Weather:
Morning - overcast and sprinkles, temperature
in the mid-60's.
Heavy rain and continuous head winds (5
- 20 mph) started after first stop and continued most of the
day with the temperature staying in the mid-60's. Crazy stinging,
driving rain and lightning storms for the last twenty miles.
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Points of Interest:
Not much to see due to the conditions,
but there was much more greenery and relatively higher population
density.
Most notable spot was the Ray Roberts
dam and the 2 mile road across it.
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Highlights:
Bruce's in-laws came to visit us, brought
us treats and bike tubes, and took us to dinner. It was really
nice to see loved ones after such a tough past 13 days.
We received our second wonderful box of
very rich caramel brownies from our thoughtful and loving sister,
Donna, who FedExed them to our hotel.
We had a long day in the driving rain
and managed to pull through.
Bruce bonked (code word for low blood
sugar) at mile 140. This occurred because Bruce diluted his gatorade
to reduce the sweetness. We performed an in flight fuel (gatorade)
transfer from Brian's camelbak to Bruce's mouth while riding!
The full strength gatorade revived him enough to finish the ride.
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People We Rode With:
We rode together through the third stop,
and joined Frank from about mile 85 through the rest of the day.
We formed a 3 person paceline and sliced through the wind and
rain in order to get to the hotel in time to meet loved ones.
With Bruce's finely honed skills at fixing
flats, we quickly changed Brian's 2nd flat of the trip which
unfortunately came at mile 147 at the end of the day.
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Comments/Quotes:
Bruce commented to Brian after 3.5 hours
of riding into 10 - 15 mph head winds, and driving rain - "the
enjoyment of this ride is starting to wear off".
This was the most challenging day yet
for the entire group. The looks on the faces of those who finished
told the story - emotionless, bleary eyed, and downcast.
If the weather and mileage weren't enough,
we were chased by at least a dozen dogs. One of the dogs was
particularly ferocious - it chased our riders as they passed
and eventually bit one of the women in the leg.
There were millions of trucks on the road
today - each time they passed we were engulfed in a mist and
thrown aside by the turbulence.
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