It's that Time again: A Recap with Francesca....

Hello All!!!

Wow, I can't believe I've really ridden my bike, almost 2,000 miles now, all the way to Oklahoma! What a journey! So today is Day 25 I guess, Isabel counts them for me, I look at this blog just like you do! I guess we're approaching the halfway point in a couple days, but according to my mileage, and what's been told to us, we should've been halfway about 200 miles ago or so, but oh well, we're not in Texas yet, so I guess we're not halfway yet! I'll be interested to see how many miles I really do this trip. We had 2 105 mile days, back to back, and they were followed up by a 90 mile day with a wicked hill, and an 80 mile day with hills. We did an extra 30 miles or so one day because the original campsite that was reserved didn't have bathrooms. I told our Tour Manager that next time there's a decision between tacking on 30 extra miles completely out of the way or "roughing it" for a night without bathrooms, I vote to shit in the woods!

So today was truly a "rest" day, 50 miles, which were pretty flat, on in to Oklahoma, the Native State. lame! haha. No, I'm excited to see OK, I've never been here before and Nora is sending me a Brooks saddle to Oklahoma City! So I'm excited for that! I still have saddle sores, sometimes they seem ok, like they're getting better or going away, and some days they really suck. You know what the cure is for saddle sores? not riding your bike! but that's not an option for me.

I'll go ahead and take this moment to say that I completely forgot to mention Birmingham in my last update on day 20. Birmingham was freakin awesome!!!! and I was so overwhelmed with visitors and long miles for the next couple days, that I forgot to mention it in that recap. Nora and Pam came straight from the Dairy Farm in Nashville to see me in B-ham!! They drove straight to the event, and that event was the most baller one til that day (only to be outdone by Young Ave Deli in Memphis, my favorite bar, with my favorite bartender!) It was really cool. We showed up and we actually saw a bike, imagine that! The local 42 Below/Bacardi rep went around to the bike shops in the area to hand out flyers and bought a bike to do a drawing. Very cool. When we pulled up in the vans and walked up to the Barking Kuda, they announced we were the riders reppin' 42 Below via bicycle across the country. We were served drinks instantaneously, and given tickets for our next one. I sat down with Callie and Crystal (? if I remember correctly) and we drank and chatted it up. Nora called, and they arrived shortly, then Isabel texted me and told me Jessie and a friend were coming! I met Jessie once in Alabama last summer, when we came down for job interviews, which turned out horrible btw. I remember we ate at Jim and Nick's. Jessie also came to visit us in PA this spring, poor thing. She's the cutest little Southern Belle you'll ever meet, other than my bike of course!!! But Nora and Pam treated me like a rockstar, I had to drink some vodka for them, they fed me dinner that night, breakfast in the morning, and of course Nora wanted to sleep with me at the hotel. Haha. Birmingham was awesome. So there you go Nora!! You're the best bitch ever! Thank you and Pam SO much for coming out and supporting the ol' Franster.

So let's fast forward from Birmingham to Day 21, I rode from Batesville to Holly Grove, which was the first re-route that led to horribly long days of 100+ mile bicycle riding. That area of Arkansas was just completely different from what I expected. It was more of what I envisioned Louisiana. It was swampy, hot, humid, and mosquito filled. I took off that morning and it was a crappy road to start riding on, cracks in the road every 5-10 feet or so, a constant thump. Ugh. We rode single file because there wasn't really any shoulder, and the drivers didn't seem to mind, power in numbers I suppose. The group I was riding with decided to ease back and slow down, and I wasn't feeling that, so I took off outta the group. We passed by Bennett taking a pee break, and a couple miles later, whilst I was solo, he came up behind and passed me. It was a really windy day, so I grabbed his wheel and rode faster, with less effort! I hung on to that 18-20 mph wheel for about 65 miles until I had to eat breakfast! But apparently Bennett only needs a Monster energy drink for breakfast and cigarettes! So I lost him after I stopped, but I still finished the day in great time, I lost about 1.5 mph by myself, and it sure was windy and H O T! That was a good day though, it was the first 105 mile day, that was suppose to be a 90 mile day, and Red upgraded us to cabins so we wouldn't be miserable camping in the heat. We had an all girl's cabin, for some bonding time, and pillow fights.

Day 22: Holly Grove to Little Rock was the second 105 miler, and even that one wasn't too bad. It was pretty flat. Tyler left that morning, hence the picture. He was sad to leave Brian and Fred, I guess they had ridden together a couple of times, and he would tell people he was riding across the country with his dad and son! hahaha! I'm gonna miss that smart ass! I rode by myself for 75% of the day. We started out in that swamp area, that had a lot of fields, and it dried out a little to corn crops, and we saw old school crop dusters! Which were really cool. I wish I wouldn't have left my camera in the rain, so I could've gotten video of them. I saw them the day before, riding with Bennett, they swoop down really close and veer up and spin back around, just like in the movies, that was neat. Roy joined me after Sonic that day. I chilled out a couple times and I decided with 25 miles left I'd have a shake at Sonic and hang for an hour b/c it was the heat of the day, with no event, and I was in no hurry. After I pulled out of Sonic Roy pulled out of the gas station behind it, and we rode together. I'll be damned if that 73 year old didn't pass me when I was going 17 mph!!! Don't let him fool you, he can keep up! So I didn't hold back too much cruising into Little Rock with Roy.

Day 23: Mt Nebo: The Hill from Hell! So after 210 miles in 2 days the last thing you want to do is another high mileage day. But we did. Ugh. So I set out riding out of Little Rock, the first damn thing we did was a steep ass hill to get out of that town! But after that it settled down a little bit, there was a big shoulder, cars didn't scream or honk at me, and it was still early enough in the morning to get that cool air in your lungs. I passed by a doe and 3 fawns about 20 miles out, that was cool. And when I came by a podunk gas station I noticed some bikes, so I decided I'd take a mental break from what would be a long day, no doubt. I caught up with Crystal, Bayla, and Ash and we decided to chill for the day. We rode and stopped in a couple little places along the way, I saw a picture of a cougar stalking a deer, supposedly taken by a local!!!! I didn't know Arkansas had cougars??????? I'll have to look that up later. Cougars, just FYI, are my FAVORITE animal. We set on, eventually we became sweeps because the sweeps had passed us! Crystal bailed about halfway, said she wasn't feeling well. So then it came down to the 3 of us, and at that point we had heard there was a big hill at the finish. The riding moved from city riding, to hilly back roads. After a while we got a little spread out and Bayla and I passed Blaise and Callie on some epic climbs, with some epic downhills!! That was nearing the end. Blaise said he got up to 54 mph going down one hill! but I wasn't that daring. I took it easy, there was a crazy turn at the bottom. Anywho, the day ended with that effing 4 mile, 18% grade switchback, which I didn't find out was that nasty until I was literally at the bottom of the hill. Nick- "Just to let you know, it's an 18% grade, 4 mile climb to the top by the campsite." Awesome. They were talking it up so much it was enough to make you vomit. But I got on my bike and I pedaled. It wasn't as bad as they worked it up to be, at least not until the end. It flattened out a little bit, enough that you could breath, in between switchbacks and climbs. But the very end definitely sucked. It was gorgeous at the top though. And when I got to the top I went the wrong way, so I ended up going to Visitor's Center, and the people there were really nice. On the way to the campsite a deer crossed right in front of Brianne and me, she was at the Vistor's Center too. And then there was a couple deer and fawns right near our campsite. They just wandered around, no worries. Mt Nebo was super cool, I want to go back and hike their trails that go around the rim, I'll have to have Isabel add the pics of the view, I don't think they're on here. I also left the No Flats club that day :( Had my first flat tire at mile 1,770. Ah well, it was a good run!

Day 24: Still in Arkansas! I volunteered to sweep that day with Fred and Roy because I was completely knackered from the last 300 miles in 3 days. It was a long day, but I took it nice and easy with them, we took our time and had fun at breakfast. Fred got 3 different drinks! He ordered a Coke, and the waitress brought him Coke, OJ, and coffee!! He said "Man, I can't wait til she brings me my food!" Haha, but he didn't get any extras for food. He had a blowout after breakfast, one like I've never seen before!! His tube was just ripped to shreds and it was loud BOOM when it burst! Slow ride..... take it easy...... that was the song in my head that day. I was chased by a Border Collie pretty hardcore, made me miss my Campster :(

Day 25: TODAY!! So that brings you all up-to-date with all my thoughts I can muster up. The WeLikeBike42.com site seems to be picking up a little bit. It's not all there yet, but it's getting better, some of the rider's profiles are up. I'm under 25 though, so in the Vodka World I apparently don't, or can't, exist. So I don't know if you'll ever see me on there, but I want you to know I'm doing it! and I'm here! and I exist!! If you read this, follow me, comment, interact. I'd love to hear some feedback from everyone! I met Ash's grandparents this morning, and her Grandma reads my blog! and wanted to meet me! I'm a blog celebrity, look at that! Her family was in yesterday and this morning, and they were all very nice. I just talked to my Uncle Steve before I started writing this and he said to keep it up, he's proud of me, and to not give in! It's always great to get a call, e-mail, or text from someone I don't talk to everyday, that is keeping up with me and proud of me. Pop-pop called me in Little Rock. God I love Pop-pop, old, grumpy man, Italian man. He loves the postcards I send him. I'm totally his favorite grandchild. Nora checks in on my everyday, I chatted with Josh for 2 hours last night, talking the bike talk. And of course the fam and Isabel make sure I'm alive. I love you all!

Goodbye for now everyone!! I've been on the computer for about 2.5 hours now, it's addictive and time consuming! But necessary for my digital memories...

Keep on keeping on,
Chesca