Day 7 Roswell, NM to Hereford, TX

164 miles today and the RAAM qualifier dream is alive.

Today is the seventh day of our tour and the effects of six hard days of riding were showing this morning. Cyclist's moved a bit slower and were a little quieter at breakfast.

Once we left the hotel parking lot the the order of the day was pretty much Git-R-Done. The scenery was less than breathtaking and on the flattest day of the tour the only thing to do was to get as many miles in as possible before the cross winds picked up.

Since the ride today was pancake flat and would most likely be windy I thought that this might be a chance for me to ride with some of the better riders and take some of their pictures.

• A bit of explanation for the non cyclist readers. Cycling is cruel, not a little bit mean but downright cruel. Heavy people like me work like a dog to get up hills that skinny little guys ascend without even noticing. This is called power to weight ratio, literally your weight divided by the amount of watts you can create. The skinny guy beats the fat guy every time. However there is a silver lining for guys like me. We get really strong trying to follow the skinny guys up the hills and our larger bodies do make more power. Take away the hill add some wind and the big guy has an advantage over the climber.

So today I rode at the front with the strong guys. Mark Pattinson is also doing this ride and for the last week I haven't seen him only his name on message board at the end of the day, because he is often listed as the first rider to complete the days ride. Turns out that he does exist and that he is an accomplished ultra endurance racer.

Also riding at the front today where Brad Reid and Charlie Combs, both of these men had a rough beginning to this tour and battled through some real misery in the desert. They are recovering very well and rode very strong today. The four of us rode from the lunch break to the finish together, stopping/slowing only to allow Mark to repair three flat tires. One characteristic I have noticed in really good riders is that they don't let stuff bug them. Mark didn't miss a beat. One flat "it happens", 2nd flat, a shrug, 3rd flat "today is my day" If that happens to me I'm thinking forget this ride and it is time to buy a new bike.

We finished together and had another safe day on the bike.

Thanks for checking the blog and sending the emails and comments.

Day 6 Socorro NM to Roswell, NM

Another great day on the bike. The RAAM qualifier dream remains alive.

Thanks for your comments on the blog and the emails. Your encouragement is appreciated.

Today's word is wind. Harold Trease assured everyone that the prevailing winds are out of the West in this area. But there were some vivid memories, shared in our group, of specific days when this was not the case. Today the winds where in our favor much more than they were against us. What was cool was the way the wind would shift as we went over and through the mountians. Sometimes within a mile or so we would go from a raging cross wind to nothing. Late in the day the flags were flying horizontally right into our faces.

During the worst of the winds I had great company today. Charlie Combs and I traded pulls in a powerfull cross wind and late in the day Dan Fuoco and I rode straight into what could have become a demoralizing headwind.

Tomorrow we have the flattest ride of the tour.

Day 5 Springerville, AZ to Socorro, NM

Day 5 and the RAAM Qualifier dream remains alive.

There were many reasons for signing on with Lon and Sue Haldeman's Elite Cross Country bike tour.

1. See the US on a bike.
2. See the US on a bike really fast so that I don't have to miss too much work.
3. To get a piece of paper that I can hang on the wall.

Let's talk about reason #3

PAC Tour has a deal with RAAM (Race Across America) that allows cyclists who successfully complete every inch of the "Elite Transcontinental Tour" (that's me) within prescribed time limits, to qualify as a solo participant in RAAM.

All right I'll admit it. I want to have that piece of paper hanging on my wall. That piece of paper will say that George Metzler can race in RAAM for the next three years.

So far so good.

The ride today was great. Susan read us the riot act this morning telling us we are riding this tour like we are on the more leisurely paced "PAC Tour Southern Crossing" which takes 25 days. So we were given time targets for each rest stop today. As my friend Eric says, "The beatings will continue until morale improves"

Anyway I think we all responded quite well. A tailwind definitely helped as did a loss of elevation throughout the day. Most rider's enjoyed an easier fast day and still arrived at the hotel before their rooms we ready. I enjoyed some recovery on the bike today but I probably pushed a little too hard on the descents.

Speaking of elevation. We have been above 7,000 feet for almost 48 hours and you can hear the impact of the altitude in the coughing of the riders. I also noticed several bloody noses today, especially my own. I assume this is a combination of prolonged exercise in dry, thin air. Can't imagine what it must be like to climb a mountain.

See you all tomorrow as we try to find some aliens in Roswell, NM

Day 4 Globe, AZ to Springerville, AZ

The word for today is CLIMBING.

145 miles, 10 hours on the bike, it seemed like the whole day was uphill except for a screaming descent into Springerville, AZ over the last 20 miles. I'm pretty sure I'm going to pay for that effort tomorrow. It was fun at the time.

I had lots of profound thoughts during the day today, I wanted to put them down in my blog tonight. Right now I can't think of any of them. I think my ideas made more sense in an oxygen deprived state at 9,000' elevation.

At this altitude the temperatures have subsided. It was 79 degrees when I arrived at the hotel at 5:00 p.m. I need a jacket!

See you tomorrow.

George

Another terrific day on the bike

Tuesday, June 12
146 miles from Gila Bend, AZ to Globe, AZ

I tried to use today as a recovery day from yesterday's ride of attrition. I was a little worried about how my legs would feel after my 11 hours on the bike yesterday. I didn't cramp up during the ride but last night at dinner I had some painful spasms in my thighs.

I guess all the "Hammer supplements" that Lon and Susan (Pac Tour owners) provide to us actually work. Because today I didn't have any lasting effects from yesterday's exertion in the heat. I have been getting 2/3 of my calories during the day while I am riding from specially formulated drinks, followed by lots of capsules full of electrolytes. Yummy. Drinking my calories let's me keep food in my stomach as opposed to...well I will end this thought here.

So today was flat for a long time (until mile 108) and we had a tail wind the entire day. Even though I was using today as a recovery day you still need to pedal and especially so uphill. We climbed to about 4,500 feet elevation and experienced some relief from the heat later in the day. (mostly in the air conditioning of my hotel room)

Tomorrow is going to be a real test. We reach about 9,000 feet elevation at one point and we will climb for a total of about 11,000 feet.

Elite tour really begins!

Day 2

El Centro, California to Gila Bend, Arizona

We started at 5:30 a.m. I completed the 190 mile ride at 6:05 p.m. Temperatures started in the high 60's and soared well above the century mark today. My bike computer showed the temperature finally dropping below 100 degrees at 4:30 p.m.

I was very fortunate today to have excellent riding companions in Dan Fuoco and Brad Haslam. Together we ground through a brutal crosswind/head wind from mile 40 through mile 124. The wind softened us up in the morning and the furnace like heat ended a lot of rides early today.

Dan has a lot of common sense and encouraged me to use my brain and ride at a sensible pace during the maximum exposure to heat this afternoon. Matt and I rode through a pretty impressive dust storm within 3 miles of the hotel. With almost no warning a circulating cloud of dust completely engulfed us and I couldn't see Brad just a few feet away. I was blown completely across one lane of traffic. Just as quickly the cloud was gone.

Awesome service today from Pac Tour as we had exactly what we needed to keep going when we needed it.

Many more stories but I need to sign off for this evening.

An excellent intro to the Elite Tour

The elite Pac Tour rolled out of San Diego parade style, in a pack of 50 riders. Temperatures in the 50's and overcast conditions were greatly appreciated.

It did not take long for the speeds to pick up as some of the hammerheads took advantage of the early climbs to test their legs. (you know who you are) Please note in the picture above that it is the tandem team of Josh and Doreen setting the pace. They do climb well and get out of the way when the terrain flattens because they are coming.

I spent much of the day riding with Andrew Puddy. Andrew is an anesthesiologist from Hyde Park, Australia and six weeks ago got one of the last slots on this Elite Pac Tour. He was a great riding partner today and set up a steady paceline as we collected riders throughout the afternoon.

The early climbs today took a toll on me and I was a little surprised by the amount of fatigue I accumulated just 50 to 60 miles into today's ride. The "wind farm" marked the end of much of the climbing today. The mountain drops off sharply just on the other side of the windmills in the photo.

We enjoyed a long 10 mile descent on Interstate 8. This is where 99% of the vegetation ends and it all you can see are giant sized "gravel" piles. I wish I knew what I was looking at. As we descended from an elevation of 4000 feet to the flat desert below the blast furnace kicked into gear. The temps while hot are not as bad as they could be. So it really wasn't to bad today.

A couple of notes on other tour riders.

Fred Matheny and Ed Pavelka... Don't let the smiles fool you, these guys are tough. They are both over 60 and much stronger than I am at 39. I rode PA brevet series with Ed Pavelka and I use the term "with" loosely. What I actually did was watch him ride away from me while I gasped for oxygen. Ed and Fred took it easy today.

Tom and Terri Schwartz are crew members who had their "day off work" today. Some day off. 128 miles of bike riding. Pac Tour has a pretty sweet deal that if you work as crew members you can ride about half the time and you get to do the ride for close to free. Tomorrow Tom and Terri will be hard at work taking care of us as we ride 191 miles to Gila Bend.

Today was a good ride for me. I rode the entire day at a conversation pace in preparation for tomorrows long ride. My guess is that the "elite" part of the tour begins for real on Monday Day 2

Thanks for checking in and remember to check out the blogs at www.pactour.com