Century #3: Flat Tires Get You Wet

I apologize for not getting on here more often. I am dealing with an anti-virus program issue AND a virus. Boo.

Today's century had a group of four that headed out for the 100-mile challenge. Diana Holland, Mark Oliver and Dale McCuiston were the competitors today. This was Dale's first century ever so this was a pretty big deal for him.

We took off around 7:50 am. The wind was coming out of the northwest and that was the first 30 miles of our ride. By the time we got to Cynthiana, I was only averaging a little over 14 mph. That changed once we hit Hwy 68 with a LONG stretch going east.

We took our first official rest top at the 40 mile mark in Haubstadt. It's been awhile since I have been at that gas station, but a 15 minute breather was good chance to stretch and refill my water bottles.

We hopped back on Hwy 68 and went about another 15 miles until another gas station. It was about 12:00 noon when we arrived. My average had jumped up to over 15.5 mph just through this 15-mile stretch. We stopped because a bathroom break was needed, but opted to have lunch in Boonville where there were some better options (ie: Subway). That would end up giving us another 20 miles of saddle time, but we ate some snacks and headed back out.

I was feeling pretty good at this point. I'm not ever going to say that I am a speed demon, but I definitely was not tired. Even while pushing through the second half of the ride, my legs were still feeling decent. Of course, a tailwind always helps with that.

The wind was still pushing us as we turned to the south towards a small town called Folsomville. Once through there, we made the turn west towards Boonville and the wind started playing with our sped again. We were either going south or west. Our speed was determined by which way we were riding. We hit Boonville at mile 76 and had lunch...finally.

The rest of the ride was pretty easy, except for the weather. We saw rain in the distance but we thought we might beat it out. Unfortunately, the wind suddently shifted and hit us from the south which slowed us down, but didn't knock us out. What ended up being the "nail in the coffin" was the flat tire that Diana got about five miles out.

Dale and Mark went back to grab their cars to give us a ride back in case Di couldn't get here tire working (long story there), but we eventually got it back together. I opted to take a cut across to where Leandra works so I could pick up the car and drive home. That is where the sky opened up.

It actually wasn't too bad. I've ridden in much worse weather. The bad part was missing the stop light at a busy intersection and the suddenly getting dumped on. Nowhere to go...just had to take it.

I may have gotten a little wet, but defintely the downpour I got at the intesection. Regardless, century #3 is done.

12 Day Road Trip in Review

Starting back on the very lat day of April (Friday, April 30), I had a pretty interesting span of 12 days. I compare a lot of things to baseball this almost felt like a road trip for me. Here is the breakdown:

Friday, April 30: 18o mile drive (about 3 hours) to Indianapolis for meeting.
Saturday, May 1: Supposed to leave for home that night. Because of bad storms, we stay an extra night.
Sunday, May 2: 180 mile drive back to Evansville. Meet with chapter at Lyrecrest and conduct phone interview. I get back home around 2:00 pm.
Monday, May 3: Normal day
Tuesday, May 4: Normal Day
Wednesday, May 5: Fly to New Orleans (connection in Chicago) for a conference
Thursday, May 6: New Orleans...enjoyed a couple hurricanes at a piano bar.
Friday, May 7: Find out that Leandra's grandmother dies. Trip to Cloquet, Minn. forthcoming.

Saturday, May 8 (this gets its own paragraph): Fly out to Evansville (connection in Dallas). The plan is to rent a car once I get back to Evansville and start driving once Leandra gets out of work. Flight from Dallas to Evansville is overbooked and volunteers get a $300 voucher and rerouted through Chicago. Since Leandra can pick me up in Chicago, I volunteer, but I have to sit at O'Hare for over 5 hours until she can get there. She picks me up and we go to Elkhorn, Wis. to crash at her sister's place. 392 miles for this portion of the trip, but only about 82 miles with me in the car.

Sunday, May 9: 402 mile drive back to Cloquet, Minn. About 6 hours in the car.
Monday, May 10: Cloquet, Minn.
Tuesday, May 11: 780 miles to Evansville, IN (14 hours)
Wednesday, May 12: Normal Day

In total:
Driving miles - 1,624 miles (not including incidental trips between hotel and places)
Driving time - About 14.5-15 hours
Flying Time and Miles - ???
Time spent in O'Hare Airport - about 7 hours

An Interesting Time in Chicago

(Note: This was written the afternoon of Saturday, May 9, but I was unable to post it until later in the evening when I was able to secure internet access.)

Another Saturday night and I’m stuck in Chicago. O’Hare Airport to be exact. How many of you can say that you’ll be at the airport for 5+ hours while NOT waiting for a flight? Well, that’s my situation.

How did I get into this predicament? Read on…

I started my day in New Orleans for the FCA conference. The plan was to fly back to Evansville with a connection in Dallas/Ft. Worth. Once I got back to Evansville, I was renting a car so Leandra could start our drive to Cloquet, Minn. (close to Duluth) for her grandmother’s funeral.

Everything was going smoothly until we got to Dallas. Our flight back to Evansville was overbooked. For a $300 voucher, I could be rerouted through Chicago. By doing so, I would be getting back about 3 hours later…BUT I would be in Chicago which we would have to drive through anyways to get to Minnesota. I even thought that I could give my best friend a call to pick me up and I could hang with him for a couple of hours.

I made a quick call to the wife and we agreed to take the gamble. I took the voucher and the new tickets (even though I was never planning to use the Chicago to Evansville ticket) and took the flight to Chicago.

So I got off the plane and called my buddy. He’s in Janesville, Wis. visiting his wife’s family. (STRIKE ONE!)

Then I thought I might be able to get to find a way to switch my ticket to send me to Milwaukee, Wis. and find a friend who could pick me up from airport up there. Called a booking agent and explained my situation, but the two flights were both booked. (STRIKE TWO!)

THEN…I thought about standby. So I went to an agent to inquire about getting on a standby list. She told me that the “rules have changed” and that I would have to pay a $50 fee to guarantee that I would get a seat, but that might not be until tomorrow. If I didn’t get the flight, I would still be out $50. On top of that, I was told that the remaining two flights to Milwaukee were already overbooked. (STRIKE THREE!)

In two final strokes of bad luck, I am unable to use my cell phone as my battery was dying and I need to save as much juice as I can to make sure Leandra can find me at the airport. Additionally, I’m not using the internet with the laptop from work because I don’t want to pay for it.

So I rolled the dice and lost. I still have a $300 voucher to use sometime in the next year. But Leandra likely won’t be here until 9:30(ish) and I am writing this at 5:00. I suppose I can take my time with dinner and get some exercise by walking some laps through the terminal.