The Tree In The Road Ride Report: Technical Snafu's & Heat

Image by N.Y. Roll

 The route for the Tree In The Road Ride was originally laid out by Rob Evans who is from Nebraska. He would have been on this ride but for a prior commitment to doing the Coast to Coast ride in Michigan. Rob snagged a nice 3rd place single speed category finish in the 200 mile event. Congrats Rob!

Well, I had sent Rob's original GPS file over to Sarah Cooper who was somewhat knowledgeable on the area. She made a few revisions and sent the route back to me and this was the route I shared with the attending riders. I actually did not download the route myself until Friday, so I had the same route as everyone else.

Supposedly...

 Well, this will crop up later, but we had to get out of town first. There was some confusion as to where to turn as some were getting prompted at one point to go left while I and some others were getting prompted to go right into an ag businesses drive. We ended up heading North, (the direction we should have been going) and hit our first surprise of the day.....

Sorry! I forgot to check the train schedule!

Some riders opted for shade while others respected the train by standing back further. 

Uggh! A train. We heard movement and the spooling up of the diesel motor. This made us think the train would be moving soon. What we did not realize was there were two tracks side-by-side, and the train we heard moving was on the opposite side of the stationary train were were looking at.

Time to find a way around!

Around the train and heading North out of town.....finally!

 By this time the Wahoo is beeping and squawking away at an alarming pace. Apparently the little droid was upset, but I had no time to read its epithets or take any commands from it as I was following wheels hard now. Later on the little devil-machine would get revenge. 

Once the train was cleared we found ourselves on the State highway heading north, hoping to intersect our course which should have crossed the highway a mile or so down this road. It did, and we turned East and immediately onto a slowly climbing bit of aggregate which gave way to the first gravel of the day.

 

Barns For Jason #1

These hills were not anything like I've been on for a long time. We do not have climbs like this around my local area. The grades were not terrible, but the climbs were typically a lot longer and steeper than they are here. The gravel itself wasn't terrible. Maybe a bit sandier than what we have around here, but as MG said later, it allowed the bigger chunks to be pushed down and where car tracks were it was fairly solid.

Needless to say, I wasn't prepared for hills like these, and especially not on a day when the temperature adjusted for humidity was over 100°F. My Wahoo recorded a max temperature of 105°F, which could be debatable, but it did feel like that at times. 

While the climbing was relentless, the views were spectacular

Look closely and you can trace the road rolling up over the hills into the horizon line. 

We stopped a few times along our 18-ish mile trek to reach the Tree In The Road, I was sweating bullets and was in and out of my granny gear often. I was questioning my ability to tackle this course on such a day. Especially as under-prepared as I was for the hills and heat.

Along the way to the Tree, we came up on a nice patch of shade at the top of a hill adjacent to a farm. The cooler air was wonderful there. Then two trucks approached with the first driver rolling down his window to ask us what we were up to. The second truck came to a stop behind it. After some friendly chit-chat, the first truck moved down the road and turned into a driveway about 25 yards away from us. The second truck revved its motor and did a subtle "angry acceleration" away from the scene, on down the road. Apparently the second truck's driver was annoyed! We  found this humorous as the first driver came back to us, stated he was willing to offer us water, but his well was broken. So, he could have moved out of the way, but clearly, there was something more going on there than we knew!

We crested a hill and there it was!

Heading down to take in the shade of the Tree In The Road. Image courtesy of Matt Wills

Finally we reached the Tree. I thought it was taking forever to get there, and I probably felt this way due to our frequent stops to cool down. I was blaming myself, and I felt bad for how I was riding. On the last few miles to the Tree, I developed some pain in my left hip flexor, and when I dismounted the bike at the Tree, I nearly went into full cramp mode. I knew the whole 70 mile route was not a good idea for me to try and tackle at this point.

The graffiti on this tree is unfortunate. I guess we cannot have nice things in this world. 

As I relaxed in the shade of the Tree I made the suggestion that I should likely be leaving the route as planned when the group reached Exira, several more miles up the course. There the return route came very close to the outgoing route, and it was a paved bike path, very level, and shaded in spots. I reckoned it would be best for me to take this back to Atlantic and cut the ride short for myself.

To my complete surprise Cary Fry and Kat both immediately said they wanted to join me in this option. They both mentioned the heat and climbing as being quite enough. Then attention turned to whether we would cut out the Level B section, or go onward and include it.

After a bit of discussion, four chose the "adventure route" while I and the Frys along with Kat went straight North. The plan was to meet sometime after the original route intersected the cut-off I was taking. This sounded all well and good, that is until technology went haywire again.

This corner was where things got crossed up due to GPS issues. 

A bit of Chicory along this stretch to cheer me up this long grinder of a climb. 

As we approached a "T" intersection, we noted the route on our GPS told us to go Left, and turn Right in a few hundred feet again to continue Northward. In fact, we should have turned Right, and continued for another mile before turning Left and going North. The four followers went down the Level B road, but were rebuffed at a blockade of the road made up of a wall of railroad ties and a "Dead End" sign. They turned around, went back to the Tree, and followed us up North behind us. However, at the "T" they were prompted to turn Right, which was the correct direction.

Barns For Jason #2

This Shetland pony was wondering what we were doing out on this road. So were our other four companions!

After we made the wrong turn, we turned North at the next opportunity, went a mile, or so, and then were being prompted to turn Right. Here we decided to stop and wait for the chasers. We sat for at least 20 minutes and then.... MG finally called and asked what road we were on. We tried to describe what road we were on, but it was confusing to MG, and no wonder, our information did not match what he was being fed. MG said they were going to try and catch us, as at this point we all believed their group was behind the one I was in.

Look! Another grinder of a climb! Great!

Barns For Jason #3

Finally, after we had been riding for another several miles, MG called and asked how far we were from Exira. I stated I thought it looked like we were about six or so miles out. MG then stated their group was only three miles away from Exira and that our track must have been wrong. I couldn't make sense of this as our GPS units, all four of them, were telling us we were on track. MG said their group was tuckered out having tried to catch us, so they were going to chill out for a bit. Meanwhile we plugged along'

Suddenly I noted a turn coming up on my Wahoo's screen. The GPS was saying I would be taking a slight angled turn to the Left. I couldn't make out where the intersection was as I scanned the grassy ditch for signs of a road. Then I saw it. A gated C Level road all grown over with tall grasses. Surely this was the evidence I needed to tell me the GPS had led us astray. Then about a quarter of a mile later the track fizzled out and the Wahoo went into rerouting mode to take us exactly where MG and the others were patiently awaiting our arrival.

The descent into Exira was exhilarating, fast, and long!

 Once we had rejoined the two groups, we were off on a speedy descent into the town of Exira. I ended up off the back and when I came into town I was dragging. I was smoked. My legs were tired, I was super-heated and working hard was not an option. I spun the cranks and toodled along the best I could. Following the track I was hoping I would find the group, then I heard a whistle. 

It was N.Y. Roll looking for me. I had just passed the intersection where I should have been prompted to turn Right, but this did not happen. That is, until I turned around, and hey! The information popped up on the screen to turn Left, as I was now going back the other direction. Fickle technology, I'll tell ya! Not to be trusted.

I knew I should have made myself cue sheets!  

 

The bike path was shaded for the majority of the length we were on it. 

A last beautiful vista before the end.

At Exira's Caseys, N.Y. Roll bought me a Sponge Bob Squarepants bomb-pop ice cream treat and some Pedialyte. This hit the spot! The group made no effort to split and continue on the original route. Everyone saddled up and headed toward the cut-off instead. We then took off on the bicycle path heading South. We split into two groups again anyway, with myself following the wheels of MG, MW, and Jason. We  made a few stops to rest and then we hit the gravel again for the final push back into Atlantic.

 

By this time I was in a world of suffering such as I have not experienced in a long time. I was tired, hot, and everything hurt in my limbs. Strangely enough, my hands, feet, and rear end were just fine. My mind was clear. I wasn't having any headaches or weird stuff happening at all. The extremes between these two things - the hurting and the normality - were very strange to me. 

 

I rolled back into town alone. I remembered the Downtowner, the lush trees, and the shade behind the cafe with the outdoor seating. I made up my mind just to get there and find a seat, sit down, and try to chill out. Finally I arrived, grabbed a chair, and not much later I texted N.Y. Roll to let him know where I was at. He arrived not long afterward, as did the Frys and Kat. 

 

Since the Downtowner was closed, we went back to the Rancho Grande and we all had something to eat. The stories were great and just hanging out with these fine people was fantastic. But as everything must do, this all came to an end.

 

We said our goodbyes. My heart is full and although I feel responsible for some of the things with the route and my riding, it was all good. I think everyone enjoyed how it came out in the end. N.Y. Roll then drove me back home, and when I arrived I had another meal with my family. What a day! I am very blessed!

 

Notes: I found out on Monday that the Frys were involved in an accident on I-80 on their return trip home. Apparently slowed traffic and an inattentive driver caused them to be rear-ended. Both Cary and Robert are okay, but their car and bicycles were damaged. Hoping for a quick resolution and full-restoration to this incident for the Fry's. I'm sorry this happened. 

 

I also heard Monday from Dan Buettner who arrived after we had left for the ride from Atlantic. I am sorry we did not meet up and I regret he was not a part of this group. We heard a report of a single rider behind us from a local. Some of us had spotted him as well behind us, but we thought he was a local out for a ride. I am so sorry we did not connect!  

 

I hope you enjoyed the report. Thank you for reading Guitar Ted Productions!