch.
Today we had 150 miles with 300 yards of tailwind!!

Chuck's Song of the Day:

"I close my eyes, only for a moment and the moment's gone
All my dreams, pass before my eyes a curiosity
Dust in the wind
All they are is dust in the wind

Same old song, just a drop of water in an endless sea
All we do, crumbles to the ground though we refuse to see
Dust in the wind
All we are is dust in the wind

Don't hang on, nothing lasts forever but the earth and sky
It slips away, and all your money won't another minute buy
Dust in the wind
All we are is dust in the wind

Dust in wind
Everything is dust in the wind"

Kansas, 1977
"Dust In The Wind" on "Point of Know Return"


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