Day 01
If it was always this easy, everybody would be doing it.

RIDE OVERVIEW:  Well, we're off.  The staff has been in town for about 3 days and this morning was the best weather we've had so far.  The temperature was cool, but mild as we scurried to an early breakfast and then luggage load.  After getting everyone briefed on our morning routine, we departed the motel in mass to the ocean for our ceremonial tire dip.  We always get friendly toots as we are all decked out in our jerseys and really look like a parade as we beat the traffic to the shore. 

Everyone seemed to be riding well and made the first 1/100th of the ride to the first SAG without incident...just think, we only have to do this another 99 times and we'll be in Amesbury.  I hated to tell them that they had just ridden the easy part and it was going to get sporty the rest of the way as we were about to start climbing...two climbs of about 1000 feet each...one before lunch and one after. 

Today our conditions were the best I've ever seen on this day which negated the effects of the climbing.  Usually this time of year, we close to triple digits by the time we get over the first major climb before lunch.  Even after lunch as we tackled Hwy 79 to Beaumont the temperatures were still cool, even chilly at times...what's this all about?  How can I give the riders credit for a "tough" opening day if the temperatures are like this?  To make matters even worse, as we departed Beaumont we started to pick up howling tailwinds that bumped us along at about 35 MPH without even pedaling.  It was definitely a happy sight to see the windmills along Interstate 10 pointing behind us as we screamed down the frontage road to I-10.  For all you who have ridden with us over the last couple years on this day, eat your hearts out.  It seems we've had headwinds on this day for several of our crossings...well, NOT TODAY!!!  One group even said they passed a freight train going over 40.  Now they didn't tell me which way the train was going, but I assume they meant it was going the same way they were.  Needless to say, everyone thoroughly enjoyed the kick they got and it made for a tolerable and relatively easy opening day.  I'm sure their mood would have been much different had they been going the other direction.  The only real negatives after lunch was at times the roads were a bit bumpy which jarred us pretty good.  And with the strong winds around the mountains, we had several squirrelly wind blasts that made controlling your bike pretty challenging at high speeds.  As I'm typing this in the late evening, my windows are rattling from the fierce winds out there...hope they are behind us again tomorrow.

All in all, it was a great day, but I guess the bottom line is, I'll have to only give them credit for about 100 miles today since they didn't have to pedal for the last 30 miles...don't worry, they'll make it up when they get to Kansas.  We are forecast to have some pretty good weather for the next couple days and we'll be out of here by the time the heat comes back.  And we'll see what happens when we get to Flagstaff...if it's 85 in the desert, it's probably going to be snowing on day 5...see you tomorrow.