Day 18

DAILY REPORT: Everyone was a bit apprehensive this morning.  Gee whiz, why not?  We're looking at 145 miles in some of the most hilly terrain around.  We even are riding through 1000 Hills State Park...does that say something?  I wasn't worried about anyone today.  We were supposed to have some good weather with light winds and these riders are the strongest group we've had on this ride.  I thought they would pedal the miles without a problem...but that remained to be seen.  We had an early breakfast at the motel and most were anxious to get on the road to get some miles behind them during the cool of the morning. 

As I said yesterday, our route was underwater about 3 miles from the motel so we had to detour out into the Missouri countryside early.  The consensus of the group was the new route was worth keeping...it was on quiet back roads and was very scenic...so we kept the route for future rides.  I liked it too...it was easy to navigate and it even cut off a half mile from our original route.  The departure was also beautiful...there was a misty fog covering the low areas which gave the landscape an aura of serenity as the riders crested each rise.  I tried to catch the feeling with several photos...it was really cool. 

Everywhere we rode today we could see signs of recent flooding.  Luckily, aside from the main highway being underwater on our departure, all the rivers and streams along our route had receded.  We could still see debris along the roadside and in some places it was hard to believe the water could get so high.  Residents said they had 7 inches of rain over the weekend.  The same system that hammered us in Abilene hit here just as it left us.  Most of the flooding has moved south of our route and hopefully we won't have any more flooding to deal with.  I'm still nervous until we cross the Mississippi on the ferry.  I think we'll be OK, but we'll know tomorrow.

Our route pretty much followed route 6 except for the 22 mile detour at departure.  To say this day is hilly, is like saying the Pope lives in the Vatican.  A couple years ago one of our riders claimed she counted all the times she topped over a rise...233.  Now there only 145 miles so that makes almost two hills per mile.  The route is definitely up and down and you'll notice in most of the photos today.  The roads were narrow in places and in one particular area just short of Jamesport, the road was about as bad as it could get...narrow, beat up, and busy.  They are working on a new road through that area but that didn't do us any good today...it will be nice next year though.

Everyone was moving along well through about 56 miles when I got a call that we there was an incident...Bill R. had fallen.  He was OK, but his bike was unrideable.  When I arrived at the scene, I found that he had snapped off his left crank arm...it broke just above the pedal.  The real bad news is that he has a non standard bottom bracket...it's an Italian which has different threading pattern than normal.  Finding a bottom bracket and crankset to fit his bike will be hard just about anywhere...let alone in the middle of Missouri.  We're trying to line up a couple options at bike shops in Quincy and Springfield...hope we can solve this.  I'm sure he doesn't want to be in the van.

Other than that, it was a pretty uneventful day...beautiful day, beautiful ride albeit a tough one.  But I was right about this group.  They finished in style with the last riders finishing about 5:15.  Last year the first riders didn't get in until after 5 and the last riders got in after 7:30.  They will be tired tomorrow so we'll load a little later.  Tomorrow's ride is only 89 miles and not nearly as tough as today.  We'll have a tough first half of the day but after lunch the terrain will be pancake flat along the river...hopefully, the road will be above water.  See you tomorrow...we'll be there.

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