September 26th, 2006
Today the sunshine held ONCE again and we had a pleasant recovery ride along an 87 mile, 3700 ft climbing route into Arkadelphia, Arkansas. We spent most of the day easy pacelining in a group of about 6-15 riders. The morning started in the typical 48 degree cool weather, enough to wear arm warmers and vest which were shed by lunch time. Our first sag stop took us into the huge town of Big Fork, Arkansas with its 250 families, 4 churches, and 1 mall. We stopped at the country mall and you can see from the photos that this is the place to be for the residents of this town. We learned that the Ouachita mountains are the only range that runs east-west in the continental US and we rode through them!
Our last 20 miles were on back roads which reminded me of our Rhode Island rides and I took the opportunity to invite my fellow riders to lil’ Rhody for some really nice road riding like this spot in Arkansas. The smooth winding road also gave me a chance to photograph some of my riding companions with ‘action riding shots’. We got into our hotel about 2pm and we have fast food Mexican, Subway, Taco Bell, or Cracker Barrell for dinner. I think I’m going light with a walk to Subway. We are quickly developing a post-ride tradition by stopping for a milk shake- either McDonalds, Dairy Queen, or Baskin-Robbins. Below you see a photo of Butch and me sipping our post-ride shake. Tomorrow we’re off to our last stop in Arkansas and then onto Mississippi…
Big Fork Mall, Arkansas with owner and customer.
From left to right: 1. Paul, a veterinarian from Wisconsin and Greg, an architect from Pennsylvania 2. Gary from Wisconsin 3. Butch from Wisconsin 4. Larry, famous finance textbook author from California 5. Anne from New York and 6. Walt- Team RAAM veteran (also, Larry is a team RAAM veteran).
Butch and I having what has become our traditional post-ride milk shakes!
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September 25th, 2006
Today was a climbing day! We covered the 113 miles with 8,300 ft of climbing over the Talimena parkway. This parkway runs from Oklahoma to Mena, Arkansas with 10-13% climbs and descents every 1/2 to 1 mile. Ned and I hit it hard all day, trying to get a good workout after many days of chit-chat flat, tailwind days. We covered the course in just about 7 hrs, including stops at 30, 50, 75 (lunch), and 98 mile marks. The parkway was really hard, feeling much like a roller-coaster ride from mile 59 to 108!!! It was beautiful scenery all along the parkway as you can see from the photos below. Tonight we are in Mena in heaven with a Super Wal-Mart, Sonic, McDonalds, Baskin-Robbins, etc. Tomorrow will certainly be a recovery day since it’s only 89 miles and about 3,500 ft of climbing to Arkadelphia. Once AGAIN, the weather was absolutely perfect with sunny, light winds all along the route.
Talimena Parkway from Oklahoma to Arkansas. 50 miles of constant 10-13% grades up and down- about .5 to 1 mile long segments. Absolutely beautiful.
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September 24th, 2006
Today’s 15th day of riding brought us to our last stop in Oklahoma, McAlester. This town is the location of the state prison, although we’re staying at a hotel on the other side of town. It was another fairly flat day of 100 miles and 3,252 ft of climbing through more rolling hills of Oklahoma and great weather. Tomorrow we hit some big hills as we enter into Arkansas and go for 10,000 ft of climbing over 114 miles to Mena, AR. Many riders took it really easy today, in anticipation of tomorrow’s hard day of climbing.
We also celebrated my new buddy, Andrew’s birthday with a birthday watermelon. More on that in a second but here’s the deal for Andrew- he actually gets 2 days of birthday celebration as he is from Australia where it’s already Monday, his actual birthday. Anyway, the story behind the ‘birthday watermelon’ is that at 15 miles before the lunch stop there was a house on the side of the road selling homegrown watermelons. I split off of the riders I was with to check out the situation and ended up carrying this watermelon in a plastic shopping bag- I had the farmer help me hook my arms through the bag’s carrying handles and then off I went to the lunch stop. It was great going downhill with more weight, but couldn’t get out of the saddle to climb since the watermelon shiften too much on my back. At lunch the van carried it to the hotel and we just had a little birthday celebration for Andrew when we arrived. I know his mom and dad, Mr/Mrs Hodge, are reading this blog so you should know that we didn’t forget!
Andrew cutting his home-grown, Okie, birthday watermelon!
Bison seen along the road outside of McAlester, Oklahoma
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September 23rd, 2006
Another FANTASTIC day in Oklahoma riding from Hinton to Paul’s Valley, 111 miles and 3251 ft of climbing on a perfectly sunny, warm-but-not-too-hot, day and SMOOTH roads! In fact, some of today’s roads felt very similar to my riding back home in Rhode Island with quiet, narrow, twisty, roller, back roads. I rode with Ned again today, as we are very compatible in our riding style- giving it some efforts between rest stops, pacelining and chasing at times, and chatting about ‘life in the medical field’ at many other times (although his patients have 2 legs and mine have 4 legs). Remember, Ned received his special recognition last night as a 10,000 mile PAC tour rider and he rode with his “10K jersey” today. The winds were mostly favorable with either crosswinds and then finished with quarter tailwind. The scenery here in middle Oklahoma is very pretty with rolling hills and green pastures and trees. Cattle and horses sprinkle the countryside and I venture to say that many riders think that Oklahoma has provided some of the most scenic riding of the tour, along with our climbs in the Prescott National Forest in Arizona. It felt great to be back in Oklahoma, as I lived in Stillwater from 1980-1985 and visit only every 5 years or so for reunions.
We lucked out again with the weather as yesterday and this morning there were T-storms and tornadoes in this general area and they moved out before we got here. We’re off to McAlester, Oklahoma tomorrow for our last relatively flat stage, then onto the Ozarks in Arkansas with LOTS of climbing including 10,000 ft on the route from McAlester to Mena, Arkansas.
Our mornings are run on perfect ‘PAC Tour time’ and as we get into the tour, it seems that we may be better organized in the mornings. Here you see riders waiting to have gear bags loaded into the trailer before departing on bikes to the next destination.
Ned received his 10K mile jersey last night. Here he is showing off his new jersey at the lunch break. It’s been great being able to ride with Ned every other day as he has to work as crew on his every other, non-riding day. He’s a pediatrician (I guess that’s sort of like being a veterinarian treating 2 legged patients!) from upstate, NY.
Two ways that I knew I was back in Oklahoma- oil wells and Braum’s ice cream shop! Many of us have gotten into a post-ride milk shake habit and Braum’s is the best!
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September 22nd, 2006
Well, today’s ride from Erick to Hinton, Oklahoma took us through our halfway point, both in days and in mileage. Again, we had absolutely perfect weather and a much more scenic route with trees and rolling hills and favorable winds. The route took us over 103 miles and 2776 ft of climbing, most of it on historic US Route 66. In fact, route 66 was the theme to our ride today as we took time to visit 2 route 66 museums, one in Elk City and the second museum was our lunch stop in Clinton, OK. Lunch was once again perfect with make your own burritos- you can get the idea that lunch is my favorite part of each day’s ride! PAC Tour paid our admission fee to each museum and we learned when and how route 66 came to be in the 1930’s. A lot of the day we ran parallel to I-40 and as you can see below, it was an interesting contrast at one point to see route 66 and I-40 running parallel with windmills on the side of the roads in oil-rich Oklahoma.
Just before our last rest stop we rode past a small animal hospital and I took the time to stop in to see who the veterinarian was there. It turns out that Dr. Tom Cox graduated in 1981 from Oklahoma State veterinary school, the same year that I started at OSU veterinary medicine. We had a nice 15 minute chat in his air-conditioned practice and we caught up a bit on some mutual friends from the good ol’ days at OSU. Tom, if you’re reading this blog, you should REALLY take the time to do PAC Tour some day- as the commercial goes, “JUST DO IT!” Your practice will still be there when you return (or at least I THINK my practice will be there when I return!).
Spirits are very high tonight as we had a poolside buffet at the hotel with celebration of our halfway mark. Lon and Susan also presented awards to two people with us on the crew- Sheila and Ned…they both surpassed the PAC Tour, 10,000 mile point! Lon and Susan have been feeding us SO well, many of us have been thinking that we’re actually putting on weight as we ride!
Two route 66 museums along the way today, true Americana.
I call this photo “Contrasts” as you can see the modern I-40 on the left side, historic Route 66 in the center (we’re riding on this road), and windmills on the right in oil-rich Oklahoma!
Dr. Tom Cox (OSU Veterinary Medicine, 1981) and myself (OSU Vet Med, 1985)
Day 13 and 1498 miles under our belts. Bring on Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia!
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September 21st, 2006
We are now in Erick, Oklahoma with very difficult connections to the computer so I will make it short and sweet and let you enjoy lots of photos! The route was 117 miles and 2000 ft climbing with a whopping tailwind- hardly had to pedal the whole way from Amarillo to Erick! Ride was pretty boring until we got to Erick and then experienced the highlight of the trip with a visit to Annabelle and Harley in town at their ’shop’. They are amazing folks- they greeted our group with food and song and comedy- as they say it, they are America’s best redneck stop! Anyway, other people waiting to use this computer connection so I will leave you with photos… Sorry to be so short tonight- will try to explain more another night.
Greg, Paul, and Anne at lunch. Anne proudly showing her FDNY uniform for her husband, Mike, who is on the department, and then the ‘back end’ of the uniform!
Crazy Harley and Annabelle at their shop in Erick, OK. They welcomed us warmly with food, song, and redneck humor. This visit was THE highlight of our trip!
Old gas station seen along the way to Erick, OK.
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September 20th, 2006
Can you believe another flat, tailwind day?! We left Clovis, NM and rode 112 miles to Amarillo, TX over only 1000 ft of climbing today. The tailwind again kept everyone moving along at 20-25 MPH easily and 29-32 MPH with some effort at the end. I rode the day with the Aussies and a bit with Reed and Jim from RI. Not much to see along the way besides the state sign and some horses interested in our rest stop near the end of the ride. Tonight we are staying off of I-40 at the Big Texan hotel and restaurant. This restaurant is famous for a challenge where they will give you your dinner for free if you can eat a 72 ounce steak in 1 hour! Some people were talking about taking the challenge. Tomorrow we head into my adopted state of Oklahoma as that’s where I lived for 5 years while attending veterinary school. Anyway, it’s only 20 minutes away from this special dinner so I better finish this post and get organized. Thanks for everyone’s support I receive via e-mail from all over the world- Italy, Australia, Canada, and USA.
Jon, our crew from San Antonio, says “Don’t Mess with Texas!”
Curious horses at our last sag stop outside of Amarillo, TX
Big Texan Restaurant, Hotel, and HORSE Hotel- Amarillo!
A good time at the Big Texan Restaurant; Brett trying the Floyd Landis approach to fast riding for tomorrow morning!
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September 19th, 2006
I think I speak for everyone in the group that today was a ‘gift’ of a 109 miles with a tailwind for most of the way and only 1900 ft of climbing between Roswell and Clovis, NM. Again, the skies were cloudless and temps in the 80’s- just perfect weather. My average speed for the day was 20.5 MPH. Since today’s route was uneventful I thought I’d yak about a couple of things I haven’t mentioned to date.
First, a few words about a couple of unusual bicycles on the tour. The distinct winner of the ‘ironman PAC Tour’ rider goes to Steve from California with his fixed gear bike. In case you don’t know what a fixed gear bike is about, he has ONE gear for the entire trip (49/19 gearing) and he can’t coast- he has to pedal the entire time. So when we’re coasting downhill at 44 MPH, he has to keep pedaling and slow down by backpedaling and tapping his single break but his legs are constantly moving. The other unusual bike is Susan’s recumbent bike- again, probably difficult to climb with but she can kick some butt on the flats. Speaking of flats, these last couple of flat days have been good to mix up the group and ride with people we hadn’t ridden with in the mountains. The group stays closer together so we get to see different people along the route, at the rest stops, and lunch.
Next, I thought I’d describe our typical PAC Tour day (at least from my perspective). I set the alarm for either 5-5:30am, depending on our departure time, either at 6:30 or 7am. I get up and check e-mail, pack my bag, and then about 10 minutes before breakfast (either at 6am or 6:30am) I bring my computer to the trailer and bring my bike to the rack. I pump up my tires with the aid of a hotel light or flashlight, then filll my water bottles. Breakfast happens at 6 or 6:30am sharp and we usually eat outside in the parking lot but the last couple of days we’ve had breakfast sitting down inside the hotel’s breakfast area. We eat oatmeal, cold cereal, bagels, banana, juice, etc. I go back to my room to get my gear bag which is loaded just prior to departing and then we’re off. Rest stops are about every 25 miles and we refill our stomachs and water bottles. Lunch happens at about the 75% of the route and we take about 30 minutes to eat. We jump back on our bikes to finish the daily route, then get to the hotel in mid to late afternoon. We pick up our hotel keys, clean and lube the bikes, and shower. We usually go to local restaurants in groups of 4-8 people and go to sleep by 9-9:30pm but not until we check the weather channel on TV. We get up the next day and do it all over again!
Antelope seen on yesterday’s route 
Just before Clovis, NM, Welcome?
Steve on his fixed gear bike and Susan on her recumbent.
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September 18th, 2006
Another spectacular weather day of cycling in New Mexico but a COLD start! Our hotel last night was on the side of a mountain which meant an immediate climb followed shortly with a long, 8%, 1.5 mile descent, followed by another climb and another descent….well, you get the idea. Usually wouldn’t be much of an issue BUT my bike computer showed 36 degrees at the start. Some of us just couldn’t get warm for over an hour, even when the temps started to climb to the 60’s and even 70’s. The ride was fairly flat with only 3103 ft of climbing. The road we were on most of today was extremely quiet with only 2 cars passing us for about 50 miles. Along the way we saw a few herds of antelope and crossed a few running streams. By the way, my old zoology prof at URI and another wildlife person says that the snake we saw yesterday was a rat snake, not a rattler. Most of us took it easy today with some casual, chit-chat riding and we seemed to ride with some people we hadn’t ridden with yet on the tour. We’re now in booming Roswell, NM with a Wal-Mart down the street and real restaurants so we’re off to some nice dinner places.
VERY quiet New Mexico road from Ruidoso to Roswell, NM
Crew member, Steve, taking his day on the bike, crosses one of the streams we encountered.
Our lunch stops typically look like this- the trailer pulls off the road and sets out a fantastic spread of food each day- burgers, burritos, sandwiches, pasta, desserts, cold drinks, ice…..You name it, they can serve it!
James, from Rhode Island, showing our progress on the map. Each day the line of progression looks a little bit longer.
Greg (Pennsylvania/on left) and Gary Abrams, MD (right). Gary and I are not related BUT coincidentally he is a physician ophthalmologist and I’m a veterinary ophthalmologist! What are the odds of one people eye doctor and one doggy eye doctor with the same last name being on the same PAC Tour?!
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September 17th, 2006
Today’s 105 mile route from Socorro to Ruidoso, NM was absolutely beautiful! The weather was perfect with blue, sunny skies and temps around 80 degrees. Our terrain changed from desert to pine forest to lava fields back to Pine Forest, all in one day. The route was very hilly with 6700 feet of climbing over the day. Reed’s ankle is bothering him but as you can see in the photo, he’s still a studly rider making it to the end. Along the way we saw the pictured snake; not sure yet if it was a rattlesnake so if anyone knows for sure, let me know at kabrams@peteyespecialsit.com. We also saw the valley of lava rocks pictured below. I realized that this trip is no foolin’ around as 5 people have had difficulty with severe edema- supposedly related to exercise at altitude- something about the hypoxia-renin-angiotensin pathway; anyway, one rider had to make a visit to the emergency room last night for a diuretic injection. Also, 2 riders have abandoned the trip to head home. This is not a trip for the casual tourist!
Susan N, our tour guide standing near the lava fields.
Left: Some riders at the last rest stop today. Right: Studly Reed with bum ankle
Snake found along the way…diamondback rattlesnake?
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Big Fork Mall, Arkansas with owner and customer.
Butch and I having what has become our traditional post-ride milk shakes!
