2000 PAC Tour Central Transcontinental
Day 23, October 2
by Ken Bartholic, Cheryl McMurray, and Chuck Bramwell

Daily Map
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Lon's Description: We start to get into the eastern mountains as we head toward Tennessee. Now the hills get bigger and the forests thicker. Our day from Dayton to Dahlonega is filled with corkscrew climbs and descents. We make our way into Georgia and through the worst of the mountains. We still have some long cycling days to reach South Carolina.


Today we passed from Georgia into South Carolina. We left Dahlonega in the early morning and rode through rolling hills to our lunch stop at scenic Hartwell Lake Park. There were many churches and tiny towns we passed through. This day's route was considerably easier than Days 21 and 22, with only 4000 ft of climbing, but we were all feeling the effects of the two prior days. We had excellent weather once more, and the terrain was rolling for most of the day.
Ken


THE NUMBERS

Estimated Distance: 137 Miles
Actual Distance: 139.5 Miles
Cumulative Actual Distance: 2,869 Miles

This includes the following off course added miles:
San Diego - 2.0 Miles when Chuck and Bob Harting missed a turn

Winslow - 4.7 Miles when Chuck, Ken, and Les Drake went to the mural painting after the ride

Pagosa Springs - 3.1 Miles when Chuck missed Lunch

Alamosa - 11.2 Miles when Chuck missed the turn for Lunch

Estimated Feet of Climbing: 4,000 Feet
Actual Feet of Climbing: 4,740 Feet
Lon assured us that there would NOT be an additional charge for this additional climbing
Cumulative Feet of Climbing: 98,200 Feet
Elevation of Destination: 830 Feet
Average Speed on the Bike: 17.9 MPH
Maximum Speed on the Bike: 38 MPH
Chuck's Heart Rate Data:
Max Heart Rate was 196 BPM a few weeks ago before PAC Tour
Time above 150: 0:38
Time between 130-150: 5:33
Time below 130: 2:04
Chuck saw 167 BPM holding with the Les Drake paceline
Dairy Queen Count: 1 Blythe, CA
2 Twister's Ice Cream in Williams, AZ
3 Dairy Queen in Cortez, Colorado was phenomenal
4 Dairy Queen in Monte Vista, Colorado
(PAC Tour Hot Fudge Banana Split:
Bananas, 3 Scoops Ice Cream, Hot Fudge on Side: Awesome!!)
5 Dairy Queen in Pratt, Kansas
6 Dairy Queen in Winfield, Kansas - PAC Tour Hot Fudge Banana Split
7 Ice Cream at All You Can Eat Buffet in Cuba, Missouri
(Boy, did this restaurant lose money on us!!)
8 Dairy Queen in Farmington, Missouri - Dinner
9 Dairy Queen in Vienna, Illinois - Excellent Chocolate Marshmellow Shake

Tractor Now that's what I call a pull!!


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Hartwell Lake Park Hartwell Lake Park was a beautiful location for lunch today.


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Lunch Lunch is always a very welcome part of the day's riding. Good food. Good company. Blue sky. And Don Norvelle is always there with a big grin on his face to cheer us up!!


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South Carolina Our last state border crossing!!


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OUR THOUGHTS

Highlights: Another OUTSTANDING day of cycling!!

We were greeted with an awesome sun rise in a Northern Georgia forest this morning.

It seemed that every house in Tennessee and Georgia had a porch and every porch had a swing on it.

Boy, there sure are a lot of Baptist Churches around here.

Crossing into Southern Carolina was a highlight for sure ... our last state border crossing.

Pedaling a bike looks so easy. Yet, it's so hard to do well ... Finally today, parts of the ride were effortless. We don't take this for granted ... it has taken a lot of time and hard work to get to this state. It's a very magical thing.
Chuck
Memorable Scenery: "One Armed Bandit Road" at Mile 95

Beautiful farms and cow pastures

Awesome green forests and valleys

2 Dogs with escape velocity of 23.5 MPH
1 Fast Dog with escape velocity of 26 MPH
Mechanical Problems: John Ashby appears to lead the Flat Tire competition with 13 flats. In addition, he has had 2 rear wheel spoke failures, a cassette destruction, and a Rear Derailleur explosion. John has excellent equipment but has concluded that sometimes the less expensive stuff works better.
Biomechanical (Engine)
Problems:
A tendon on Cheryl's leg started to talk to her.
What Worked: Ed Boecker ate over $13 of MacDonald's food last night in one sitting!!

Chuck and Ken each had two BIG MacDonald's Sandwiches for dinner and still went to bed hungry an hour later!!

Blue skies and warmth of the sun

4 GU's made Chuck's legs crank at full throttle

Toes down pedaling does help Hot Foot (Thanks Pat Carter)

Bananas ... Bananas ... More Bananas
What Didn't Work: 4,740 Feet of Climbing because we're a little bit tired ... gee, I don't know why???

Quote of the Day:

"Awwwfoool haaarrrd, ain't it?"
Husband and Wife picking up litter from side
of road as we climbed up a roller near their home in Antreville.
Little did they realize how true this was ...

Chuck's Song of the Day:

"I really miss you
When the nights are long
And only silence is heard
In this world of song
But life goes on
And forever more, I'll be haunted by your love

Standing in the doorway
As the sunrise greets the morning
Searching for our future
We can find our way back home...

And forever more, I'll be haunted by your love"

The Moody Blues, 1999
"Haunted" on "Strange Times"
These guys are sounding so good to me on this PAC Tour!!


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