Day 10 - Sayre Oklahoma to Ada Oklahoma

It was a very eventful day. The story outside of the long distance of 206 miles was the weather. I rode in a group with Tom, Tony and Jeremiah all day. We started the day fast out of the hotel parking lot and it quickly became apparent that we were going to be affected by the weather. There were massive dark clouds to the south which is where we were heading. We rode as fast as we could for about 95 miles in to incredibly threatening looking skies. At mile 95 it started raining and by mile 100 it was obvious that we needed to take shelter. There was lightening and the rain and wind were increasing. We took shelter for about 20 minutes in a convenience store in Apache. Once the worst of the weather passed by, we rode on to lunch at mile 112. By this time, the temperature had dropped to 55 degrees and combined with being wet, we were pretty cold. After some hot food and drink we were ready to go again. We didn't ride in any more rain but the skies stayed dark all the way to Ada. The wet and wind along with the mileage made it a pretty tough day but I really felt pretty good. The last 90 miles were just a matter of pacing myself and continuing to eat and drink. It was a relief to be done. The group I was with finished the 206 miles in 12 hours total elapsed time so we felt good about our performance, especially in light of the fact that multiple people didn't finish at all today.

On long days like today, Pactour sets cutoff times at certain mileages and tells you if you don't make those times, they'll transport you ahead. They have to or else they would not be able to support everyone because the spread between the fastest and slowest people would be too much. The long mileage combined with the bad crosswinds and headwinds and the rain can slow down even the best rider and so today there was some attrition. Pactour steps up and helps you out even more when the weather gets bad. At lunch they had us eat in the trailer since it was still raining and Susan loaned me a jacket to wear since I was a little chilled. It was nice and got us going to finish the last 95 miles.

Tomorrow we ride east to another new state, Arkansas. The day is 174 miles with flat terrain early and then very hilly as we traverse the Ozark Mountains. But the weather is supposed to be much improved vs today so I'm looking forward to it.