Pactour Day 18 "The Hurt Locker"

Corn to the left of me...

Soybean to the right, here I am, stuck in the middle of Wisconsin...

Cool observation - look how tight corn stalks and soybean stalks are grown together.  No "running" thru these fields.

We did see alot of very pretty "Queen Anne Lace" which is a weed!

Since Wisconsin has to be the "Home of Calves" (in addition to cheese) Turks calf progression.

Even JW is starting to show Calf definition.

Hooker, the personality, and possibly strongest rider of the tour (sorry Lon, Cat, Marc, Kurt) and any others offended by this statement....  Natch, Hooker had just gotten out of the lake in the background at the last rest stop (remember he has a sworn duty to never miss jumping in a body of water while cycling.  If you zoom in you will notice the webs between his toes....

So Susan runs the show, rides every other day, makes the best lunches and takes care of the littlest details, and still has time to make sure that Jim is stocked up with his habit/passion/vice F-dub.  You'll have to ask the shop what F-dub stands for - not appropriate for family entertainment....

Today may have been the day the Slauson's cracked?  Remember the pact where Jim and the boys were going to ride the rest of the miles to Virginia?  Well 10 miles into the ride Wills right ankle began to pain him terribly and he could only pedal 1 footed.  So into the lunch truck he went as it passed us - good thing, we did 1500 feet of climbing before the first rest stop at mile 31.  JW's comment was "he'll have to give his drop of blood back."

By mile 85 we had done 5000 feet of climbing (keep in mind Wisconsin is a steeply rolling state - no climbes were over 1/8 of a mile) up and down up and down.  JW carries no momentum on the downhill, so he was cashed by lunch.  No arguments here.  Terri was tired, but really rode well and wanted to continue, but with 2 soldiers down had to tend to the wounded and weary.

JW vomited after lunch (barely ate anything) so looks like the effort and heat got to him.  Will was sleeping in the van when we got to lunch (4 hours after being picked up.)  He ate a little, then vomited when he got to the hotel.  Turk didn't vomit, but sagged in from lunch with her youngest soldiers.

Jim headed out with Buster (crew member, rider extraordinaire.)   Buster decided it was time to hammer.  So off they headed pell mell for the next sag, 30 miles away.  Too much for Buster who got hot foot.  So Buster sagged in with 30 to go and Jim made a bad decision, follow Hooker's wheel in.  By that rest stop they were up to 6500 feet of climbing on the day.  The day ended at mile 145 with 8000 feet of climbing (remember no climbs longer than 1/8 mile.)

Now we know why Lon is so strong on the bike and has huge calves.  This up and down rolling climbs will do that to you (if they don't kill you.)

Jim did well with Hooker for the first 15 miles, then entered the "Hurt Locker."  Perhaps now renamed "Hook Locker?"  He told the Hook to go on, and Hook replied "No worries, time to slow down a bit."  Which really didn't happen.  5 miles later Jim was running low on water and spotted  a house with an available spigot.  So he slipped off the back to try get away.   He filled his bottles and rolled down the driveway.   And there's Hooker coming back down the road "No worries, the view from the top of this climb was way cool, so I took a photo.  Come on!"

Anyways, Jim drank 5 bottles in the last 30 miles and still arrive thirsty (90+ heat, high humidity.)  He wasn't hungry and was having chills for the first couple of hours.  We'll see how he is in the morning.  Will and JW went to bed at 6pm and seemed alive when we checked on them.

Of course, the only woman, the Turk is doing the best in the family now.  We'll see how that plays out.

Tomorrow we roll from Beloit, WI to Dwight, IL and hope to see Ara (B-H St. Charles) and maybe our friend Brad Reid, who did the elite Pactour a month a go (180 miles per day, Cross the U.S. in 16 days.  The ride is 160 miles, but "only 2000 feet of climbing" so much flatter than today.

Til then.

The Slausons