The Adventures of Sam and Thelma

I had a nice 60 mile ride planned for this weekend.  I decided to try out a new route that I never rode before.  Let's call it an epic ride.  I didn't get a flat tire, but just about everything else that could go wrong, did.

Can you see my detours?  There's more than one!

First, there was road construction that forced me onto KS 32, which is a state road where the speed limit is 65 mph.  Not good.  I rode it for about a mile and got off on the first paved road I found.  A little later, I stopped to check my map and make sure I was on the right track.  I forgot to zip up my seat pack and on the next uphill, I head "Smash! Clatter!"  Oh no, that sounded like my phone. I turned around and sure enough, my phone was sliding down the hill in several pieces.  Don't worry, it was just fine.  But I had to walk up the hill since it was too steep to get back on my bike. 

I went looking for hills and I found them!

 So I kept on.  Later, I missed a turn and that put me on KS 24, another 65 mph route.  I quickly back-tracked and was headed to the next town.  I stopped at a gas station and refilled my aero bottle with water and bought a Gatorade.  Good thing I did, too.

Just south of town, I saw a sign "Road Construction Next 10 Miles."  Oh no, I need this road for at least 8 miles.  The road wasn't closed, but it was milled, which is very rough pavement.  I tried to ride it and I couldn't.  I stopped and called John.

"Please tell me you can find me a paved detour."

"Um, it's gravel in all directions.  Sorry Sweetie.  Do you want me to come and get you?"

"No, I'll tough it out."

I rode on the rough pavement about 2 miles until I found a side road that was paved.  The rough pavement seriously hurt my hands, arms, legs, and butt. 12 mph was the best I could do.  I was so glad to see smooth pavement.  I was feeling good until that point and after the rough pavement, everything just fell apart.  Then, two miles later that pavement turned to gravel.  Shit.

Now I'm several miles off the nearest "paved" road, which isn't much help anyway.  My aero bottle developed a crack on the rough pavement and I lost all my water.  I'm somewhere around 55 miles in this day, I'm down to one bottle, and I hurt. I was on the verge of tears.  The only option was to head south on the gravel road and hope I hit pavement soon. 

So south I rode.  I couldn't use my aero bars and couldn't go over 15 mph without losing control.  I did another 2-3 miles on gravel (on a tri-bike) and finally hit pavement.  Thank God.  I headed back toward Kill Creek Park.

But my bad luck wasn't over yet.  On one of the last big uphills, a car that had passed me and was clearly lost, decided to come to a stop in the middle of the uphill. 

"You stupid piece of @(*$^(*ing  $#@)(!!!"  I wasn't happy and too tired to have to re-start on a steep uphill.  I just wanted to get back to my car.

I made it back and finished 62.5 miles in 3:30.  I'm hoping that I used up all of my negative karma on this ride so everything goes smoothly at Austin.  It actually would have been a nice ride if not for the milled pavement.  But on the bright side, my legs still felt fresh over 40 miles in.  I'm still feeling good about Austin.