Day 10: Tuesday, June 19, 2007 - Glad to be Alive!

Today was Day 10 of 17 days across the country. We went 178 miles from Ada AR to Mena AR. It was the second largest amount of vertical gain (10,100 feet) with 8,000 of that starting at around mile 120 for the last 50 miles. This is more gain than riding from Loveland CO (5,000 feet) to the top of Trail Ridge Road (12,183 feet). Before we got too far down the road I snapped this flower picture.

The first 120 miles was a lot of group work. Then the climbing started. This was probably the hardest, hottest, most humid, steepest, coldest, most rain, most lightning and thunder section of 50 miles (given that it started after mile 120) than I have ever done. You only needed two gears - big chainring with small cog, and small chainring with big cog.

I am glad to be alive after this day! First the heat on the lower part of the climb, then the torrential rain and hail mixed with lightning and booming thunder. Mark Pattinson and I started the Talimena Parkway together. The first to get there. I lost contact with him on the second climb. The whole parkway is a series of steep climbs and steep descents on a low traffic road that follow the ridge of the mountains. I'm used to climbing, but not in these hot and muggy conditions. After the one three-mile section of 7-15% grades my legs didn't even want to work going downhill. I rained briefly which made it temporarily cooler. Charles Breer pulled into the "picture taking" sag area as I was pulling out. Then he passed me just before the last checkpoint. I was hoping for more rain. I skipped the last checkpoint not knowing whether or not Charles had stopped there.

Then the skies got dark. The wind came up. Sheets of rain began. Then the lightning and thunder started. I figured I'd try to ride through it and get down to lower elevations. There was lightning all around. After I couldn't see any more and was unsure if I could keep the bike upright a strike seemed to hit just up the road. I got off the bike and left it in the grass and ran to the lower side of the road.

I started practicing the crouching position they suggest for lightning storms. I had no rain gear at all. I was soaked and getting cold. Thoughts of hypothermia came into my mind. I ate everything in my jersey pockets to put some calories in. I began marching in-place in an attempt to generate some heat and prevent my hamstring from cramping. The lightning and rain continued. After about 60 minutes I still hadn't seen any one go by and figured the lightning was a bit farther away. At one point I ran out to put the bike closer to the road so if they came looking for me they could start there. I ventured out an began riding hoping some climbing would warm me up. It was still raining.

While all this was going on Eric Hallam had made his way to the sag van and took shelter inside. He took the really cool video on his digital camera. It shows just how intense the storm was. This video post is using an experimental version of of the blogger software just made available. Play around clicking the big "play" triangle in the middle of the picture and/or the small "play" triangle at the lower left part of the video.

A mile farther down the road, a car honked at me as it was coming out from the Inn that is up on the Parkway. They said two of my friends were up there in the Inn and thinking of getting a room. Later I found out they bought some jackets to wear. I continued down the road with a few remaining climbs and finished safely as the second person in that night. Here is a shot of my had after I got into the hotel. I looks like it was under water for hours!

The end of an exciting day.