Tour de Oink





Tour de Oink was held in Morrilton June 18, 2011. Jane and I met up there and rode together. There were two distance routes and we chose the long one which was 40 miles. The weather was pretty nice. It was sunny and kind of windy, but later it got a little cloudy and that helped to keep the temps down.

There were three rest stops, but we only stopped at one. The rest stop in Atkins had some delicious homemade cookies! It was right across from a church that had a huge, beautiful steeple.

We made decent time on this ride, even with the wind blowing.  It only took us 2 hours and 38 minutes. I must say this was one of the most enjoyable rides I've been on this year.  The scenery was really nice, the roads were pretty good and the watermelon at the end of the ride was perfect!  I wouldn't have known about this ride if Jane hadn't mentioned it and I found out more info on the ACF website.  I hope next year they'll advertise it more, because it was a really nice ride and and I think people would enjoy it.

Big, white country church in the middle of nowhere.

The steeple :)

Jane and me and the rest stop in Atkins. They even had Atkins pickles!

Tour de Rock



The Fab Five: Fred, me, Christy, Bob (the navigator) & Jane

Finally! The ride I've been waiting for....the ride that started my passion for cycling....the ride I knew I was going to reach my goal on! I did it!! I rode 100 miles (actually 104).

The Carti Tour de Rock was held June 11 and I rode with my training ride buddies: Christy, Bob, Jane and Fred. Jane and I finished after 7 hours and 9 minutes and Fred came in 45 minutes behind us. We were lucky in the fact that we didn't have any flats or mechanical issues. It was a pretty hot day and we had to deal with some strong winds.

I can honestly say that this wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. The last 15 miles were pretty tough, but I kept on going and did it! We stopped at every rest stop and I was so thankful every time I got my hands on ice and cool towels!

Since I've conquered this goal, my next goal will be to beat my time! I'm hoping that I get the opportunity to do just that on June 25 - Tour de Corn! This is going to be in East Prairie, MO.  I'm thinking about going and doing this, the only drawback - no riding buddy, so I'll be doing it alone. The good thing about doing this is that most of the time you meet new people and end up riding with others that are going the same pace as you. Hopefully, that will be case and I'll have a great ride and beat my time :)

Me and Jane right after we finished!

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The Ranch Ride

The Ranch Ride was held Saturday, June 4, 2011 in Conway.  It benefited Soaring Wings Ranch and began at Hendrix College. This was the very first Ranch Ride and was full of hills! (Some very BIG hills!)

I was very apprehensive about doing this at first, but I had a new bike buddy that said he would stay with me the whole time. His support really helped me make it through the day!

I rode the long portion - 56 miles and it took me four hours to do. My average speed was 14.08, which isn't that fast...but for all of those hills...I'll take it! That just gives me wiggle room to improve! I will also admit that I had to push my bike up a few of those hills. These legs of mine are use to the flat delta terrain.

There was a sad twist to the day. One lady did die during this ride when her brakes failed coming down a steep hill and she hit a parked car. I'm aware that riding can be dangerous either through my fault or the fault of someone else and I'm always so thankful when I finish a ride safely.

I would definitely like to improve my speed and my ability to climb hills better. There's always something to work on and get better at and I'm excited to see how much faster and easier I can do this ride next year!


Kenny before the ride. He's a strong rider!



The deadly, really steep hill!