So far 1,777 73,700 6 7:47
I'm elated, I'm exhausted. Today's ride was through the rolling hills of Eastern Oaklahoma onto the Talimena Parkway. We rode up and down hills all day long. There were five descents where I reached over 40 mph and a couple where I could have but held back either because of road conditions or inability to see the road ahead. There were many more climbs where I rode between 4.5 and 7 mph up the hill. But in the end, doable. Grades early were 5-7% and became steeper, 8-10% as we went along. The steepest grades were 13-15%, handlebar bending, mind-bending grades.
The scenery along the Talimena is incredible. I hope the pictures below help tell the story. The weather was perfect, the pavement was smooth asphalt, there were no trucks, very few cars and a few motorcycles and the winds didn't interfere too much. Motorcycle riders we've encountered so far seem to have an affinity for bicyclists. I think it relates to the fact that we are useing a human-powered vehicle.
A great day for riding and a great place to ride. I broke my rear derailleur cable five miles from the end of the ride and didn't really care. The road had flattened out and I was able to finish with the two useable gears I had. This day ranks in the four best days of riding this year (and ever). I'd have to put some distance between today's experience and come up with some sort of criteria to rank today, day 4 of PAC Tour (Wickenburg, AZ to Cottonwood, AZ), Trail ridge Road and Going-to-the-Sun Road. All of those days are described in blogs below. So I'll just load the blog with pics and hope they convey a little of what I experienced today.
wow you guys are having an incredible experience. Unbelievable that you have ridden over 2 weeks without a rest day. To days description sounded very challenging with 13-15% grades but what a great adventure and accomplishment!!!
ReplyDeleteKeep riding and continue to have a great ride
love the pictures!
Bill