Apple Butter 200K

Yesterday was another great day to ride a 200K. I joined Nancy and Mike Myers for the inaugural run of their Apple Butter 200K permanent from Baxter Springs, KS, to Mt. Vernon, MO. Mt. Vernon has an annual apple butter festival. With the change from daylight savings time, we planned to leave at 6:30AM. We ran into a glitch when the first control was not open, but we were able to get a gas receipt. The time switch was a problem at several of the controls because their cash register clocks had not been reset. The temperature at the start was 48 degrees, slightly warmer than predicted, and the wind was out of the south. The route goes right through Joplin on 20th Street, but traffic was light both outbound and inbound. It probably helped that it was a Sunday. The temperature was close to 60 degrees when we got to the second control in Sarcoxie, MO, so we shed most of our outerwear. The south wind held until we started back from Mt. Vernon when it shifted to the southwest. It was stronger than predicted, at 14 to 19 miles per hour. To keep up with the low-profile recumbent, I drafted quite a bit on the way back. An interesting feature of the route is that there is a significant hill as you enter almost every city or town. There is a fair amount of climbing on the route. Overall, I measured 4,500 feet, and at the turnaround in Mt. Vernon, it was 2,130 feet. This gets me through five of the 12 months I need for the RUSA R-12 award. Nancy and Mike will have 12 months when they complete a 200K in December.

Sunrise in Galena














Nancy & Mike outbound














Getting ready to leave Mt. Vernon














The wind shifted to the southwest

2010 Southwest Missouri Brevets

The Southwest Missouri brevets will again be run through the St. Louis region for 2010. The 200K brevet is on March 20, 2010 and the 300K on April 17, 2010. Both brevets will start in Springfield and follow the same routes as last year. Both events are sanctioned by Audax Club Parisien (ACP). Additional brevets can be found on the RUSA web site.

To Err Again

John Dilsaver and I had planned to ride the Route 66 & Cooky's Pie Permanent on Saturday, but John was not feeling well. Mike and Nancy Myers were riding the To Err is Humansville Permanent, so I decided to ride with them with some apprehension. The Myers ride a recumbent tandem and I have not been riding much, so I was not sure I could keep up with them. We left Strafford at 7:00 AM with the temperature a chilly 34 degrees but no wind. We hit the first control in Buffalo just after 9:00 AM. The wind began to blow out of the southwest at 6-8 miles per hour, but we made good time to Humansville, getting to the control right at noon. The temperature had warmed to a toasty 60 degrees, and the wind picked up to about 14 miles per hour giving us a good push back to Buffalo. Unfortunately, it shifted out of the south as we were leaving Buffalo and I began to tire. The Myers built a lead on me, although they stopped once because they were unsure of a turn. They were soon ahead of me again and were topping the route's biggest and steepest hill on Farm Road 223 as I came off of MO 125. I pulled into the Travel America in Strafford at 5:45 PM, 15 minutes after the Myers. The constant hills helped me generally stay with the Myers because while they were faster on the flats and downhills, I was able to catch up on the climbs. My higher profile into the wind contributed to my slower pace on the last leg south out of Buffalo. I am glad I went because it preserves my string of 200K rides in pursuit of the RUSA R-12 award.

Nancy & Mike Myers

Winter Riding in October

It is already getting too cold for most cyclists to ride in this area. Doug, Rae, Tom, Neil and I headed out this morning at 7:30AM for pancakes at the VFW in Strafford. The temperature was about 40 degrees, and it had rained during the night, so the roads were wet. It looked like the sun was going to breakout on the way to Strafford, but more clouds moved in while we were eating breakfast. As usual, the vets bent over backwards to make sure we got enough pancakes, juice and coffee. We left the VFW just after 9:00AM for Fair Grove, We were going to turn back towards Springfield short of Fair Grove, but we missed the turn and headed on into town rather than backtrack. We had a tailwind on the way back to Springfield, so we made good time. The County paved several of the farm roads this past summer, making for a smooth ride. The sun never came out, but then it never rained either. Hopefully, we will see a warming trend soon. John and I still have a 200K permanent to ride this month.

Kum & Go in Fair Grove

To Err is Humansville 205K

John Dilsaver and I rode this permanent on Saturday. It is the toughest local permanent with 8,930 feet of climb. Fortunately, we picked a great day to ride. It was mostly overcast with no wind. We managed to avoid the rain that was predicted. It was a pretty unremarkable ride. We were chased by a few dogs and saw historic buildings; Texas longhorns; mules; great blue herons as we crossed Pomme de Terre Lake; a bevy of quail in the road and lots of goldfinches feeding along the road. As we were pulling into Humansville on Business MO Highway 13, a couple of ambulances came screaming the other way. When we got into town, we saw a van that had slammed into a telephone pole. We heard later at Nana's Country Cafe that the driver was a local and had a heart attack. Nana's was decorated with a John Deer theme.

John at the 6:00AM start














Control in Buffalo














We saw mules














Lunch stop in Humansville














We saw Texas longhorns, but they stampeded
away when they saw the camera














Log one-room schoolhouse just north of
Fair Grove in Dallas County














Log cabin next to the school house














W.C. Potter House (circa 1888) north of
Fair Grove on FR 221

Flint Hills 225K Permanent

John Dilsaver and I drove out to Council Grove, KS, on Friday to ride the permanent on Saturday with Spencer Klaassen, Kent Fulton, Jack Romans, Arlys Minear and Brian Bettis from the KC area. The route is an out-and-back to El Dorado primarily on KS Highway 177. We met up with everyone, except Kent, a little after 8PM at the Corp of Engineers campground along the lake north of town. It took a while to get to sleep with the bright moon shining down and the occasional vehicle roaring down the highway about 1/4-mile to the east. I was concerned about mosquitoes because we were right on the lake and they have been so bad in Springfield, but they were not a problem.

We were up by 5AM and headed into town to the start at the Short Stop c-store. Kent arrived shortly after we got there, and we were soon off into the dark.

The route took us through the Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve just north of Cottonwood Falls. There was a large stone house and barn that now serve as the visitor center. On the way back, we saw quite a few visitors.

With a slight tailwind, we made good time and arrived at the control in El Dorado at about 10:30AM. The only delay along the way was when Spencer had a blow out in Cassoday and had to replace his tube and tire. Most of the group bought lunch at a Dillon's grocery store in El Dorado, while I went across the street to Taco Bell and John started back straight from the control because he did not want to tighten up during lunch.

The ride back took a little longer. The headwind picked up to 12 miles per hour with gusts to 20. We rode in a pace line, but I started to slow down, which I typically do after lunch. My rear tire also began to go flat just south of Cassoday (a popular place for tire problems). I pumped it up a bit and eased into town. The tire was in pretty bad shape. The thread was thin, and there was a groove down to the casing along one side as if something had rubbed against it. Fortunately, Brian had a spare tire to replace it, and we were back on our way. I was riding better with a fully-inflated tire, but I began to feel extremely sleepy after we left Cottonwood Falls. This is a re-occurring problem that I have not been able to solve. We got a little strung out towards the end, and I rode into the Council Grove control with Brian and Arlys about 5:30PM. We had a good dinner with the group at the Hays House restaurant before driving back to Springfield.

Overall it was a great ride. We got to see some different scenery and ride with a great group of randonneurs who worked together to make the ride successful.

Getting ready to ride














Heading out of town in the dark














One of 3 Rivendells on the ride














Stone one-room school house














Stone barn at Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve














Cottonwood Falls














Chase County Courthouse in Cottonwood Falls



















Me, John and Arlys taken by Spencer














Lunch outside the Dillon's in El Dorado














Pace line against the wind on the return

The Pie is the Prize

On Saturday, John Dilsaver and I were back out on the Mother Road (Route 66) riding west to Golden City for pie at Cooky's. Actually, only about 11 miles of the Route 66 & Cooky's Pie 206K permanent are on old Route 66. We headed out about 5AM with a slight south wind. Since I set up the route in 2007, Springfield built a new airport terminal and the route goes right by the entrance at a new roundabout. I was concerned about the amount of airport traffic we might encounter, but there was no problem that early in the morning, and the afternoon traffic was not bad either.

We were not really pushing the pace, and we made it to the first control in Miller (37.5 miles, 1,910 feet of total climb) just before 8AM. With the wind at our back most of the way, we reached Golden City (64.4 miles, 2,820 feet of total climb) just before 10AM, and Cooky's was still serving breakfast. Cooky's is a popular stop for riders on the Trans-American bike route, but the 10 or so riders eating breakfast this time were all from Mt. Vernon, about 35 miles southeast of Golden City.

We left Cooky's about 11AM. The south wind had picked up (23 mph with gusts to 28 mph), and it seemed a lot warmer. The wind hammered us on the south legs back to Miller (5,520 feet of total climb). The same clerk who had validated our permanent cards was still there. She told John that the Mt. Vernon group had come through earlier, but they did not have cards. We wondered if she had asked for their cards, and we invented stories we should have told her like: only card-carrying cyclists are real cyclists; or that we were on release for good behavior from the Green County jail, but the ankle bracelets did not transmit that far, so we needed to document where we had been.

The route is pretty much east-west after Miller, but we were both pretty tired from fighting the headwinds. Fortunately, we had good cloud cover from M Highway (98 miles) on into Springfield, so the temperature did not continue to climb. At about M Highway, I also began to get extremely sleepy. I finally stopped to take a caffeine pill, which began to kick in about the time we stopped at a church in Elwood (9 miles from the finish) to fill our water bottles. We made it back into Springfield shortly after 5PM (5,250 feet of total climb). John and I were both surprised there is that much climbing in comparison to the Munger Moss Route 66 200K we rode July 31, but there are some good hills on the east half of this route.

Golden City














John's half-eaten blueberry pie














My Dutch apple pie














New Roundabout at the Springfield Regional Airport entrance