Lon's Route Description
This day will be remembered for the steep 15% grades of the Talimena Parkway. This Parkway follows the backbone ridge of the Quachita Mountains into Arkansas. 8,000 feet of climbing are packed into the final 50 miles of rollers.
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This day will be remembered for the steep 15% grades of the Talimena Parkway. This Parkway follows the backbone ridge of the Quachita Mountains into Arkansas. 8,000 feet of climbing are packed into the final 50 miles of rollers.
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Tom Rosenbauer
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Ride Recap
After yesterday's unwilling ride in the SAG vehicle, due to missing the cut-off time for the last rest stop, my original goal of riding every mile coast-to-coast was now out of reach. Time to reassess and find a new goal. While I was riding with PAC Tour organizer Lon Haldeman a few days ago, we talked about some of the other riders that decided to leave the tour after only a couple of days. With the reality that doing each day's full mileage is not possible, one alternative to abandoning the tour completely is to just ride the best 100 or so miles of each day. With my tired legs and today's big day of climbing and above average distance, this seemed like a good plan. I decided that I would ride to the first couple of rest stops to see how things felt -- if I was having a good day, I would try and complete the entire ride. If I was riding close to the cut-off times, I would SAG forward to the lunch stop so I could ride today's featured segment: the Talimena Parkway. The Talimena Parkway is a scenic road where the bulk of today's 10,100 feet of climbing at 13-15% grades would be the big challenge today. We were given 5 hours to complete the last 50 miles - a 10 MPH pace.
At today's start, we were split into 3 groups of our own choosing, instead of the mass start of the previous days. This definitely made things a lot safer for everybody. The group I was riding in was going at a very comfortable pace. Unfortunately, I got my second flat of the tour after hitting a rock -- usually, hazards like this are pointed out in a paceline but the one that got me slipped through. So I found myself on my own again. The pressure of the time cuts to each rest stop discouraged stopping the paceline for flats and nature breaks. Just before I lost the group from getting a flat,the rider directly in front of me took a pee break while still riding on his bike. I can't even begin to tell you how disgusting it was to get a shower from his pee as it dribbled down his leg and it sprayed into the wind.
As the morning wore on, the heat and humidity soared -- the desert at the beginning of the tour, while hotter, was beginning to seem not so bad in comparison. Dewpoints were in the 70's: akin to riding in a tropical rain forest. The ice socks were less effective with this high humidity. I was a completely drenched in sweat and melted ice -- from my headband all the way down to my socks. I made it to the 70 mile rest stop ahead of the cut-off, but the flat tire, stopping to help another rider with a mechanical, humidity, and stops to replenish my ice sock did not give me a very comfortable margin of time for all the climbing that lay ahead in the Talimena Parkway. So I decided it was best to implement my fallback plan to SAG forward to the lunch stop. As it turns out, this option did not really save me all that much time, as I waited for the rest stop to officially close and helped pack it up before heading to lunch. And being off the bike for so long in a cool car did not do me much good either.
After a quick lunch break, I started up the first 1,500 foot climb on the parkway. As you can see from the profile above, it was pretty steep and temperatures were in the 90's with tropical humidity. Although the gradients were advertised as being 13-15%, my altimeter was just showing an average of 8-10%. Normally, I would be flying up something like this back in my native Pennsylvania. But today, it was a real struggle just to keep the cranks turning. I was discouraged at how pathetically slow I was on this climb, and there was a whole bunch more to get through before today's finish. But I did get through it all, including a ride through a powerful thunderstorm after the 100-mile mark. You can see from the profile above that the temperatures plummeted from the mid 90's all the way down into the low 60's. I was still completely drenched, and now with all the wind and 50 MPH descents, I went from being overheated to being hypothermic in matter of minutes. Thankfully, one of the PAC Tour support vehicles stopped by to give me some dry clothes. With that issue taken care of, it was a real exciting ride to the finish with all the rain, hail, lightning strikes and falling branches going on, all around.
After yesterday's unwilling ride in the SAG vehicle, due to missing the cut-off time for the last rest stop, my original goal of riding every mile coast-to-coast was now out of reach. Time to reassess and find a new goal. While I was riding with PAC Tour organizer Lon Haldeman a few days ago, we talked about some of the other riders that decided to leave the tour after only a couple of days. With the reality that doing each day's full mileage is not possible, one alternative to abandoning the tour completely is to just ride the best 100 or so miles of each day. With my tired legs and today's big day of climbing and above average distance, this seemed like a good plan. I decided that I would ride to the first couple of rest stops to see how things felt -- if I was having a good day, I would try and complete the entire ride. If I was riding close to the cut-off times, I would SAG forward to the lunch stop so I could ride today's featured segment: the Talimena Parkway. The Talimena Parkway is a scenic road where the bulk of today's 10,100 feet of climbing at 13-15% grades would be the big challenge today. We were given 5 hours to complete the last 50 miles - a 10 MPH pace.
At today's start, we were split into 3 groups of our own choosing, instead of the mass start of the previous days. This definitely made things a lot safer for everybody. The group I was riding in was going at a very comfortable pace. Unfortunately, I got my second flat of the tour after hitting a rock -- usually, hazards like this are pointed out in a paceline but the one that got me slipped through. So I found myself on my own again. The pressure of the time cuts to each rest stop discouraged stopping the paceline for flats and nature breaks. Just before I lost the group from getting a flat,the rider directly in front of me took a pee break while still riding on his bike. I can't even begin to tell you how disgusting it was to get a shower from his pee as it dribbled down his leg and it sprayed into the wind.
As the morning wore on, the heat and humidity soared -- the desert at the beginning of the tour, while hotter, was beginning to seem not so bad in comparison. Dewpoints were in the 70's: akin to riding in a tropical rain forest. The ice socks were less effective with this high humidity. I was a completely drenched in sweat and melted ice -- from my headband all the way down to my socks. I made it to the 70 mile rest stop ahead of the cut-off, but the flat tire, stopping to help another rider with a mechanical, humidity, and stops to replenish my ice sock did not give me a very comfortable margin of time for all the climbing that lay ahead in the Talimena Parkway. So I decided it was best to implement my fallback plan to SAG forward to the lunch stop. As it turns out, this option did not really save me all that much time, as I waited for the rest stop to officially close and helped pack it up before heading to lunch. And being off the bike for so long in a cool car did not do me much good either.
After a quick lunch break, I started up the first 1,500 foot climb on the parkway. As you can see from the profile above, it was pretty steep and temperatures were in the 90's with tropical humidity. Although the gradients were advertised as being 13-15%, my altimeter was just showing an average of 8-10%. Normally, I would be flying up something like this back in my native Pennsylvania. But today, it was a real struggle just to keep the cranks turning. I was discouraged at how pathetically slow I was on this climb, and there was a whole bunch more to get through before today's finish. But I did get through it all, including a ride through a powerful thunderstorm after the 100-mile mark. You can see from the profile above that the temperatures plummeted from the mid 90's all the way down into the low 60's. I was still completely drenched, and now with all the wind and 50 MPH descents, I went from being overheated to being hypothermic in matter of minutes. Thankfully, one of the PAC Tour support vehicles stopped by to give me some dry clothes. With that issue taken care of, it was a real exciting ride to the finish with all the rain, hail, lightning strikes and falling branches going on, all around.
This picture is for my wife Becky, and all the other Rainbow Girls out there (Rainbow is affiliated with the order of Free Masons). This building is the "International Temple, Surpreme Assembly, Order of the Rainbow for Girls".
Lunch was at park pavillion.
At the park, there was a nice cool swimming pool ... this certainly looked like a better option than a 60 mile bike ride with 8000 feet of climbing in tropical conditions.
The parkway starts in the Winding Stair National Recreation Area with a truck warning.
The view at the first climb. The high humidity made it very hazy and difficult to see the valley far below.
Today was the official picture day. At this point, I am completely soaked from head to toe.
Below are some shots taken after the storm blew through, on the final climbs before the descent to the finish.
Below are some shots taken after the storm blew through, on the final climbs before the descent to the finish.
