In lieu of posting yet aother blog about ridng through miles of flat country riding with fields and trees occasional small towns or railroad crossings with pauses to check the route, view the scenery, take a break in the shade, I thought I'd try to give an idea of the daily flow of an extended ride like this.
The tour company who has organized this particular ride is womantours.com a marvelous group of women who organize, guide and support these woman only tours. They do one "epic" or cross country ride per year, plus some foreign tours with local guides (Bhutan, Tuscany and others) as well as numerous week long inn to inn or B&B rides throughout the US.
Basically our day starts with breakfast 6-6:30 am. The time depends on the times the hotel has breakfast, whether or not Lynne, the cook/guide, has to cook eggs and oatmeal to protein supplement the carbo loaded hotel breakfasts, and depending on the distance for that day. On the way to breakfast we load our luggage into the trailer, which also has a cooler full of good stuff for the end of the ride, and a kitchen where our dinners and supplemental breaksfasts are cooked.
Once the snack table is out 7:00, we build our snacks or fill a baggy with self made trail mix,dried fruits, nuts, chocolate and and anything else that can help us stay fed and hydrated. Then it's time to check the tires, reset computers, check the cue sheet and ride out. We are usually on the road by 8:00 AM or before.
The Sag driver of the day ( one of four women who alternate driving days and riding days) Little Bo Peep sees that everyone is out on the road, picks up which ever of the women needing a "jump" and drives past all the riders, checking to see that everyone who should be riding is riding, on route and giving a thumbs up. If there is a hand frantically patting the helmet, she stops to asses the problem and then either picks up the rider or calls back to the van and trailer ( driven by one of the two guides.) The other guide usually rides the first 20 miles or so and then either switches places with the van driver or rides into the next town with the van.
Bo Pee scoots up to the a spot at about 20 miles for the first SAG stop. Hopefully the SAG stop has shade and a "green room" with a view or facilities. She parks and starts getting cut up fruit, granola bars and protein bars ready for the riders. Bo Peep and the driver repeat this performance every 20 miles or so throughout the day. We all check in with the SAG at each stop as she can't leave until the last rider (s) have checked in with her. On long days when the riders are spread out along the route, and Bo Peep has to wait for the last rider, which might leave the lead riders without water or support, the van will play leap frog with Bo Peep and pick up a couple of the SAG stops.
In the meantime,back in the town we left, the two guides with the van and trailer have settled up the hotel bill, loaded the bikes of the people who can't or aren't riding, sometimes taking some of the jump riders, if there are more than the three that Bo Peep can handle and heads on down the road to the next destination. If it is a long day, the van may be at the SAG stops to pick up riders, but the basic principle is that the van leaves last, sweeps the riders checking on each, heads into the next town dumps the trailer with the chef/ guide and heads back down the road to pick up any flagging riders. If it is a shorter day, or if the chef/guide needs to grocery shop, the van will hang around town until the ride is nearly done before setting out back down the road.
Meanwhile back on the road, we are all riding along, stopping at the SAG stops to check in with BO Peep, and riding some more. If we go through a town about lunch time we may stop somewhere for lunch but so far we have been leaving early to beat the heat, getting into the next town in the early afternoon and getting lunch somewhere near the motel.
Once we reach our destination, we check our names off at the van, grab a cold something (beer, wine, chocolate milk, fruit juice, vitamin water, sparkling water, v8 )from the cooler in the trailer, get checked in and grab a shower and relax.
We gather about 6:00 pm to sit outside on chairs (yes, the trailer carries those as well) and tell our stories of the day. If we have crossed a state border, there will be margaritas to drink. Dinner is served at 6:30 and has an amazing variety of food to meet everyone's needs (vegan, gluten intolerant, nut intolerant, soy intolerant, pepper intolerant vegetarian and lactose intolerant in this group ) always a fresh salad, a protein, a carbohydrate, fresh fruit and something for "afters" from chocolate chips to pie or cheesecake with more fresh fruit. Lynne or chef/ guide who whips by all of us nearly every day getting in her 20 miles of riding, most definitely needs to write a cook book!
After dinner is the cue sheet handout for the next day, with corrections, things to look for, cautions, distance corrections etc. and then it is off to bed.
Most of us are in bed by 8:30 or 9:00
That's basically the day, eat, ride, eat, relax, eat some more, relax, cue sheet and bed.
It's a tough life but someone has got to do it and Womantours does it superbly.
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