Peru Tour November 1-20, 2008

Peru Tour Update
My blog will be on hold a few weeks while I am in Peru. I hope to have time to send a few updates but these Peru tours are pretty busy and I don’t have a lot of time to find a computer and do any serious writing.

The Peru Tours this year are divided into three parts. The First Tour is mainly a road cycling tour beginning near the Pacific Ocean in northern Peru. There seven cyclists in our group plus three Peruvian crew members. We will fly to the city of Piura near Ecuador on the Pacific Ocean and begin pedaling east toward the Andes Mountains. The route is 5 degrees south of the equator and the days are burning hot and dry similar southern Arizona in the summer. After two days we begin climbing the dry slopes of the mountains. There is a low pass that crosses the mountains at only 7,500 feet elevation. This is one of the lowest passes across the Andes. After we get on the eastern side of the mountain we enter the rain forest area. The vegetation become more green and jungle like. There are still a few more 7,000 foot passes as the road hugs the cliffs along miles of twisting mountain slopes.

After eight cycling days we will travel about 500 miles. We then reach the river town of Yurimaguas. This is where Tour Number Two begins. Eight more people from the United States are flying into the jungle to meet us. We will get on a riverboat and head down stream toward the Amazon River. We are on the boat for two nights and sleep in hammocks on the deck. Along the way we are going to deliver books to rural six schools when our boat stops for ten minutes to unload bags of rice and pick up bundles of bananas. The whole riverboat experience is very unique and one of the highlights of traveling in the remotes jungle of Peru.

Our destination is the city of Iquitos. We are going to stay there five nights. Iquitos is our base camp for going into the jungle to the schools we have built the past 4 years. The newest school is 55 kilometers kilometers from the city and should be 95% completed when we arrive November 17th. We are going to have an opening ceremony with the village. The new school season begins in February and we expect the school to have 50 students to attend the first year.

The other school we are going to visit is the Village of the Dolphins. This school was built in 2004. It had 200 kids when it opened four years ago and now has 500 students. We expect the new school which is still being built will have similar growth when parents and kids understand the concept of going to school.

The third part of our tour is a 100 kilometer bicycle race from Nauta back to Iquitos. This is the only paved section of road within 300 miles. The road is well paved with a few rolling hills. The local fire department is promoting the race. We are bringing 100 jerseys and shorts as prizes that have been donated by PAC Tour riders during the past year. As a racer finishes the race they are able to walk past the table of prizes and select a donated item. PAC Tour is also donating $1,000 in cash to be divided between the top five men and women in the race.

These tours to Peru take a lot of planning in order to stay productive. We have learned to be flexible and usually make a plan “B” or plan “C” to anticipate different variables. The surprises along the way are one of the best parts of these trips. We will have a bunch of unplanned adventures. I will post a full report when I return in December.


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Part 21 Lon's First Cross Country in 1981

Part 21
The middle 1,000 miles of the United States is beyond the excitement of the start and too far from the anticipation of the finish. Reaching the middle third of the country is always a good time to philosophize about “why am I doin’ this?” I rode the first 1,000 miles in a little under four days. The final 1,000 miles wouldn’t begin until the Mississippi River.

In future years moods of depression would be typical for RAAM racers riding across the middle third. Not only was the middle third located 1,000 miles from the start or finish, there was nothing else to look forward to in the middle 1,000 miles. The short term goals of crossing the desert and climbing the western mountains was over. The goal of the middle third was just another grain mill tower eleven miles straight ahead.

I was having the same thoughts as when I had ridden the opposite direction more than eight days earlier. The only difference now is that I knew what waited ahead in each town. The winds were favorable but not as strong as the headwinds when I was heading west. Last week the winds were rocking the motor home and blowing the hats off crew members. Now the winds barely bending the long grass that lined the road.

I had plenty of time to think about why I was out riding my bike eighteen hours per day. While I was riding down the road at 17-20 miles per hour I bet their were thousands of better cyclists capable of going faster. The only thing that made me unique is that I was here doing it.

As I continued riding I thought about all the training and logistics it took to get this record attempt together. I thought about my parents taking out a loan to get the extra $10,000 we needed to start the trip. I thought about the six crew members who were donating 35 days of their time including travel to the start and finish. I had been training 20,000 miles per year for the past three years. All I had been thinking about for three years was doing this record attempt. Now I was doing it. Now I was out here in the middle of the New Mexico prairie heading toward Texas.

To be here was an unique opportunity. There were thousands of cyclists who could be doing this but they weren’t. As I kept riding I thought about this opportunity and why I better not waste everything that made this ride possible. As I started riding across the middle third of the country I had a new focus to keep going and make the most of a special chance to ride back and forth across America.

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Part 20 Lon's First Cross Country in 1981

Part 20
Our crew woke up in the dark at 4:00 AM. We were going to try to ride across Albuquerque before the traffic got busy this morning. We had to ride 35 miles to the outskirts of the city. There are several big rolling climbs of three miles each on the west side of Albuquerque. Most of them I could climb in the big chainring and coast down at 30 mph. Once I got off Interstate 40 the route across Albuquerque was on Old Route 66 which is also called Central Avenue. It is considered the longest main street of any town in America. The final decent into town was down what the locals called Nine Mile Hill. The steepest part is about two miles long and it was possible to coast at 50 mph. (for comparison in 1986 Susan Notorangelo and I reached 62 mph during our tandem transcontinental record).

Central Avenue goes for 17 miles until it merges with I-40 again on the east side of town. My dad had arranged another police escort across the city. It had been my first escort since I had been in Albuquerque on my way west a week earlier. The two police cars leap frogged and closed the intersections as I rode across the city. The escorts are always exciting and I maintained a steady 20 mph pace. When I got back on the interstate I began the steady climb up Tijeras Canyon. The trill of the escort was over and now it was time for the long grade up to Clines Corners.

After the first 15 mile grade out of Albuquerque the terrain opens up to the wide plains near Moriarty. The winds were favorable and the climbs were manageable in the big chainring. The biggest annoyance in New Mexico was the chip seal shoulder on the interstate. I-40 had been converted from two lane Route 66 to Interstate ten years earlier. The new lanes were made to temporary standards without the good pavement that is common on interstates today. The four lane interstate was more like two parallel country roads with rough shoulders.

As I headed east it was encouraging to see familiar landmarks from my trip west the week before. The gift shop at Clines Corners still had billboards every three miles advertising moccasins and rattlesnake tail jewelry. The billboards with the fatman’s face were still promoting the Club Cafe in Santa Rosa. The yellow Stukeys Restaurant signs tempted travels with the nutritious breakfast of one egg, toast and jelly of ninety-nine cents. I just kept riding. Our crew was in auto drive now. Everything was going smooth without any bike of vehicle troubles.

I reached Tucumcari, New Mexico before sundown and turned left on Route 54. It was good to finally get off the interstate. The noise of passing trucks was getting old. I would be on Route 54 now for the next five states until the middle of Illinois. Navigation was easy but this highway still had its share of trucks who liked to drive fast. We learned to anticipate when two trucks were about to meet near us and we would get off the road onto the grass shoulder.

Sundown came a little earlier because we had moved further east. We stopped to sleep near Logan, New Mexico. I had traveled 270 miles today which was a little better than average. I was hoping the same winds that I had battled by riding at 11 mph on my way west would be helping me tomorrow.

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1981 Update

I recently found an old folder in my file drawer full of the USCF record forms from the 1981 Double Transcontinetla Record Attempt. These notes from 27 years ago will be very helpful reconstructing the days and mileages from the record ride.

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Part 19 Lon's First Cross Country 1981

Part 19

By the time I reached Parks, Arizona on the west side of Flagstaff I had ridden 223 miles for the day mostly uphill and gained 7,000 feet of elevation. It was the 4th of July weekend and my dad was afraid we would not find a campground with any space available. These were before the days when riding all night in RAAM was considered normal. The motor home found a camp group off the interstate and I was able to get to bed before dark. I had another good night’s sleep and woke up at sunrise for another day. During the first 500 miles I had already slept two full nights. For comparison a few years later RAAM racers would typically reach Flagstaff in 30 hours and not stop for their first sleep break until the 600 mile mark.

When I departed Flagstaff the next morning the air was crisp at cold at 7,000 feet. There is a gradual downhill the next 50 miles toward Winslow dropping about 2,000 feet. The downhill and slight tail wind made me feel strong this morning. My only concern was that I had an annoying saddle sore developing in my left side. I remember coasting down the grade and standing up on my pedals. I put my hand down my shorts and pinched the marble size boil. It broke with a squirt of puss on my fingers. That technique would be repeated several times per day for the rest of the record attempt. Things like saddle sores, numb feet and hands were all part of the ride. I was become more efficient at staying on the bike for hours at a time without stopping for any minor breaks. Even bathroom breaks were eliminated and I urinated off the bike every two or three hours.

Except for the bumps on the interstate shoulder the ride was going pretty well today. We had been warned by locals not to stop and camp along the road for the next 200 miles. We were in Indian Territory. I thought the warnings were a little over dramatic and the locals acted like our wagon train was going to be attacked if we didn’t circle the wagons at night. We never did have any problems when we were stopped except for curious passers by who wondered why a van had so many spare wheels.

It was 775 miles from Santa Monica, California to McCartys New Mexico where I stopped for the third night. It was 9:15 PM when we pulled off the interstate ramp toward three dark houses which made up the whole town. I had ridden 280 miles in daylight which was my longest mileage day of the trip. I was averaging 258 miles per day so far which was a little more than I needed to break the record of 12 days, 3 hours. I had to ration my riding speed while feeling the fatigue of the previous fifteen days. I was getting enough sleep to feel alert on the bike but I was definitely tired enough to sleep well at night.

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Lon's First Cross Country

Part 18
The 30 miles before Prescott, Arizona is one of my favorite areas of the route. The road climbs through scrubby pine trees with dozens of hairpin curves. Even when you are going slow it feels like you are moving because the scenery changes every 100 meters with new views of the next corner. On my way west I had ridden this section during the cool morning. Now the sun was high overhead in the early afternoon. The lighting change made the route look different. For the rest of the trip I would always be comparing the road and scenery to when I had traveled this route heading west two weeks earlier. I always tried to remember if the flags were blowing the same tailwinds for me now as when they blew headwinds for me before.

I rode through Prescott to a scenic view area on the north side of town. My motor home was waiting there. I stopped to use the toilet and I could not resist laying down on the bed. I told the crew I needed a 15 minute nap. I am sure I was a sleep in thirty seconds and slept more than half an hour. When I woke up there was a 30 mph tailwind blowing north. My route for the return trip would be to take Rt. 89 north to Ashfork instead of Rt. 89-A over Mingus Mountain through the town of Jerome. We estimated the longer flatter route on Rt. 89 was better than going over the mountains again. Our calculation paid off now with the great tailwinds. I got back on my bike recharged from my nap. I was cruising at a respectable 20-25 mph for the next 55 miles to Ashfork.

In Ashfork I needed to get back on I-40 for the next 500 miles. Although I hated the noise on the interstate I liked the shallower grades. The main problem in Arizona were the rumple strips cut across the ten foot shoulder. In 1981 these bumps were spaced about every ten meters apart and went from the white line to the grass edge. They were deep enough to shake a water bottle loose from it’s cage. Every two pedal strokes (bump) I would hit another one (bump) and that rhythm would (bump) continue for (bump) the next 300 miles (bump) across the state (bump).

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Lon's First Cross Country

Part 18
The 30 miles before Prescott, Arizona is one of my favorite areas of the route. The road climbs through scrubby pine trees with dozens of hairpin curves. Even when you are going slow it feels like you are moving because the scenery changes every 100 meters with new views of the next corner. On my way west I had ridden this section during the cool morning. Now the sun was high overhead in the early afternoon. The lighting change made the route look different. For the rest of the trip I would always be comparing the road and scenery to when I had traveled this route heading west two weeks earlier. I always tried to remember if the flags were blowing the same tailwinds for me now as when they blew headwinds for me before.

I rode through Prescott to a scenic view area on the north side of town. My motor home was waiting there. I stopped to use the toilet and I could not resist laying down on the bed. I told the crew I needed a 15 minute nap. I am sure I was a sleep in thirty seconds and slept more than half an hour. When I woke up there was a 30 mph tailwind blowing north. My route for the return trip would be to take Rt. 89 north to Ashfork instead of Rt. 89-A over Mingus Mountain through the town of Jerome. We estimated the longer flatter route on Rt. 89 was better than going over the mountains again. Our calculation paid off now with the great tailwinds. I got back on my bike recharged from my nap. I was cruising at a respectable 20-25 mph for the next 55 miles to Ashfork.

In Ashfork I needed to get back on I-40 for the next 500 miles. Although I hated the noise on the interstate I liked the shallower grades. The main problem in Arizona were the rumple strips cut across the ten foot shoulder. In 1981 these bumps were spaced about every ten meters apart and went from the white line to the grass edge. They were deep enough to shake a water bottle loose from it’s cage. Every two pedal strokes (bump) I would hit another one (bump) and that rhythm would (bump) continue for (bump) the next 300 miles (bump) across the state (bump).

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Part 18 Lon's First Cross Country

Part 17
We continued across Palm Springs and Indio. Yesterday I had ridden from Indio to the Santa Monica City Hall in fifteen hours. Today I covered the same 150 miles in nine hours. Getting out of town and missing Los Angeles traffic was a big help. The tailwinds didn’t hurt either. Behind us was the Pacific Ocean. Ahead was 250 miles of desert. I climbed back up Chiriaco Summit on Interstate 10. The afternoon temperatures were a toasty 115 degrees. The good thing was I was feeling pretty strong. The crew was giving me a cold water bottle every 15 minutes and I was dumping another bottle over my head. I was averaging almost 18 miles per hour for the day. By the time I reached the town of Blythe we had crossed California in 14 hours. The crew took a photo of the bank clock and thermometer at 5:00 PM which read 111 degrees.

The town of Quartzite, Arizona was 25 miles away and that was our goal for the day. The sun was still high in the sky when we arrived at the RV park. We had traveled 265 miles today which was what we needed to do everyday to set the record. My new Specialized Alez bike fit perfectly and I felt like I had been riding it for years.

We had a picnic dinner at the Quartzite RV Park. I went to bed before sundown and got a good night’s sleep. These were the days before the Race Across America and all night rides. The next morning the sun was coming up when I continued east on Interstate 10. I only had to go about 15 more miles before getting off I-10 and getting on Rt. 60 toward Prescott. It was nice to be away from the traffic and heading across the desolate desert. I was feeling okay this morning except for some saddle sores. The long flat roads didn’t allow me much time to stand up and change my position.

By late morning the desert was getting hot. The climbing to higher elevations started at about noon in the small town of Congress, Arizona. The grade up Yarnell Hill is deceptively steep at the bottom. The grade looked flat but I was going slower and slower...16 mph...12 mph..10 mph. Was I getting weak of did I have a flat tire? Out of frustration I made a u-turn and started riding back west. My speed immediately went to 20 mph just coasting. The grade was steeper than I thought. Satisfied I was really going uphill, I made another u-turn and continued east. I needed to climb another six miles up and out of the desert. Every mile was several degrees cooler. By the time I receive the town of Yarnell the temperature had dropped from 100 degrees to 85 degrees. It was nice to have the hottest part of the desert behind me.

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Part 16 Lon's First Cross Counrty

Part 16
By the time I got to San Bernardino the sun was up and I was cruising toward San Timiteo Canyon. We didn’t get lost on Rt. 66 this time. The morning was still sunny and cool and I felt as fresh as a club cyclist going on a morning breakfast ride. The climb back up the Canyon was a steady 3% grade and I made good time getting to the towns of Banning and Beaumont at the summit. The crew needed to stop for gas and groceries and they said they would catch me in a few minutes. What neither of us realized is that I would pick up a whipping 30 mph tailwind in combination with the 5% downhill to Palm Springs. I was spun out in a 54 x 12 gear as I headed down Interstate 10 into the desert. The new Allez bicycle felt good at 40 mph. After 20 minutes I had traveled over 12 miles.

The cool morning was getting hotter and hotter the lower and lower I dropped into the desert. Where was the support car? I wasn’t worried about getting lost. I knew the route because I had just ridden these roads yesterday. I was getting concerned about my water supply. I had drank both my water bottles. After another 10 miles I was entering Palm Springs. I was getting really hot. My tongue was dry and I was starting to look for somewhere to get some water.

I pedaled past country clubs and noticed their lawn sprinklers and fountains. I saw an imitation waterfall near the front gate of a fancy resort. I rode my bike up to the pool of water and dipped my water bottle in the pond. I poured a bottle over my head and soaked my jersey. It was now over 110 degrees. I filled my water bottles and started riding again. I didn't want to drink the fountain water but I was getting pretty cooked.

It was now over an hour since I had seen my support car. Within a few minutes the crew came up from behind me. They had thought they missed me and they turned around when they couldn’t find me after 20 miles.

We had a few words. I said “From now on, for the rest of the trip, we need to make a plan if we are going to split up and make sure I have a full water bottle”. The incident made everyone realize how much we needed to keeping working together. We could not get sloppy with our focus or our planning. We had crossed the country once and made a few mistakes. Now we were supposed to know what we were doing. There would not be any more time to make mistakes if we wanted to set the record.

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Part 15 Lon's First Cross Country

Part 15
Our crew checked into the fancy hotel in downtown Santa Monica. The price in 1981 was about $200 dollars a night. My mom said it was the best hotel she had ever been in. She was upset that we would not even get a full night’s sleep. We only booked one room for six crew members and me. I would be able to take a shower and go to bed while the rest of the crew traded time in the shower. The crew had ordered some pizza to be delivered to the room. By the time I showered and ate it was 10:00 PM. We all needed to be awake by 2:00 AM and get ready to ride by 3:00 AM.

The alarm went off and was a little disoriented about where I was. I had been used to sleeping in the motor home and this was my first night’s sleep in a real bed since leaving New York City. The reality of the situation gradually sunk in. I needed to get back on the bike and ride 3,000 miles back to New York. The trip here took 12 days and 18 hours. The one-way record held by John Marino's was 12 days, 3 hours. If we were going to set the transcontinental record we needed to go faster on the return trip.

I leaned on the wall as I rode the elevator down to the lobby. I was still tired and my thoughts were a mixture of anticipation and dread. Could I go faster across the country? How would I feel after another 12 days of riding? The elevator stopped. I was wearing my cycling shoes and cleats as I stepped out of the elevator and clicked my way across the marble lobby. Outside on the hotel steps the crew was waiting. Our hotel was a couple blocks from the Santa Monica City Hall so we walked down the street. At the city hall the representative from the USCF was waiting for us. He had been sleeping in his car since when we had left him at 9:00 PM. I think he was glad we returned promptly at 2:45 AM like we said we would.

Crew member's Dean Dettman and Jon Royer had assemble the new Specialized Allez Bicycle for me. The frame was bright red with silver Campagnolo Super record parts. The bike had 27 inch wheels which were still common in 1981. It had Turbo clincher tires which Specialized was promoting as the first race able clincher tire. Remember this was 1981 and 99% of all racing tires were sew-ups then. The crew had installed the Cool-Gear saddle off my TREK bike I had ridden most of the way from New York. I got on my new Allez bike and tested the saddle height. Everything felt good. The USCF Rep. gave us a count down. It was 3:00 AM when we started our return trip 3,000 miles back to New York City.

Last night at 6:00 PM the streets that were clogged with traffic. Now at 3:00 AM the same streets were deserted. The traffic lights were flashing yellow. I cruised block after block at 22 mph. It felt good to be over halfway done. Each mile heading east would get me closer to New York City. The Dodge Omni support car followed 30 feet behind me and lighted the way. I needed to get at least 50 miles across Los Angeles before rush hour traffic started heading to work. We knew the roads and turns now. I made good time getting through the potentially busiest parts of the city. By 5:30 AM the sun was making a glow in the eastern sky ahead of me.

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Lon's First Cross Country 1981

RECAP 1981

Last year I started writing about my 1981 Double Transcontinental Record from New York City to California and back. When I left off my story I had just reached the west coast. You can go back and read about the first half of the journey which was written in March-April 2007.

The story begins as I recap crossing the desert heading west during the final miles across Los Angeles to end the first half of the record.

Part 14
The crew found a place to park the motor home in Indio at the base of the ten mile downhill. I slept for a few hours and was up again at sunrise. I got back on the interstate and bypassed most of Palm Springs. These were the days when riding the interstate was allowed through here or before any cyclists ever considered riding across the desert. I hadn’t seen any other cyclists since Missouri or since the fellow I rode with the morning leaving Prescott, Arizona.

The west wind was starting to blow as I climbed from sea level up the gradual 30 mile grade to Banning, California. The total climb was only 2,600 feet but I was barely riding at 12 mph against the wind. On the other side of Banning was the downhill of San Timiteo Canyon. This road would become a famous climb for east bound riders during the Race Across America during the next 10 years. For me it was a welcome downhill going west. I was getting closer to Riverside and San Bernardino. My dad was in the motor home talking on the CB radio and told the crew we were looking for a specific route toward Los Angeles. It was probably Old Rt. 66 but in 1981 Rt. 66 had been decertified and no longer was posted with road signs. The follow car behind me told me to pull over and stop. The motor home was on the correct route and asking on the CB where I was. I was lost for the first time of the whole trip. The support car told me to load my bike on the roof and we needed to drive back several traffic lights to the motor home. The detour only cost us about ten minutes but added to the stress of finding our way across the city.

Once I was back on Old Rt. 66, which wasn’t called Rt. 66 in 1981, I proceeded west. Every three blocks I waited at another red traffic light. Ironically several years later I would be leading tours on Old Rt. 66 and would be quite familiar with the neighborhoods. During the Rt. 66 tours one of the riders counted 375 traffic lights in 80 miles between San Bernardino and Santa Monica. As I continued west the traffic was getting heavy. I was barely averaging 10 mph with all the traffic lights. The final 150 miles would take me almost 15 hours to cover.

I finally arrived at the Santa Monica City Hall, which was the official starting or ending points for USCF cross country records. It was just before sundown and the parking lot was fairly deserted of business traffic. I was met by the regional USCF official and Victor Vincente who had set the Double Transcontinental of 36 days several years earlier. I was really surprised he came out to see me. It was really an honor to meet him. There wasn’t any celebration with the crew because we knew we were only half way done. Everyone was hustling around just like it was a normal sleep break. It was really a strange sensation to have ridden across the country and know we had to turn around and do it again in a few hours.

My East to West time was 12 days and 18 hours. I had missed breaking John Marino’s one-way record by several hours. I would have to go faster on the return trip.

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Blog Working Again

It has been a long 6 months since my Blog was updated. Sorry for the delay buy the problem was I could not get my password to work. I tried several entries and nothing was working. The Tech Support didn't work either. So today I tried opening my Blog again. To my surprise it worked with the same password I tried a 100 times before.

Well anyway...

I will try to post more updates about PAC Tour and Peru during the next few weeks and get caught up for missing the past 6 months. I am not sure anyone reads this stuff anyway but at least I have a record of it.


Lon