DAILY BLOG

Hello, this is Jared, guest blogger for tonight. Well today, was a very slow moving day. We started out in McAlaster, OK, and I rode up about the first ten miles. However, for the second day in a row, I wasn’t feeling well at all, so I got into the support vehicle to recover.

Cycling through eastern Oklahoma

Rich and Jared start out the day

Justy defying gravity during a break

Meanwhile, dad rode for about 50 more miles by himself in the heat, wind, and hilly Oklahoma terrain. I sat in the car trying to think of a way to get outside. Finally, after lunch, I just said to myself, “heck with this”. So I got out and helped give dad a boost for the remaining miles of the day. He was really sore, and I was just pushing it in front, trying to finish as soon as I could. After what seemed like forever, we finally had to stop because of the traffic, and the interstate. We left Oklahoma today and are now in Arkansas.

Kim wanted to visit Ft. Coffee—we wonder why!

Jared takes the lead at the end of the day

Jared glad he got back out on the bike today

We named eastern Oklahoma the roadkill capital of the U.S. We’ve seen countless numbers of armadillo, raccoon, deer, fox, and even hawks along side of the road. We are talking countless numbers since we left the Oklahoma City area.

Jared, reflecting on the roadkill he saw today

No flat tires today, but dad is getting the flat tire award so far—of the six we’ve had, he’s had for of them.

Tomorrow, we are going to hit the best mountains that Arkansas has to offer. While I am not expecting it to be Colorado, I am excited about getting in some good hills.

Our hotel tonight has a good internet connection, so here are the pictures we had been meaning to upload last night.

OK City Bombing Memorial

OK City Bombing Memorial

“Jesus Wept” Statue Memorial

Starting Out on Stage 15 in Eastern OK

Setting a fast pace at the start

Jared is all business this morning

Jared feeling sick, causing him to stay in van for much of Stage 15

Rich rides solo much of the morning

Rich had 2 more flats on Stage 15

What an emasculating church this is!

Justy gets some miles in after lunch

Rich, Jared, and Jordan go out after a break

Rich and Jordan finish up the day

Note: Once again, our hotel’s internet connection is weak, causing problems uploading our photos to flickr.com. We’ll upload today’s pix as soon as we can get a decent connection. Sorry!

Today, we left Norman and traveled 100 miles to McAlester, in eastern Oklahoma. I am not sure what it was, but it was one of the harder days that we had. Jared and I began the day riding together, but he wasn’t feeling well. After 10 miles, he was feeling very weak, so he headed for the support vehicle. I continued on by myself through the neverending rolling hills of eastern Oklahoma. I pushed hard in the morning, in spite of the hills, humidity/heat, and headwinds and rode 52 miles before lunch.

We stopped by the side of the road outside Holdenville for lunch. We typically stop by the roadside daily, eating turkey or ham sandwiches. I am amazed that the kids have not gotten sick of our lunches yet! I cooled off in the van during the lunch break. After the 20 minute break, Justy joined me on the bike for several miles until he got tired. When he went in, Jordan and Jared came out and began riding. Jared lasted about 20 more miles, but he was still not 100%. We both agreed it would be better for him to take the rest of the day off, so he could be rested for tomorrow.

Jordan and I continued on to finish the day out to McAlester. However, for some reason, the final 20 miles today were some of the most difficult for me of the tour. I was exhausted from the humidity and headwinds, and it was hard to get into a flow with the continual rolling hills. I enjoy listening to my iPod during normal riding, but usually when I am feeling like that, I turn it off because it does not seem to help at all. Anyway, we gutted it out and made it to the outskirts of McAlester.

One cool note about Norman I forgot to mention yesterday. We had a slow leak in the support vehicle that we noticed on the rest day. So, I took it over to a local tire center in Normal (named Hibdon’s). I ended up telling them about our tour when I was checking the van in. They fixed the tire, but when I went to pay, they did not charge me at all! Very hospitable! Thanks Hibdons!

Tomorrow is our last day in Oklahoma. We ride 100 or so miles to Fort Smith, Arkansas on the border.

One of the joys of going cross-country by bicycle is that you inevitably visit parts of the country that you normally would never pass through. I had never been to Oklahoma before, so the whole state has been a new experience. The western panhandle of the state was much as expected—flat, farm & grazing country. However, Oklahoma City proved to be a most pleasant discovery. More on that in a second.

I started out this morning speaking at a 6am men’s breakfast event at Journey Church in Norman. Their men’s group is reading The Expeditionary Man as part of a month long study; I really enjoyed getting a chance to talk with and meet them. I was originally going to go golfing with several of the guys after the breakfast, but a couple media interviews came in at the last moment, so we went to them instead.

We headed up from Norman to Oklahoma City to go to KTLR Radio for a live in-studio interview. It was the first radio interview for the boys, so that was a real treat. The host was great, and we had a lot with it. Before we left, a Spanish speaking television station in the same building came by and did an impromptu interview with all of us as well. Not sure how all of our talk translates into Spanish, however.
Next, we had to dash off to The Oklahoman, the main newspaper in town. We spoke with the religion editor about the book and tour. Because we were heading into town, we only brought one bike along for pictures. The photographer first took a photo of all of us by the support vehicle. Then, since I was the only one with a bike, he had me ride in the parking lot with the support vehicle riding behind me. However, the funny thing was that I just had my street clothes on — t-shirt, khaki shorts, tennis shoes, etc. I had no helmet or any bike gear at all while riding. I imagine that the photo will look pretty silly and will prompt thoughts like—what is this nitwit doing going cross country? Oh well, the boys had a good chuckle!

This evening, we went down to downtown Oklahoma City with Herschel Thompson, pastor of small groups at Journey Church, and his wife/family. They are a terrific family and a real joy to spend the evening with! They took us to the Oklahoma City bombing memorial, which is definitely recommended if you are passing through town.

We then went to Bricktown, which is a newly restored section of the downtown with a canal, interesting restaurants, ballpark, shops, etc. I was blown away by how great a downtown section it was. I never knew Oklahoma City was like this! They need to advertise more or something, because I think we’d have tried to stay in a hotel downtown had we known how cool a place it is.

Awesome Mexican food!

Rich and Herschel talk while walking next to the canal

Bricktown in OK City

Jared unsure of his new friend

Jordan is also unsure of his new best friend

Tomorrow, we hit the road again. We head from Norman to McAlester, Oklahoma. From what we’ve heard, we’ll be leaving the flats of western Oklahoma and will be getting into some rolling hills. That’s perfectly ok with Jared, so I suspect he’ll be perking up tomorrow. More tomorrow.

Also, I only could add Jordan’s photos tonight to the blog. However, I’ll aim to post Justy’s and Kim’s photos of the rest day tomorrow.

Jared winning a sprint

Rich tries jogging on the bike (note: it did not make him go any faster!)

Many of the small Oklahoma towns we passed through were in sad shape

Rich and Jared team up with the speedy Brian Leonard from Journey Church

Riding with the Journey Church guys in a peloton

Awesome time together

We had a chance to relax at the hotel in the evening:

Kim and Justy play Scabble

Jordan on Facebook

Jared vegging out

Rich prepares for his Monday talk at Journey

Note: Photos for stage 14 will be added shortly.

Today we were traveled from Woodward to Norman, Oklahoma (south of Oklahoma City). Other than arriving at a particular destination, we are usually on our own as far as structuring our day. However, today, we were scheduld to ride with a group of bike riders from Journey Church in Norman, meeting up a specific times & locations during the day. Because we got a late start from Woodward, we had to ride in the van a ways this morning to make sure we could keep to our on-the-road schedule. We were roughly able to keep on schedule, but it was a bit disappointing cutting some of the miles off.

However, we can’t complain—we had a great time riding with about ten men from Journey Church. We picked them up at a few different points on the route, and we soon formed a good sized peloton. Other than Mt. Evans, we’ve riden alone for the tour, so it was a a lot of fun riding and talking with them.

Other highlights of the day:

* No flat tires!
* A couple more sprints between Rich and Jared. (1-1 in the official sprints.)

We have a rest day tomorrow! Our third of four. I speak in the morning at Journey Church at 6am. We then have an in-studio interview on KTLR radio at 12pm and an interview with a reporter from The Oklahoman newspaper in the afternoon.

In the Superman-based TV show Smallville, Clark Kent and Lex Luther start out in the early seasons as best friends. However, if you know anything about Superman, you know that they’ll inevitably wind up as arch-enemies. That’s a good analogy for the Wagners and the wind. We started out a couple days ago as best friends, but it was only a matter of time until we would become bitter rivals. Today would be that day.

Packing up in the morning

Rich and Jared ride along side the vehicle

Riding in the Great Plains

This morning, we woke up in Guymon and were greeted to 30-35mph winds blowing north to south. We were heading due east for much of the day, meaning direct cross winds. It was miserable trying to stay upright on the bike and to get into any kind of rhythm. According to the weather report I looked at in the morning, the winds around Woodward were supposed to be much milder and in a slightly different direction. Given that, we decided to head south into northern Texas for a bit to see if we could get into that more favorable wind pattern. We made it into Texas, but the wind was exactly the same. But the good thing is that we got to ride in Texas for a couple hours! For whatever reason, we wanted to do that.

Riding into Texas

Typical roadside scene today

Mooooo!

To help forget about the wind, Jared and I decided to liven things up a little today, so we began to race each other up hills we began to encounter as we entered Texas. He got the better of me on several, though I learned later that my wheel was rubbing against my frame. So, he may claim victory on those, but you make the the call. I did win the last sprint finish of the day, which I think is what’s most important!

Jared “winning” a sprint (though his dad’s wheel was not properly mounted)

Rich decisively winning the last (and most important) sprint of the day

Yet another flat tire today! We’ve had four so far now and are quickly making up for the lack of flat tires during the first 10 days of this tour.

When we arrived in Woodward, we got a chance to spend several hours with some very close friends of ours, Nate and Tarina Reed and their kids and dog. They are on route to Denver from their home in Houston, and met up with us for the evening. What a great time we had together.

Seeing good friends along the way

Tomorrow, we are heading to Oklahoma City. On route, we plan to meet up with some bicycle riders from Journey Church in Norman, OK. We look forward to riding with these guys as we head from northwest OK to the capital city region.

Before today’s stage, let me give you a video clip from Colorado. Our videos are running behind the normal blog by a couple of days.

On to today…

Praise God for tailwinds—or in our case today, a partial tailwind. We left Clayton, NM this morning had approximately 100 miles to get to Guymon, OK. Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought we could have covered those 100 miles in a little over 4 hours!

Not much scenery, except for a lot of farmlands

Rich and Jared pushing hard with some help from the wind (ok, a lot of help!)

When we started out the morning, we were trying to decide whether to head towards Guymon through a brief part of Texas or simply head straight into Oklahoma. Once we saw the south/southwest direction of a 25-30mph wind, we decided that the Oklahoma route would give us the best chance at a tailwind. That would prove to be a good decision, as we covered the first 80 miles in just over 3 hours. The first 40 miles of the day, we’d have that wind right behind us and the last 60, we had it 1/2 way tail and 1/2 cross—but enough behind us to help!

When you have a tailwind, I guess some people might have a tendency to let up and take it easy, knowing that they don’t have to work as hard to cover the same distance. Jared and I reacted the exact opposite. We were working like mad out there, pushing to get the miles done as soon as possible. I guess that I ended spending about 85% of the day in my lowest (hardest) gear.

The terrain was nearly all flat as we biked through Great Plains farmlands. The road into Boise City, Oklahoma was awesome—some of the best blacktop we’ve had since California. But once we were east of Boise City, the blacktop had very annoying and painful bumps every 20 feet. Literally every 20 feet for 40 miles. Maybe that’s why we rode so hard today—so we could get off of our saddles as soon as possible!

Up until yesterday, we had had no flat tires for the entire trip. Yesterday was our first, and today we had 2! Jared and Justy both had flats this afternoon. Since I only had one CO2 air canister (good for one tire only), we were able to find a Wal-Mart in Guymon and find a temporary pump solution until we can get to a real bike store in Oklahoma City.

Finishing the day in the Wal-Mart parking lot

Over the entire trip, the boys have been very supportive of each other. When Jared was the first up Mt. Evans, his bros were the first to congratulate him. When Jordan rode 47 miles yesterday and finished the ride with Jared/I, his bros were really excited for him. When Justy headed out to work through some pain he’s been having while riding, his bros encouraged him to go out and do his best.

Tomorrow, we head to Woodward, OK, the second stop in our cross-Oklahoma section of the trip. We are particularly excited about that because we have some really close friends who live in Houston that are meeting us there!

With our rest day over in Colorado Springs, we drove this morning south to Raton, NM where we began Stage 11 of the tour. The drive took a bit longer than I expected, and we actually did not get on our bikes until 11:30am. As it turns out, we had plenty of time to get the stage in.

Back to the flats

The schedule was an 83 mile leg from Raton, NM to Clayton, NM. It was the fastest 83 miles I ever rode in my life. We averaged nearly 20mph for the whole ride, but a great part of it was actually at speeds of 25-31mph! For us, those are quite unheard of speeds. We did get aided by a tailwind for part of the time, but when we switched directions, that great wind became a nasty sidewind that frequently blew us all over the shoulder of the road.

Jared’s computer after 35 miles

I was worried that today would be a major letdown for Jared and I, because Colorado mountain climbing had been such an emotionally satisfying experience. However, today’s mild temperatures (low 80s), interesting scenery, and occasional tailwind was enough to keep us focused and excited about the stage.

Jordan rode with Jared/I for 47 of the miles today, which was his daily record. He did a great job and it was fun to see him ride so well and finish up with us. Justy has been having some pains while riding, so he’s been limited over the past few days to just a few miles a day.

Jordan had a terrific riding day

An antelope wonders why bicyclers are riding on the road

We’d never been to northwest New Mexico, so riding Highway 64/87 was an interesting experience. Lots of grazing country with cows, antelopes, and jack rabbits. Definitely not desert, much more like the West with a mixture of the Great Plains.

I got the first flat tire of the tour today. We’d been amazed that we had not had any flats thus far. Sure enough, about 30 miles outside of Clayton, I got one. Fortunately, we have a spare wheel, so I quickly put it on and hardly missed 2 minutes. The only bummer was at the hotel tonight, I was changing the tire and found out that our air pump is no longer working. Major bummer. I can’t really do anything about it until we get to Oklahoma City in a few days. I had a couple canned CO2 air pumps I brought with me. I used one and have one left. I am really praying that we can get to OK City without further need for air!

Our first flat comes 11 days into the tour

Taking a break along the roadside

About 95% of the drivers we have encountered have been courteous. Most give us ample space. A few pass us closer than what we’d like. An occasional rude driver honks at us right when they are near us, always causing us to jump. Colorado had the best drivers so far, several of them waving or giving us a thumbs up sign. When you are climbing a mountain pass, that encouragement is a great help.

Photo by Justy

Arriving in Clayton, NM

Tomorrow, we travel 105 miles as we head into the panhandle region of Oklahoma. I’ve never been to Oklahoma before, so it will be a new experience.

Today was our second rest day of the tour. After summiting Mt. Evans yesterday, the time off of the bike was a welcome break. We began the morning at 8am by going to Focus on the Family headquarters, where we had the privilege of doing morning devos for over 200 staffers. We shared with them experiences of the tour and how the theme of family unity is interwoven into the fabric of this family adventure. After that, I had a brief 5-minute interview with a local Colorado Springs radio station on the tour, and then we were free for the rest of the day.

Rich preparing to speak at Focus on the Family

While Kim, Justy, and I ran to a local bike store to get some parts, Jared slept and Jordan worked on his laptop. Jared would sleep for the next four hours—totally enjoying the time off the bike. In fact, I went to lunch with a friend who lives in the Springs and was out for a couple hours. He was still sleeping when I got back and did not realize I had even left.

Jared, Zzzzzzz

In the afternoon, we all went to Garden of the Gods and did some hiking and exploring. At dinner, we went to the legendary Flying W Ranch, which is a western cowboy dinner and musical show. We had gone there a few years ago, so it was fun going back.

Wagners enjoying the Garden of the Gods

Jared climbing around the rocks

Jardd, Kim, and Rich

More Garden of the Gods to explore

Rich and Jared enjoy a high five

Having fun at Flying W Ranch

In all, it was a perfect rest day. Some opportunity for ministry. Some rest. Some fun together.

Rich and Jared - the Day After Mt. Evans

This sign was at Flying W Ranch, not Focus on the Family!

Jordan having fun

Tomorrow, we leave this beloved state of Colorado, a place we have come to thoroughly appreciate and love. We love Massachusetts, but part of my heart will forever be here in the Rockies.

We are heading to New Mexico to begin the next leg of this cross-country journey. I am entering unexplored territory. Up until now, I have often had a strong familiarity or experience with the locations that we have biked through in California, Arizona, and Colorado. However, for the rest of the bike tour (except our ending city, Charleston itself), we have never travelled to these parts of the country before. So, it will all be a new experience! We begin in Raton and head eastward to Clayton, near the Oklahoma border.

Justy taking a break